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“Stalin planned to invade Germany”
Published: 11 December, 2009, 11:05
Edited: 08 September, 2010, 11:23
A letter written by Stalin was sold for $12,500 at Sotheby's on Friday. The document appears to be evidence of Russia’s plans to attack Germany in World War Two.
The letter signed by Joseph Stalin and Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov – dated January 8, 1940 – asks Mongolian leader Choi Balsan for almost 40,000 tons of wool for troop clothing. For his part, Stalin promised to take all the efforts necessary to satisfy assistance requests from Mongolia.
In a startling conclusion, the auction house brochure describes the letter as proof that the Soviet Union planned to invade Germany in harsh winter conditions – something which has been undiscovered by historians before.
Ahead of the auction, the letter was estimated as being worth between $15,000 and $25,000.
Also for sale in New York are Leon Trotsky's memoirs dated 1930 – and a copy of Nikolay Gogol's book “Dead Souls” illustrated by famed Russian-French painter Marc Chagall.
11.12.2009, 10:28
10 comments
Angry old men take to Lithuania’s streetsThe harsh austerity budget plans of Lithuania’s government have brought anger onto the streets. Cuts in pensions, jobs and other social welfare benefits have been met with furious opposition from citizens. |
11.12.2009, 13:38
2 comments
UFOs over Kremlin?A UFO has circled the Kremlin – well, that's if you believe a short clip which has soared to the top of YouTube Russia’s most viewed videos. |
@antonio I take it you are referring to the book Icebreaker. Advance tank production capability was only after the US came into the war with US having the largest manufacturing base and production capability. Transportation was to move troops into Belarus and Ukraine which I suspect was to create a pincer movement if they violated the terms of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact non aggression pact outlining the spheres of influence and geographical danger to each country which has been misrepresented politically to say that Germany and Soviet Russia secretly conspired to divide and occupy Poland. Maybe German perceived this as an attack formation. The USSR had no means for transport supplies for a long sustained conflict with Germany. It was Britain that started and kept the war going by refusing to make repeated peace and ceasefire agreements with Germany upon multiple German requests. In truth I think they wanted the war to continue with most of the fighting between USSR and Germany to eliminate Germany as a powerful rival.
Sarah, Red Army was so easy to surround and capture/destroy by Third Reich's army because they (RA) were deployed in an assault formation, which could not hold well against a organized attack. And it didn't. Btw, Red Army was way more advanced than that of Third Reich, especially the tanks.
December 14, 2009, 03:12, johnx wrote > @antonio > I take it you are referring to the book Icebreaker. > Advance tank production capability was only after the US came into the war with US having the largest manufacturing base and production capability. > Transportation was to move troops into Belarus and Ukraine which I suspect was to create a pincer movement if they violated the terms of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact non aggression pact outlining the spheres of influence and geographical danger to each country which has been misrepresented politically to say that Germany and Soviet Russia secretly conspired to divide and occupy Poland. > Maybe German perceived this as an attack formation. > The USSR had no means for transport supplies for a long sustained conflict with Germany. > It was Britain that started and kept the war going by refusing to make repeated peace and ceasefire agreements with Germany upon multiple German requests. > In truth I think they wanted the war to continue with most of the fighting between USSR and Germany to eliminate Germany as a powerful rival. Britain kept the war going? You are naive indeed if you think Hitlers offers of peace (after breaking all previous promises) were going to avoid or stop war!