The USSR and Germany were bound to cross swords, it was only a matter of time and who would strike first. At the start of Barbarossa, the USSR had a massive collection of force arrayed along the border. It was quickly gobble up by the Blitz, but it was there for a reason
That is inaccurate. Stalin's government was in disarray, due to the massive paranoid purges by Stalin. He was deathly afraid of war with Germany and the USSR was caught off guard by the NAZI invasion.
It's accurate; the Soviets did indeed have massive forces on the borders at the time. It was bad timing on Stalin's part, not knowing Hitler was going to launch a surprise attack on all fronts. Hitler's timing good, Stalin's bad; in a year or two the purge issues would have been gone. That is what Frank is referring to. Stalin had far more forces deployed than was necessary for mere defensive purposes, and he was busy digging in at the time as well. Just a survey of the the Soviet losses in the first month of the war is more than enough to verify this was the case. Stalin was betting the Pact bought him enough time to prepare. It didn't.
If somebody can make a decent case that Stalin was stupid enough to conduct such a purge while knowing Hitler was kicking off his invasions I would like to see it.
Last edited: