Was it a mistake?
Not really. The Germans only lost because the western allies opened additional fronts.
>>1236521
LOL
O
L
>>1236527
Fuck off commieboo, the adults are talking
USSR had no chance of surviving the war without heavy support from the western allies
>>1236549
LMAO
M
A
O
>>1236521
But was it unnecessary? I've heard conflicting shit on whether Stalin was going to invade Germany and/or cut off essential German supplies like oil.
>>1236571
Stalin was planning to invade preemptively. Soviet troop deployments and requisition lists make that apparent.
It's also why the initial German assault covered so much ground and had such early success. The Soviets were not in defensive positions as the Germans were expecting.
>>1236588
>Soviet troop deployments and requisition lists make that apparent.
Never actually looked at those requisition lists, have you? For people planning offensives, they seem not to be interested in things like organic transport for their artillery, or indeed fuel that would enable them to move around with their vehicles.
>The Soviets were not in defensive positions as the Germans were expecting.
Yeah, it's not like the Soviets had an all offense, all the time doctrine. The Soviets had such extensive fortifications along the Japanse/Manchurian border during the Khalkin Gol conflicts, oh wait, they didn't have any.
>>1236625
I never claimed it was a well prepared offensive. Soviet high command was notoriously bad at planning, as the entire war with Germany demonstrated
>>1236588
Did Hitler refuse the advice of his generals to pull back to defensive positions in the winter?
>>1236549
>Its another "America always saves the day!" episode
>>1236636
You'd think it would be at more or less the same levels as the invasions of Finland and Romania, and yet the Soviets didn't take any of the steps they did for those, like massing troops near railheads for exploitation of advances in a mostly leg and train movement system.
I would very much recommend Stumbling Colossus, by David Glantz. "DEY HAD DA TROOOPS ON DA BORDER SO THEY WUZ PLANNING AN INVASION" is quite simply sloppy, lazy thinking, arrived at ignoring what the Soviets actually did when they did invade people and their own internal documentation.
>>1236645
After the disasters against Finland I'm not surprised they took a different tack. Soviets were massed on the border in perpendicular formations rather than parallel. Any defensive posture would have seen them spread out parallel to the boarderline. Instead they were in neat columns, preparing to advance.
Hitler stole a march on the Soviets. That's why Stalin shit his pants and wouldn't come out for three week
>>1236666
>After the disasters against Finland I'm not surprised they took a different tack.
Then why is there zero documentation of any sort of reorganization of strategy concerning offensive deployment?
>Soviets were massed on the border in perpendicular formations rather than parallel.
Uh, no they weren't.
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/15/Invasion1941.jpg
Part of the reason the offensive was so devastating was that the Soviets weren't in columns, or any sort of deep formation. When the Germans penetrated initial Soviet formations, they managed to pocket close to 4 million troops.
>Hitler stole a march on the Soviets. That's why Stalin shit his pants and wouldn't come out for three week
You are incredibly wrong. Seriously, read a real historian on the subject, not Suvarov.
http://www.amazon.com/Stumbling-Colossus-World-Modern-Studies/dp/0700617892
>>1236689
>Soviets
>documentation
