The Icebreaker

Viktor Suvorov

Russe: Stodis, 1993; Pages: 343

This is the first, and perhaps best, of Suvorov's documentary narratives about the Second World War. The ``Icebreaker'' is the metaphor of Hitler's role prescribed by Stalin. According to Suvorov, Stalin encouraged Hitler in his wild conquests and the rape of Europe while preparing to strike and liberate the continent from the Nazi aggressor. In this view, the real beginning of World War II was the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, which untied Hitler's hands to wage war in the West. Of course, Stalin was simply sharpening his ax while singing tunes of peace. This book is an exhaustive catalog of Stalin's secret preparations for the war of liberation.

Using only published and publicly available sources, Suvorov documents the monstrous concentration of military force along the Russo-German border in the months before the war. He describes Stalin's reasons for signing the non-aggression treaty with Germany, for ignoring Churchill's famous warnings, for mistrusting his own excellent spies, and for being caught by surprise on June 22, 1941. Interestingly, all of Suvorov's claims can be verified with ease. It remains to be seen whether his conclusions are correct, but one must admit (even on second reading) that he has built a compelling case.

Why did the Soviets destroy their own defense line? Why did they dismantle all their mine fields? Why did they disband the partisans? Why did they create so many parachutists? Why did they create all those excellent tanks that were only usable on the roads of Western Europe? Why did they have marines in Belarus? What about the second strategic line? What about the armies of ex-convicts from the GULAGs? Excellent questions and troublesome answers that put Hitler's suicidal actions in a different light entirely. Maybe the Germans opened the second front (knowing very well that they could not hope to win anything but a lightning war... which by definition is impossible in the vast Russian territories). Maybe it is true that the attack on the USSR was a desperate attempt to preempt the devastating might that would have conquered Europe within weeks. Much like the Japanese attack on the US, this plan was doomed to failure from the start. It may have saved Western Europe the liberation that send the east half back to the dark ages.

Suvorov seems to be building an interesting case. Lenin (and Stalin) understood that communism could not survive in one country, let alone a backward agrarian one like Soviet Russia. They needed the industrial might of the capitalist West, except World War I did not meet their expectations and the oppressed working masses did not rise to trample the capitalists despite the energetic urges of the Soviets. Lenin signed the Brest-Litovsk peace and ceded enormous territories to the Germans because (i) they wanted the war to continue in the west, and (ii) they needed all their strength for the bloody and tragic Civil War in Russia. This they did fully aware that Germany was destined to lose the war. Stalin continued Lenin's line faithfully. He sacrificed the lives of millions so that the USSR could build the military machine necessary to conquer the entire west (except the US). Hitler foiled his plans by striking a paltry two weeks earlier than the planned Soviet date thereby forcing the Russians to improvise their defenses. What if Suvorov is right?

October 15, 2000. BLS

@BOOK{suvorov-93:icebreaker,
    TITLE     = {Ledorazbivach},
    AUTHOR    = {Viktor Suvorov},
    YEAR      = {1993},
    PUBLISHER = {Stodis},
    ADDRESS   = {Russe},
    NOTE      = {Pp. 343}
}