I have my doubts about that. Russia attack Germany - with what? The Soviet army was in no shape for a long term offensive against the Germans in 1939.
Attack on Russia was in 1941. Until then, the Nazis and Soviets were allies.
I agree. That was Nazi party propaganda of that era,, not really based in fact. Stalin had done a number on his own military. They were in no shape to attack Germany then. And also the Germans were well aware that they were not about to be attacked. They had conducted -extensive- deep reconnaissance flights for months ahead of the invasion of the USSR.
This guy I argue with is from Austria, and he claims that's what his father (A Doctor in the German Army) said, and that's what he was taught in his history classes.
I would go back and ask him for more detail, but I really don't like him. He's a foreign Pr*ck who's married to an American, now living in Austin Texas, and pushing his socialist mindset here in this country.
I've told him several times he needs to go back to Austria, because he certainly isn't wanted here.
Also, a year earlier, the Germans watched the difficulty the USSR had in taking on Finland. Nobody could seriously argue the Germany feared a Soviet invasion.
The only threat they could have ever posed there was in subversion and assisting any German communists in taking on the Nazis.
But the window for that was also realistically gone too.
When Germany & Russia invaded Poland with little effort, Stalin thought he could similarly annex Finland. The Finns had experienced Communism in the 20s and knew that they didn’t want that. 1.5M of the Soviet army did not come back from the Finland adventure and the Finns only lost because they ran out of ammunition. With this fiasco, Hitler figured the Soviet Union was a pushover.