Stalin's Moment of Cowardice
When Stalin and Hitler signed their Non-Aggression Pact, both of them knew it would be broken. With a copy of Mein Kampf in his hand, Stalin knew full well that Hitler hated the Bolshevics and had dreams of expanding Germany to the East. The question was when it would take place.

Don't forget Da' Russian Winters fighting on the side of the Russians.

I've read propaganda that stats he didn't respond because he knew he needed the Russian Winters to help him. And I think that's all it is, is Propaganda.

However the bigger reason for the victory is Russian Tanks. Their tanks where probably better then the Russians, easier to make, and they had greater numbers.

.02

I have never heard about this one. If anyone has any more info/sources on it, please post.

I think Stalin was taking an each way bet. He needed time to put his own plans in place and to rebuild his armed forces after the purge of his officer class.

He knew war between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany was inevitable, either way.

Regards Bob.

Great post, Scott, btw!!

Thanks.

March 3, 2007 - Update on Stalin's "Fuck His Mother" Comment

After watching a 1999 BBC series entitled War of the Century, I was presented with a different version concerning Stalin's "fuck his mother" comment. In the Warlords book, they described Stalin as "screeching" the comment. The series based off the book follows the same notion.

But in War of the Century, they described Stalin receiving an intelligence report presenting the information from the spy in the German Airforce. The show described Stalin as scrawling on top of the report "Comrade Merklov, you can send your "source" from the headquarters of the German air force to his fucking mother. He is not a source, but a dis-informant."

The intelligence document had just been recently declassified at the time the show was produced and they also had a picture of the report with Stalin's message.




My interest was not over the translation of what Stalin told the spy he can do with his mother, but more over whether he said the comment or wrote it.

Warlords lists their source for the exchange coming from Simon Sebag-Montefiore's book Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar. I tracked the book down and read the description of Stalin scrawling on the message and signing it "J. St."

Not sure why "scrawled" got turned into "screeched", but was it was interesting to see what I thought a verbal exchange discussed as written communication on a BBC program.

New Sources:
Sebag-Montefiorce, Simon (2003). Stalin: the court of the red tsar. London, England: Vintage.

Rees, L. (Writer). (1999). High Hopes [Television series episode]. In L. Rees (Producer), War of the Century. England, UK: BBC.