Igor Bunich

Igor Bunich is a Russian historian known for offering a number of revisionist interpretations of Russian history. He is most famous for claiming that Stalin was actively preparing to invade western Europe in 1941 before any suggestion of the German eastward assault in Operation Barbarossa.

Igor Bunich published 3 volumes with the title "Operacia Grosa" — "Operation Thunderstorm" — the first one in 1994, the last one 2004. In these books he communicates a plan of Stalin for an invasion of whole western Europe: "Operation Thunderstorm". It can be found in the so called "Osobaya Papka", a file which contains about 100,000 Top Secret documents. In this file it is document Nr.103202/06. The paper is signed by Marshal Timoshenko and the chief of the general-staff at that time Merezkov. It is dated 18.9.1940, three months before the German "Plan Barbarossa" was signed. After Zhukov became chief of the general staff in February 1941, the plan was called MP 41 (Mobilisatsyonni Plan 41). Bunic communicates the site in the Russian military archive, where it can be found (ZAMO, f. 15A, op.2154, d.4,l. 199-287). This document contains information about the Soviet military power in June 1941: 300 divisions, 8 million soldiers, 27.500 tanks, 32.628 airplanes. The total number of the German warplanes at that time was only about 6000.

Bunich is not the only Russian historian who questioned the thesis of the "coward attack of the Wehrmacht against the peace-loving Soviet Union". In 1989 appeared the book "Ledokol" (Icebreaker) by Viktor Suworow, who's real name was Vladimir Bogdanovich Resun, which had already this tendency. In February 1992 even the official military-historical Journal of the Russian forces — "Voenno-istorichesky Zhournal" — published an article with the heading "unquestionable facts of the war's beginning", where a speech of the Stalin-intimus Zhdanov from May 1941 was quoted, in which he expressed, that the Soviet Union had already started an "aggressive foreign policy" in 1939 with the decision to attack Finland.This article mentions also that the defense-efforts of the soviet-union were impeded by the prevailing aggressive thinking in the soviet general-staff until 1943 to that extent that no effective measures against the german assault could be taken.

Bunich does not at all intend to polish up the image of Adolf Hitler. His first intention is to analyze who is guilty of having caused the immense human losses of Russia in World War II. He discovered a document, in which the total number of killed Russian soldiers is said to be 30.5 million — 8.5 million of them directly killed in battle, 22 million died after from their wounds, one half of them through tetanus.In Bunich's view Stalin is not the main responsible for these human losses, but Zhukov. Stalin was a statesman but not a soldier, in strategic questions he had to rely on the advice of his generals, and Zhukov was not a very talented one. For example he gave order to pile up heaps of amunition under the bare sky in soviet occupied Poland to a kind of egyptian pyramides, which could be easily detected by the scout planes of the "Fliegerabteilung" of admiral Canaris' "Abwehr", which were patroulling every day over this region already month before the german attack, so, that the german side could get a good picture of this monstruos mass of men and material and could later on easily destroy it.

Bunich's "Operaciya Grosa'" is full of yet unknown facts about the third Reich. He reveales for example why Reinhard Heydrich was replaced as the head of the "SD" ("Sicherheitsdienst") by Walter Schellenberg and was made instead of this general governor of Bohemia: This happened because his big rival Admiral Canaris had showed to Hitler the file "Chaijm Aaron Heydrich", Heydrichs grandfather, who had been first violinist in the Vienna "Hofoperette" - and was jewish.Bunich mentions a remarkable talk between Walter Schellenberg and the Soviet ambassador to Germany, Dekanosov, which took place in March 1941. Both men were secret-service veterans this and a lot of good drinks created a good atmosphere between them. Dekanosov asked Schellenberg: "We heared that there exists a plan called Operation Barbarossa which means a German assault against us." Schellenberg remained quiet ans said: "This is correct, this plan exists, and it was elaborated with great thoroughness. We communicated this plan through secret channels to the Americans and the British to make them believe that we are preparing to attack You. If they believe it, we have a good chance to succeed with our "Operation Seelöwe". - But we also know about Your "Operation Grom"" ("Grom" means thunder and "Grosa" thunderstorm). Dekanosov informed Stalin about this talk with Schellenberg - and Stalin decided to believe Schellenberg!