Following an offline chat with a "lurker" about Soviet spying in the UK, which allegedly gained access to the work at Bletchely Park or its product once distributed. See: John Cairncross - the man who made Soviet victory at Kursk Possible We turned to discussing whether the Soviet Union, especially Stalin, knew of the planning underway by the Joint Planning Staff (JPS was a UK inter-service body) that considered a war with the Soviets? Given the Anglo-American planning for WW2, based in Washington DC, I wonder if the JPS had a relationship on post-war planning with them? The UK TNA call this body: From:War Cabinet and Cabinet Office: British Joint Staff Mission and British Joint Services Mission: Washington Office Records | The National Archives I have a recollection that the JPS plans started when PM Churchill was in office; the "lurker" wondered whether PM Atlee cancelled such planning. The recollection may have been in a book on the meetings between Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin. Alas my bookshelves have no such book now. There are four thread on the UK JPS here, none refer to this subject.
Hi David, There is a copy of Operation "Unthinkable" dated 22 May 1945 on-line on UK National Archives website (CAB 120-691). 'Operation Unthinkable' - The National Archives Brooke's diary entries for: 24 May 1945 [...] This evening I went carefully through the Planners' report on the possibility of taking on Russia should trouble arise in our future discussions with her. We were instructed to carry out this investigation. The idea is of course quite fantastic and the chances of success quite impossible. There is no doubt that from now onwards Russia is all powerful in Europe. 31 May 1945: We again discussed the 'unthinkable war' against Russia at this morning's COS, and became more convinced than ever that it is 'unthinkable'! Regards Tom
Thanks Tom. So, the planners report was after VE-Day and so the PM was Churchill. Now did the USSR know of this contingency assessment being requested and submitted?
I don't know whether and how much Stalin actually knew about it. I only know rumors. But I can contribute a little to the potential German contingent: There were 4 restricted areas in northern Germany in which around 1.4 million members of the Wehrmacht were interned under extensive self-administration. Reception area I: Northwestern East Frisia - internment area for approx. 180,000 prisoners of war. Reception area II: North-eastern Lower Saxony - internment area for approx. 260,000 prisoners of war. Reception area III: Eiderstedt/Norder- and Süder-Dithmarschen districts - internment area for approx. 410,000 prisoners of war (including Baltic, Croatian and Hungarian troops). Separated from the other nations, the members of the anti-Soviet “Vlasov Army” were held prisoner in Christianskoog and finally transported away by British troops to be handed over to the Soviet Union. After the release of all internees, the area was officially dissolved on October 12, 1945. Reception area IV: Ostholstein without Fehmarn - internment area for approx. 570,000 prisoners of war. After the release of the members of the Wehrmacht, the area was dissolved on March 21, 1946. There were also 20,000 confiscated vehicles on the former Kaltenkirchen military airfield alone. What military equipment was stored at the several “eclipse dumps” is beyond my knowledge The operation was later redesigned as a purely defensive strategy. The USA had similar considerations with OP Pincher. Ultimately, however, it was probably the atomic bombs that created sufficient deterrent potential against the conventional Soviet superiority As far as the motivation and fighting morale of German soldiers were concerned, they should have been more than just fairly low with regard to a renewed offensive action against the Soviets. After all, since Operation Bagration at the latest, the experience of simply being bulldozed despite fierce resistance was all too present. And the prospect of ending up in Siberia as a survivor didn't make things any more attractive...
Don't overlook Operation Gladio in Italy that was set up by the CIA (and perhaps MI-6) which applied the British Stay-Behinds and German Werewolf to post-war Europe. People were trained and weapon caches established for operatives who were in areas overrunned by the Soviets or Warsaw Pact. I'm sure there were similar things in elsewhere. I know the CIA assisted the Ukrainians, Mongolians and Tibetans in post WW II era. I suspect Poland had CIA activity too (I knew an ethnic Polish-American woman who as a girl was trained in outdoor survival, tracking and weapons usage - she and her brother were being prepared for operations inside of Poland).
Itdan & Riter, Thank you for your posts. My focus is on whether the USSR (Joe Stalin) know of the British military contingency assessment being requested and submitted? Itdan - I cannot imagine German POWs in Allied custody wanting to resume the war in 1945. Riter - a few years ago I read online sources on Operation Galdio and the less plentiful sources on other "stay behind" operations. Gladio in Italy is marked by the use of explosives stored in extreme right bombings, one at a railway station (Bologna) in 1980. See: Bologna massacre - Wikipedia
I have discovered a book that may help: 'the Official History of the Joint Intelligence Committee: Volume 1 From the approach of the Second World War to the Suez Crisis' by Michael S. Goodman, published 2016 and read then. It will join the queue of reading.
As I already wrote: I only know rumors, especially since the Soviet documents are not accessible. The most concrete thing I know about it are the Soviet objections to organized units of the German army in the British zone References: Montgomery's Records of the Occupation of Germany, Part 3, Imperial War Museum, BLM 87 M.E. Pelly and H.J.Yasamee (eds.) with the assistance of G.Bennett, Documents on British Policy Overseas, Series 1, Volume 5, Germany and Western Europe 11 August - 31 December 1945, London: Her Majesty's Stationary Office, 1990 https://howitreallywas.typepad.com/how_it_really_was/2009/09/operation-unthinkable.html IF the Kremlin really did have solid knowledge of this, one can at least wonder why it was not exploited for propaganda purposes during the cold war?
By chance I discovered in an old (2018) email an article 'An Open Secret: British Open Source Intelligence during the Second World War'. See: Leaving aside the OSINT aspect it refers to: Referring to the alleged role of John Cairncross:
