Icebreaker. WHO STARTED THE SECOND WORLD WAR? Kindle Edition

When this amazing book was first published it produced a real earthquake to the study of World War II. Every single page is a revelation, a well-grounded argument about how Stalin planned to conquer Europe well before the Nazis came to power. Mr Suvorov was an intelligence officer in the old Soviet Army before going over to the West in 1978 - and he was really good in his work. He writes in a matter of fact style, he knows very well what fighter aircraft or armor or artillery can do, and how an army is prepared for offensive operations. His deep professional knowledge of the Red Army personalities, dogmas and organization, is evident and really terrific. Starting from things that everyone knows, like the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact of 1939 and concluding with the military preparations that Stalin ordered between 1939 and 1941, he presents a panorama of a very different World War II than the one we have in mind. Without shrinking into Nazi apologism and revisionism, Suvorov pieces together an answer to the critical question “why did Hitler attack the USSR?”, proving that this cataclysmic military event was in fact a preemptive attack.

The Red Army of the '30s wasn't weak at all, but it was rather a powerful offensive force capable of striking deep in the enemy territory (as was displayed in August 1939 with the devastating defeat of the Japanese 6th Army at Khalhin Gol within just a few days) and smashing even the most sophisticated fortifications - like the Finnish "Mannerheim Line". Stalin was fixed with the idea of striking against Germany when she would be weakened by the war in the West, and the Red Army made extensive preparations for this kind of offensive action. Stalin not only was NOT AT ALL afraid of Hitler, but he did everything he could in order to erase the barrier of neutral countries that existed between the USSR and Germany, clearly in order to open the way for an attack against Germany and the heart of Europe.

The chapters which analyse in detail the call up, the organization and the massive rail transfer of the multitude of armies of the First and Second Strategic Echelons from Central Asia and the Far East to the Soviet-German border from February to July 1941, were for me the most fascinating part of the book. Stalin ordered the creation of mountain armies in the Ukraine (!), intenting to rush to the Carpathians and seize the passes, and also positioned in the Rumanian border the 9th “super-Army” which had almost the same number of tanks as the whole Wehrmacht! Other Soviet armies of 1941 are also examined closely regarding their capabilities, their leadership and the weapons they were given. The First Strategic Echelon alone comprised 170 divisions (!) and its role was to smash the German defences in Romania and Poland when Stalin gave the order. The Second Strategic Echelon numbering 77 divisions and many independent regiments and battalions, started in June 1941 coming up from the depths of USSR to support the first strike wave. These last forces formed the backbone of the Soviet resistance when the divisions of the First Strategic Echelon were largely caught by the German attack literally on the railcars and were annihilated in big battles of encirclement in the summer of 1941.

Equally fascinating is the operational alignment of the Soviet armies, how they were deployed literally ON the border with massive quantities of fuel and ammunition still on thousands railway cars, and how they presented ideal targets for encirclement in case the enemy stroke first. The author presents an impressive amount of convincing evidence which shows that Stalin was planning to invade Germany in the summer of 1941 and was just beaten to the punch by Hitler, who had no other option but to strike first or be destroyed. If Hitler had not crossed first the line on June 22nd, 1941 and waited for just two more weeks, he would have been attacked in July by a Soviet juggernaut of unimagined power. The fact that Hitler decided to attack first (because while talking to Molotov in November 1940 he got convinced that he simply didn't have any other realistic choice if he was to save the Romanian oil from Stalin's tanks that were poised to strike from Bessarabia), took the Soviets by complete surprise - not because they didn't anticipate such a bold move, but simply because the Wehrmacht didn't get properly prepared for a campaign in the East before striking!

As Mr Suvorov puts it: "Once the Soviet Command had begun to mobilize, but especially once it had started massing and tactically deploying forces, it no longer could halt this progression or even slow it down. The rough equivalent is abruptly dropping your hand to unhook hour holster, yanking out your revolver and aiming it at your enemy while cocking the trigger. After that, like it or not, firing is inevitable: The moment your hand flash-dives, your enemy's follows suit - just as fast, if not faster. Historians still owe us an answer to this question: Who actually did start the Soviet-German war in 1941? Communist historians, grappling with it, offer the following criterion: The one who fired the first shot is to blame. Why not, though, use a different criterion? Why not draw attention to the matter of who was first to mobilize, mass and tactically deploy? Who, after all, in other words, first reached for his revolver?"

This book is highly recommended! (On the minus side the name of General Franz Halder is written repeatedly as Galder in the final chapters, as it is spelled in Russian! The editors should have corrected this obvious mistake). While reading it you'll probably find yourself time and again wargaming an alternative historical course of events in your mind, had Stalin been the attacker and not the defender in 1941. Bit by bit, page by page, you'll realize that the pieces of a giant strategic puzzle fit into place, and your whole perception of World War II will dramatically change once and for all. For a fascinating juxtaposition of arguments, read after this book David Glantz's answer, the magnificent book "Stumbling Colossus", and draw your own conclusions.

This is a must have for anyone that looks for the truth, Joseph Bishop in his in-depth review of this book has this to say.

It sometimes happens that the most significant historical works are virtually ignored by the mainstream press, and consequently reach few readers. Such is the case with many revisionist studies, including this important work by a former Soviet military intelligence officer who defected to the West in 1978. Even before the appearance of this book, he had already established a solid reputation with the publication of five books, written under the pen name of Viktor Suvorov, on the inner workings of the Soviet military, and particularly its intelligence operations.

In Icebreaker Suvorov takes a close look at the origins and development of World War II in Europe, and in particular the background to Hitler's "Operation Barbarossa" attack against the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941. Since its original publication in Russian (entitled Ledokol) in France in 1988, it has been published in an astonishing 87 editions in 18 languages. In spite of its importance to the historical record, Icebreaker has received very little attention in the United States. The few reviews that have appeared here have been almost entirely brief and dismissive -- a shameful treatment that reflects the cowardice and intellectual irresponsibility of a "politically correct" scholarly establishment.

According to the conventional view, Hitler's perfidious attack abruptly forced a neutral and aloof Soviet Russia into war. This view further holds that a surprised Stalin had naively trusted the deceitful German Führer. Rejecting this view as political propaganda, Suvorov shows Stalin's personal responsibility for the war's outbreak and progression. Above all, this book details the vast Soviet preparations for an invasion of Europe in the summer of 1941 with the goal of Sovietizing central and western Europe. Suvorov is not alone in his view. It is also affirmed by a number of non-Russian historians, such as American scholar R. H. S. Stolfi in his 1991 study Hitler's Panzers East: World War II Reinterpreted (reviewed by me in the Nov.-Dec. 1995 Journal).

In spite of rigid Soviet censorship, Suvorov has succeeded in digging up many nuggets of valuable information from publicly available Soviet writings that confirm his central thesis. Icebreaker is based on the author's meticulous scouring of such published sources as memoirs of wartime Soviet military leaders, and histories of individual Soviet divisions, corps, armies, fleets, and air units.....

A very detailed analysis of the Nazi-Soviet conflict which supports the Author's case that Hitler and WWII were the products of Soviet policy to dominate all of Europe. There's so much evidence presented in this book that it would take a dedicated expert in the history of the day to refute it, if such a refutation is even possible.

If you are the least interested in the second world war, you must read Suvorovs version. His version is perhaps not the absolute truth, but his analysis and theories are quit interesting and must be considered by any intelligent reader. Read and judge for yourself.