25. The Flaws of a False Narrative Intended to Depict the Nazis in a Softer Light
Stalin and the Soviet leadership estimated that modernizing the Red Army would last into 1943 or 1944 before it could defend against a German attack, and until 1945 or 1946 before it could attack the Germans. The Soviets’ recent farcical experience in fighting Finland had demonstrated that the Soviet military was poorly led, poorly trained, and poorly equipped. As such, attacking Germany was the last thing on their minds. Indeed, Stalin went out of his way to eagerly – even obsequiously – appease Hitler, to avoid giving him any excuse to attack the USSR.
Stalin went to such lengths to please Hitler precisely because he knew that the Soviet military was in no shape to fight a major war in 1941, let alone go on the offensive and invade Germany. Nonetheless, Viktor Suvorov’s assertion that Stalin was about to invade Germany in 1941 was eagerly embraced by the fringe. Hitler apologists, neo Nazis, and assorted white supremacists were eager to accept anything that portrayed the Fuhrer as having merely been defending his country against imminent communist aggression. However, there is no historical evidence to support Suvorov’s thesis.
