What Stalin Knew: The Enigma of Barbarossa - Hardcover

Why did Stalin refuse to believe that Hitler would strike the Soviet Union when all the evidence including intelligence from his own agencies said otherwise? This extensively researched book illuminates many of the enigmas that have surrounded the Nazi invasion, offering keen insights into Stalin’s thinking and the reasons for his catastrophic blunder.

A Conversation with

David Murphy

Q: How culpable was Stalin for the German invasion of June 22, 1941?

A: Stalin bears full responsibility for having allowed German preparations to go forward without taking measures to improve the USSR’s defensive posture and for his naïve acceptance of German deception, fed to him personally by Hitler.

Q: What steps could he have taken to prevent it?

A: Many actions were possible, but Stalin’s greatest failure was his refusal to halt extensive, long-term German aerial reconnaissance operations even though he was aware of them from border troops’ reporting and from Soviet agents in the German Air Ministry. This resulted in the pinpointing and massive destruction of Soviet defensive works, troop concentrations, logistical installations, armor, and parked aircraft within hours of the June 22 attack.

Q: How do we know for certain that Stalin knew the meaning and urgency of the intelligence reports?

A: We know Stalin received reports on the German threat but discounted or rejected them because they disagreed with what Hitler told him were his plans to invade the British Isles in the summer of 1941 and not attack the USSR.

Q: In what way did the system Stalin created abet his natural paranoia and conspiratorial thinking? How was he able to manipulate the system so that he could remain convinced that he was right? Or was he the victim of that system?

A: Stalin did not create the system. He amplified, expanded, and exploited Lenin’s dictatorship, using terror and the purges to instill abject fear in all those who opposed him. There were very few military officers, party, or government officials who dared dispute Stalin’s views, and those who did were tortured and executed. On the contrary, some encouraged his acceptance of German deception by slanting intelligence estimates to fit Stalin’s misconceptions. Thus not Stalin but the entire Soviet people became victims of Stalin’s mistakes.