Stalin's absolute control, misconceptions, and disastrous decisions -- Stalin versus Hitler : Background -- The outspoken general : Ivan Iosifovich Proskurov -- Proskurov sets stalin straight -- Soviet borders move westward -- The Finns fight : Proskurov made a scapegoat -- Soviet military intelligence residencies in Western Europe -- Soviet Military intelligence residencies in Eastern Europe -- Who were you, Dr. Sorge? Stalin never heard of you -- NKVD foreign intelligence -- Fitin's recruited spies -- Listening to the enemy -- Working on the railroad -- The border troops knew -- Proskurov is fired -- Golikov and Operation Sea Lion -- "We do not fire on German aircraft in peacetime" -- German deception : why did Stalin believe it? -- Secret letters -- The purges revived -- On the eve -- A summer of torture -- The final reckoning -- Will the future be a repeat of the past? -- Appendices.