Operation Pike: Britain Versus the Soviet Union, 1939-1941

This study reveals the extent of British military planning against the Soviet Union during the first two years of World War II. These plans, formulated on the widespread belief that Soviet Russia was an active and willing partner in Adolf Hitler’s war of conquest, were designed to bring the Soviets to their knees and deprive Nazi Germany of vital raw materials, especially oil. Churchill himself was one of the leading proponents of action that would have led to an Anglo-Soviet conflict even as the war with Germany raged on. Utilizing many documents, Patrick R. Osborn challenges conventional wisdom that Allied hopes were pinned on a Soviet entry into the war against Germany and proposes instead that, had the Nazis not successfully invaded France in May 1940, the Allies might well have launched their own offensive against the Soviet Union.