... common reason given, and in most cases the first that one comes across when studying this part of the Second World War is that of Soviet military deception. When analysing the military powers at this time, it was Germany who were the most feared. This was due to the fact that the state of their armed forces was one of the best kept secrets in the pre-war period. In his book 'The Road to Stalingrad', John Erickson states that it was indeed German policy that dictated the reaction of the other powers and not allied military policy. Even though the German army was being heavily surveyed at this point it was still unclear as to their exact capabilities, however, it was becoming clear that soon the Germans would once again possess real military power; Tukhachevskii ......... pointed to Pétain's argument, that no longer could the French Army rely on time to ...

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