Page 292 - The Chief Culprit

Churchill’s Warning and Stalin’s Reaction y 237

capture of Moscow would not have solved Hitler’s problem, because beyond Moscow still
lay several million square kilometers of unending territory, vast centers of industrial power,
and inexhaustible natural and human resources. It is always easy to begin a war with Russia,
but not so easy to finish it. It was certainly easy for Hitler to fight in the European part of
the Soviet Union: the territory was limited, there were many relatively good roads, and the
winters were mild. Was Hitler ready to fight in Siberia, in that limitless expanse, where
there were no roads and where the brutality of the cold was only matched by the brutality
of Stalin’s regime?
Stalin knew that war on two fronts spelled suicide for Hitler. He calculated that Hitler
would not commit suicide by starting a war in the east without first finishing the war in the
west. Stalin was patiently waiting for the German tank corps to land in Britain. Meanwhile,
he did everything possible to convince Hitler of his desire for peace. at was why Soviet
anti-aircraft guns were not firing on German aircraft crossing the Soviet borders, and Soviet
newspapers and TASS proclaimed that there would be no war between the Soviet Union and
Germany. If Stalin had succeeded in convincing Hitler that the Soviet Union was neutral,
then the bulk of German forces would have been engaged in fierce battles trying to land on
the British Isles and leaving practically all Europe defenseless and ripe to be “liberated” by the
Red Army. Poland, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Holland, Luxembourg,
Yugoslavia, France, Greece, and Albania no longer had armies, governments, parliaments, or
political parties. Millions of people had been driven into Nazi concentration camps and the
whole of Europe was awaiting its liberation.
Stalin had helped Hitler come to power and transformed him, in Stalin’s words, into a
real “Icebreaker” that would trigger the world revolution in Europe. Stalin pushed along that
Icebreaker of the revolution. Stalin demanded from the French and from other Communists
that they let the Icebreaker crush Europe. Stalin supplied the Icebreaker with everything
needed for a victorious advance. Stalin closed his eyes to all the crimes committed by the
Nazis. But Hitler guessed Stalin’s design. at was why World War II ended catastrophically
for Stalin: he only got half of Europe.