Balkan Studies | Info

The planning for the war with Soviet Russia commenced on 29 July 1940. Hitler, Keitel, Jodl and Goering met at the Berghof for a series of private meetings, with the first directive, Operation Aufbau Ost, issued in August 1940.

Military Intelligence

In the summer of 1941 the Red Army presented an enigma to German Military Intelligence. The modern Red Army was created by Trotsky (assassinated 1940) and Tukhachevsky (executed 1937) who paid with their lives. In August 1939 following the Nazi-Soviet pact to partition Poland, the Red Army deserted the fixed Stalin line defences, annexed Bessarabia and Bukovina, 'absorbed' the Baltic States and advanced the western frontiers of the Soviet Union by hundreds of kilometres.

Stalin purged the Red Army in 1938 - the greatest numerical loss was born by the Soviet officer corps from the crucial rank of Colonel downwards to company commander level. German infiltration of the Balkans and the winter 1940-41 deployment of troops to the Finnish frontier further weakened their defences.

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