In the Summer of 1941, the world’s two most evil, totalitarian regimes went to war with each other when Germany launched a massive invasion into Soviet Union. Both nations were led by ruthless dictators who ruled with an iron hand while systematically murdering many millions of their own citizens, as well as many others who were unfortunate enough to reside in lands occupied by either.  We all know the story. Hitler, eager to acquire new lands or “Lebensraum,” started the war when he ordered a surprise attack on the Red Army called “Operation Barbarossa,” on June 22, 1941.  Pretty cut and dry, right? But is it true?

   In the summer of 1944, some three years after the start of Barbarossa, Adolph Hitler was asked by one of his Generals, during a walk at the German leader’s Rastenburg Headquarters, his reason for attacking the Soviet Union. His response, similar to what he had disclosed to others before, was as follows:

   “Had I not acted as I did…by the end of 1942 at the latest, we would have experienced what we (Germany) are experiencing now in 1944.”

      What did Hitler mean by that?

     As more information from the Soviet era archives is being made available, new revelations are leading honest scholars to question the causes of the German-USSR war, the deadliest in world history. Was Barbarossa really an unprovoked sneak attack à la Pearl Harbor? Or was it a preemptive strike against the Communist Soviet Union which merely beat the Reds to the punch? Some serious scholars who’ve examined the Soviet archives, are supporting the latter theory.

   Here’s what’s undisputed. As early as October of 1939, Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin ordered Red Army General Gregory Zhukov to prepare a comprehensive invasion plan to be initiated against Germany. Zhukov’s plan was completed and presented to Stalin on May 15, 1941, with a proposed implementation (attack) date for the offensive, set in July of 1941. While the Soviets planned their invasion, Stalin ordered a secret mobilization which included lowering the USSR’s daft age down to 18 from previous minimum of 21 years old. Stalin also ordered the call up of millions of Red Army Reservists who began a prolonged period of training in offensive operations. Further, multiple large scale military exercises were held which simulated a broad front attack on Germany. These have been written about extensively by Russian military historian Mikhail Meltyukhov, in his book, “Stalin’s Missed Chance (2004).”

These conclusions are also supported by a former high ranking Soviet GRU Intelligence Officer named Viktor Suvorov. Suvorov’s rank and GRU position afforded him the rare privilege of being able to study Stalin’s archived war plans.  These plans, drafted by General Zhukov, revealed that the Soviet invasion of Germany was merely an “ice breaker” or springboard for the ultimate Soviet Communist invasion of the entirety of Western Europe. Suvorov would later defect to the West in 1978.

   In early 1941, Germany had only ten army Divisions posted along the Soviet Border while the Soviet Union had over 90 Red Army Divisions along their side of the same border in addition to over a 150 other Army formations and Brigades.  Yet, it was this information coupled with intelligence gathered from paid informants and spies within the USSR that lead the Germans to prepare a preemptive strike before the Soviets had their chance to attack. When the German’s launched Operation Barbarossa on June 22, 1941, no Soviet Citizen was more surprised than Stalin himself, who was expecting to shock the Germans with a surprise attack of his own, in the following month of July 1941. The German Blitzkrieg quickly overwhelmed and vanquished the Soviet Red Army forces along the USRR border, which were still superior in numbers to their new German enemy. Given the large build up of Red Army forces along the Soviet border with Germany, how could such a rout have happened?

   Perhaps the best answer to this question was expressed by German Army General Otto Remer, who was the recipient of Germany’s highest award for valor, the Knights Cross. General Remer, who participated in Barbarossa, stated as follows:

   “The initial successes of our forces against the Soviets were due to the fact that the Russians were not stationed in defense positions but were instead positioned right at the front for attack, which made it possible for us to quickly encircle large Soviet forces. Thus, in the first weeks of the war, we were able to capture more than three million prisoners of war as well as enormous quantities of war equipment, all of which was on the frontier, positioned for (a planned) attack.”

   General Remer’s description of the Russians not being, “stationed in defense positions,” is a somewhat charitable understatement. Far from having dug in fighting positions, construction of obstacles and positioning large swaths of land mines- the normal things armies do when in a defensive posture- the Red Army had their vehicles lined up with full tanks of fuel. Munitions were mostly loaded onto the vehicles and not in hardened munition dumps. The soldiers were literally sleeping in and next to their vehicles as if awaiting the orders to attack at any moment. When the Germans launched their assault, the Reds were caught flat footed, with their pants down.

  Yet, it was what the German soldiers found during the invasion which confirmed once and for all, what the Communist forces intentions were. As the Red Army was overrun, German soldiers began to find detailed maps of German territory. Many of these maps had identified military and strategic objectives to be taken by the Soviet forces during their planned invasion. Many of the Soviet soldiers had German language phrase books which contained questions such as, “Take me to the nearest SA headquarters building.”  Nazi SA headquarters could only be found within German territory.

   Everything the victorious German forces found pointed toward a planned Soviet attack. Despite the overwhelming evidence, virtually all of the liberal historians in the West still refuse to acknowledge the truth about the USSR’s intentions. Typical. So sadly typical.

How ironic that most of the evils of Communists past and present, are exposed by those who had to suffer under that evil system.