Thomas Titura
Wednesday, April 30, 2003

Here is an important new book by an expert on Soviet history, who finally sets the record straight on one of the most distorted subjects in the writing of modern world history, and World War II in particular.

In his latest book, Professor Albert Weeks presents the reader with an analysis of a large amount of newly discovered secret information contained in documents from formerly closed Soviet archives. The documents reveal that Stalin was planning to wage offensive war against Germany and, in fact, the West as a whole as a "windfall" from a second world war.

Among the telltale documents are transcripts of Stalin's famous toast to graduates of the Soviet military academies, May 5, 1941. The author also reproduces the text of Stalin's previously hotly disputed secret speech to the Soviet Politburo of Aug. 19, 1939.

This was just days before the signing of the Hitler-Stalin pact, known as the Molotov-Ribbentrop, or Nazi-Soviet pact, which included secret protocols about the territorial division of Poland, the Baltics and Bessarabia.

The Stalin text was discovered in Russian archives and has been confirmed by diary entries of Comintern head Georgi Dimitrov. In his speech Stalin predicts that Germany will have to fight a long war against France and England that will allow the Soviet Union to sovietize not only defeated Germany but also France.

An even more important document is from the Soviet General Staff. It is a war plan drawn up against Germany. It calls outright for a pre-emptive strike against German forces. The document, titled "Considerations of the Plan for the Strategic Deployment of the Armed forces of the Soviet Union in Case of War with Germany and its Allies," is dated May 15, 1941.

The document was prepared by General, later Marshal, A. Vasilievsky, Deputy Head of the Operations Department of the Soviet General Staff (Stavka), and presented to Stalin by Commissar of Defense S. Timoshenko and Chief of the General Staff G. Zhukov. The 15-page document calls explicitly for a pre-emptive strike against German forces.

This fully conforms to the offensive military doctrine of the Soviets that called for "deep operations" into enemy territory (a fact confirmed by many Soviet officers and historians, but neglected and disputed by various foreign authors (e.g., David Glantz and historian Gabriel Gorodetsky, who tend to use pro-Soviet arguments throughout their books). Weeks, in fact, convincingly critiques Glantz's and Gorodetsky's arguments.

It seems clear to this reviewer that both of these authors were granted access to Soviet archives precisely because they stuck to the line of official Soviet historiography. Their books, moreover, are customarily given favorable reviews in Russian publications that hew to traditional views while ignoring the new findings of the younger, post-Soviet historians who were canvassed by Weeks.

Weeks uses a number of books and documents that have only recently been published in Russia. He thereby allows the reader to form his own opinion based on these materials. This is a great advantage over many other books that try to ignore every little detail that might contradict the author's arguments.

Some of the documents in this book have never been published before in English in their entirety. The wealth of information Weeks presents documenting Stalin's "offensist" intentions is convincing to anyone with an open mind.

There can be no doubt that Stalin was developing detailed plans for attacking Hitler – either in 1941 or certainly by 1942. As it happened, Hitler managed to strike first against Soviet forces that were not quite ready to realize their own aggressive plans.

Anyone with an interest in the latest revelations from Stalin's archives and who is curious about Stalin's own plans with respect to World War II should read this fascinating book. Highly recommended!

Editor's Note: Dr. Weeks, coiner of the expression "sputnik" as a common noun (as published in Newsweek, October 1957), is the author of several books on the Soviet Union and Communism.

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