The fourth chapter of John
Wear’s book, Germany’s War is now posted. The
evidence is overwhelming that it was Roosevelt and Churchill who were
determined to have war with Germany and not Germany who wanted war with the
Anglo-Saxons.https://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2020/01/13/germanys-war-chapter-4-the-allied-conspiracy-to-instigate-prolong-wwii/
Hitler
made many peace overtures to the British government both before and after he
conquered France and drove the British out of Europe. On
August 14, 1940, during the Battle of Britain, Hitler called his field
marshalls into the Chancellery and told them that victory over Britain must not
lead to the collapse of the British Empire. Hitler told them that “Germay is
not striving to smash Britain because the beneficiaries will not be Germany,
but Japan in the east, Russia in India, Italy in the Mediterranean, and America
in world trade. This is why peace is possible with Britain—but not so long as
Churchill is prime minister. Thus we must see what the Luftwaffe can do, and
wait a possible general election.”
It was
Churchill’s determination to keep the war going that destroyed the British
Empire.
I have
reread Viktor Suvorov’s book, The Chief Culprit,
published by the U.S. Naval Institute Press in 2008. Suvorov believes that
Stalin is responsible for WWII by encouraging, even luring, Hitler into moves
that would put Germany at war with Britain and France. Stalin had long planned
to take advantage of Europe at war when his massive and fresh armies would
dominate the field.
In June,
1941, both Hitler and Stalin had assembled on their border large armies for
invasion. Stalin’s
army was many times larger and much better armed than Hitler’s which Suvorov
reports had resources for only two months of war. Stalin
knew that German forces were assembled on the border. Stalin
had excellent intelligence, and it was the excellence of his intelligence that
resulted in the Soviet army being caught off guard. Stalin
knew that Hitler had assembled troops but lacked the material resources that he
needed to support an invasion of Russia. He assumed that Hitler and his generals
were rational and would not attack until they were properly prepared.
In
contrast to Hitler, Stalin had all the resources needed to overrun Germany and
all of Europe in a real blitzkrieg. Stalin had militarized the economy. Hitler
had not. Stalin
had prepared the Soviet Army, Navy, and Air force only for offensive
operations. The army had not been trained how to retreat. The high speed Soviet
tanks were designed for the roads of Western Europe, not for use in the mud,
snow, and ice of Russia. Everything Suvorov has uncovered about
the Soviet armed forces proves it was assembled for an invasion of Western
Europe, which if the Soviets had struck first would have been successful.
The
forward positions of the German and Soviet armies made them vulnerable to
whoever struck first. As the Germans were not prepared, Stalin was convinced
the initiative would be his. In forward position, there are no
defense positions. All
the ammunition and weapons are on the border. There is no time to move anything
or to fall back.
Suvorov
believes that Hitler knew Stalin was about to attack and struck first. In
contrast David Irving reports that Hitler said that if he had known of the size
of the Soviet army, the superiority of its weapon systems, and the Soviet
ability to turn out far more and better tanks, cannon, and aircraft than
Germany, he would not have attacked.
My
conclusion at this time is that Suvorov is correct that Stalin was on the verge
of invading Western Europe which required only the defeat of Germany, whose
armed forces were greatly outclassed by those of Stalin. By
striking first Hitler captured the vast stockpiles of offensive weapons and
entire Soviet armies prepared for offensive, not defensive war, and thereby
prevented the Soviet conquest and occupation of Western Europe from which no
Normandy invasion could possibly have dislodged them.
Hitler
attacked unprepared because he believed the war would only last 3 months, which
gave him two months to come up with the resources for the third month. I
don’t see the evidence that Hitler knew he was about to be attacked. And
it is certain that the British and Americans had no inkling of Stalin’s plan to
conquer Western Europe.
It is a paradox that it is the demonized
Hitler who saved Western Europe from communism, and it is ironic that the
British and Americans were so incompetent that they were focused on the German
non-threat and not on the Soviet threat.
It seems clear enough that both Wear
and Suvorov are correct. World War II was caused by Churchill, Roosevelt, and
Stalin, not by Hitler.
