Introduction

It has now become sufficiently clear that military chiefs, and “expert opinion” generally, in this country quite misunderstood and seriously under-estimated the equipment and fighting quality of the Soviet Army and Air Force. This may have been due to mis-information or to political prejudice or to a mixture of both. At any rate, people who should have known better, including leading members of the Government, chose to take their cue from a Lindbergh or the Memoranda of the Imperial Policy Group with their soi-disant expert opinion. Most people are aware of the extent to which “brass hats” during the week of June 22 frankly stated in private that they “gave Russia ten days”, and probably adopted a quite defeatist attitude towards Anglo-Soviet military co-operation in consequence.