245. Cripps, in some desperation back on April 23, 1941, had telegrammed London about Soviet-German negotiations (which did not exist), speculating that Hitler could get what he wanted from Moscow by blackmail without war, and that the Soviets feared a separate deal between Britain and Germany, which could be used by London to prevent a Soviet-German deal. He stressed that only the fear of a separate peace would bring the Soviets around to the British side. This had been intercepted and decrypted, and forwarded by Fitin on May 5 to Stalin, Molotov, and Beria. Naumov, 1941 god, II: 152–3 (TsA FSB, f. Zos, op. 8, d. 56, l. 1160–3). Cadogan noted in his diary (May 30, 1941), effectively repudiating Cripps, that because of British military weakness, its diplomacy was “completely hamstrung. For instance—Russia. You can’t do anything nowadays with any country unless you can a) threaten b) bribe it. Russia has a) no fear of us whatever and b) we have nothing to offer her.” Dilks, Diaries of Sir Alexander Cadogan, 382.
246. Woodward, British Foreign Policy, I: 614–5; Gorodetsky, Mission to Moscow, 134–5.
247. Gorodetsky, Grand Delusion, 262–7 (citing AVP RF, f. 059, op. 1, pap. 352, d. 2402, l. 174, and The Times, May 27, 1941). See also Görtemaker, “Bizarre Mission,” 75–101; Kettenacker, “Mishandling a Spectacular Event,” 19–38; and Fox, “Propaganda.” On June 5, Maisky insisted to Eden that no German-Soviet negotiations were under way; Eden replied that he knew they were. Gorodetsky, Grand Delusion, 273 (citing AVP RF, f. 059, op. 1, pap. 352, d. 2402, l. 149–52: Maisky to Moscow); Gorodetsky, Maisky Diaries, 359. Woodward gives the date of this encounter as June 10: British Foreign Policy, I: 620.
248. Sudoplatov, Special Tasks, 123. See also Gorodetsky, Grand Delusion, 221–2. The Japanese ambassador to Moscow complained to Tokyo that Soviet counterintelligence was smothering, adding that “they steal suitcases from military attachés.” Khaustov, “Deiatel’nost’ organov,” 289 (TsA FSb, f. 3, op. 5, d. 82, l. 51), 304 (TsA FSB, f. 66, op. 1, d. 391, l. 55). Schulenburg reported to Berlin (May 24, 1941) that he had been received by Molotov with the familiar degree of confidence and in the same office as previously, albeit with the nameplate altered (to deputy chairman), but that Molotov effectively held the same position of power as previously—Stalin’s top deputy. The ambassador added that Soviet policy remained “directed at avoidance of a conflict with Germany,” which was “proved by the attitude taken by the Soviet government in the last few weeks, the tone of the Soviet press, . . . and the observance of the trade agreements concluded with Germany.” Nonetheless, he began to resign himself to having failed in his larger mission. He had finally acquired his dream castle, the Burg Falkenberg in the Upper Palatinate, in the late 1930s, and, after Molotov’s disastrous Nov. 1940 visit to Berlin, Hitler had ordered that the count be given a humongous bribe, 200,000 reichsmarks, which the count had used to renovate it. Herwarth, Against Two Evils, 95–6; Sontag and Biddie, Nazi-Soviet Relations, 344–5; Fleischhauer, Diplomatischer Widerstand, 312, 404n; DVP SSSR, XXIII/ii: 521 (Soviet assessment of Schulenburg, from the former KGB archive).
249. Fleischhauer, Diplomatischer Widerstand, 194.
250. Some have speculated that the aircraft delivered a letter from Hitler for Stalin, supposedly a response to an earlier Stalin letter requesting an explanation for the German troop build-up. Zhukov, in interviews in 1966, said: “Sometime in early June I decided that I should again try to convince Stalin of the accuracy of the intelligence reports on the approaching danger. . . . Together with Defense Commissar Semyon Konstantinovich Timoshenko we brought along general staff maps with the locations of enemy troops. I reported. Stalin listened attentively but silently. After my report he sent us away without giving us his opinion . . . A few days passed and Stalin called for me. When I entered he was seated at his desk. I approached. Then he opened the middle drawer and took out several pieces of paper. ‘Read,’ said Stalin. I began to read. It was a letter from Stalin to Hitler in which he briefly outlined his concern over the German deployments, about which I had reported a few days earlier.” Bezymenskii, Gitler i Stalin, 472. Zhukov told Simonov around the same time (1965–6) that at a Jan. 1941 meeting Stalin said he had “turned to Hitler in a personal letter advising him that this was known to us, that it surprised us, and that it created the impression among us that Hitler intended to go to war with us.” Hitler’s supposed reply: Yes, there are large military formations on the frontier, but they “are not directed against the Soviet Union.” Simonov, “Zametki k biografii G. K. Zhukova,” 50–1 (published twenty-one years after the conversation). No such documents have emerged from Soviet or German archives. Hitler did have a secret archive, but in the bunker on April 22, 1945, he would order his adjutant to liquidate the contents of two safes; other such safes were found in Berghof and in his Munich apartment; their contents would be destroyed, including Hitler’s correspondence with heads of state. But even so, copies would be expected to be in Soviet archives.
251. Sontag and Biddie, Nazi-Soviet Relations, 339–41; Fel’shtinskii, SSSR-Germaniia, II: 164–5. That same evening, Schulenburg received instructions from Berlin to inform the Soviets that the alleged seventy-one border violations by Germans were “being investigated,” and that the investigation would “require some time.” Sontag and Biddie, Nazi-Soviet Relations, 341–42. According to Zhukov, sometime in May 1941 Stalin told him and Timoshenko that German ambassador Schulenburg had requested that German officers be allowed to reconnoiter the Soviet border in what they presented as a search for the graves of German soldiers who went missing in World War I. Zhukov, Vospominaniia, I: 346–7; Ivanov, Shtab armeiskii, 98–9.
252. Mawdsley, “Crossing the Rubicon,” 849–53. See also Lota, “Alta” protiv “Barbarsossy,” 309–10.
253. The proposed surprise attack of 152 divisions and 3,000–4,000 aircraft against German positions in former southern Poland carried timetables and maps of the theater (one map carried a date, the lone one on the document). Gor’kov, “Gotovil li,” 40–5; Gor’kov, Kreml’, 303–9; Naumov, 1941 god, II: 215–20 (TsAMO, f. 16, op. 2951, d. 237, l. 1–15); Bobylev, “Tochku v diskussii stavit’ rano”; Zakharov, General’nyi shtab, 219–21. A partial, misleading version of the Vasilevsky plan was published: Kiselev, “Upriamye fakty nachala voiny,” 18–22. There has also been misleading commentary: Volkogonov, Triumf i tragediia, II/i: 136. For an analysis, see Bezymenskii, “O ‘Plane Zhukova.’” Bezymensky was Zhukov’s interpreter during the war. He reproduced a facsimile of some pages of the May 15 war plan (showing the quality penmanship). Bezymenskii, Gitler i Stalin, 478–9. The April 1941 local version of the war plan stated: “The USSR does not contemplate attacking Germany and Italy. These states are probably also not contemplating attacking the USSR in the near future.” Solonin, “Tri plana tovarischa Stalina,” 45–49.