Operation Pike: Britain Versus the Soviet Union, 1939-1941 (Contributions in Military Studies)

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This groundbreaking study reveals the extent of British military planning against the Soviet Union during the first two years of the Second World War. These plans, formulated on the widespread belief that Soviet Russia was an active and willing partner in Adolf Hitler's war of conquest, were designed to bring the Soviets to their knees and deprive Nazi Germany of vital raw materials, especially oil. Churchill himself was one of the leading proponents of action that would have led to an Anglo-Soviet conflict even as the war with Germany raged on. Utilizing many never-before published documents, Osborn challenges conventional wisdom that Allied hopes were pinned on a Soviet entry into the war against Germany and proposes instead that, had the Nazis not successfully invaded France in May 1940, the Allies might well have launched their own offensive against the Soviet Union.

Anti-Soviet rumblings began shortly after the Red Army seized eastern Poland in September 1939, and became more strident after Joseph Stalin invaded Finland later that year. Truly serious planning did not take place, however, until after Stalin's disastrous war with Finland ended in March 1940. Immediately following the abrupt end of that conflict the Red Army sent substantial reinforcements to the Black Sea region, the area most threatened by Allied attack. In March-April 1940, the British undertook secret reconnaissance flights to obtain photographs of important targets inside the Soviet Union. The swift collapse of France in May 1940 insured that British bombers were not launched against these targets, but suspicion lingered between Britain and the USSR throughout the war, contributing to Stalin's refusal to believe Winston Churchill's warnings that Hitler was preparing to invade the USSR in 1941.

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Operation Pike: Britain Versus the Soviet Union, 1939-1941 (Contributions in Military Studies) Review

This is simply a must-have book for the international military-political history fan. I thought I pretty much knew most of the political intrigue aspects of WW 2, but Osborn's revelations about the machinations involving Britain, France, Finland, Scandinavia, Turkey, Germany and the USSR are fascinating and will surprise many of my ilk.
The options for initiating hostilities with the Soviets that the British and particularly the French entertained had grave implications for the war and the subsequent history of the world. What if the "Allies" had gone to war with the Russians in 1939 in defence of the Finns? The dynamics of this scenario are potentially endless.
The belief that Russia was as grave a threat, if not more so, than Hitler's Germany, comes across very strongly in Osborn's "instant classic" work. Stalin's treacherous attacks on Poland, the Baltic states and Finland ranked him next to Hitler in the eyes of the world, and the fact that the USSR was supplying the Nazis with embargo-busting material shipments made the prospects of killing dozens of birds with one stone too tempting for many in the UK. Attacking Stalin's lair in Finland, the Crimea and the Caucausus were tempting goals for many who preferred fighting in someone elses' backyard instead of their own Sitzkrieg "front." The hypocrisy of the Allies in deferring conflict with the Germans in favor of the weaker Soviets did not go unnoticed but was overwhelmed by the fear of another WW 1 holocaust and the need to bolster morale by doing something.
The drawback of this title is its price, like many of the Greenwood titles. But it needs to be in your library.

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