For decades historians wondered why Hitler turned on the Soviet Union in the summer of 1941, (Operation Barbarossa) when he was at the zenith of his military conquests, and his goons dominated Europe. Hitler was thoroughly evil, for certain, but he was a political genius nonetheless. Why make such a dumb move, and open the door for his ruin?
From a variety of emerging sources the picture makes more sense now. Adolf Hitler, so profoundly immoral, so purely cruel, and so inherently selfish, was incapable of comprehending Churchill thought process. No sooner had Hitler established his dominance over France, Belgium, and Holland (following his conquest of Norway, Denmark, Poland, and Czechoslovakia) than he extended an olive branch, and a proposal for an honorable peace to England. Hitler would leave Great Britain to remain free and in trade, the empire will thrive and bloom, and all he asked in return was that England would acknowledge Germany’s hold on Europe. Who would not readily embrace such an honorable pact with the force that has just proved itself as the mightiest in the world?
But Churchill rebuffed the Fuehrer, with no shade of hesitation. Hitler was sure that the people of England will overthrow this ‘swine Churchill’ and sue for peace. He courted them in his Reichstag speeches. To no avail.
Finally it dawned on him, or so he thought. England and the Soviets are in cahoots. They wait for the lion share of the German army to be bogged down in a difficult sea landing, and right then the Soviets will march against Hitler from the East. That is what Hitler would do, and that is what Hitler concluded, Churchill and Stalin are doing. There was simply no other explanation. The oratory about freedom against slavery, democracy against fascism, light versus dark, were just that — oratory. After all Hitler new a thing of two about oratory. It made no sense for British soldiers to die in order to liberate Holland, or for British cities to lay in ruin, vying to help Poland.
Enjoying what he believed was his brilliant mind that has uncovered the conspiracy against him, Hitler presently devised a solution. Since England would be shelled in her island, and pose no real threat, why not preempt the Russian bear, and meet surprise by an earlier surprise.
Defeating the Soviets will offer a relief to Japan, which then will become a greater threat to the US. This will diminish any chances (which Hitler assessed as small anyway) for the US to meddle in the European conflict.
It all made perfect sense, and that’s the way it was.
Gideon Writes 
Leave a comment