Originally Posted by Gollandski Yozh
Soviet military doctrine was oriented on the offensive, but that was the case in the whole of Europe. The doctrine of 1941 was "vpolzanie v vojnu" ("creeping into war"). It assumed an attack (!) by an aggressor to be somewhat like WWI, i.e. BEFORE the main forces of the attacker were mobilized. The first phase would see small battles along the border after which the main force would come in and smash the invaders, quickly taking the war to the enemy's territory (the offensive phase, the "real" war). It was called winning the war "mogushim udarom, maloj krovju" ("with a great blow, little blood"). The Blitzkrieg, however, wasn't a first phase, it was a concentrated all-out blow by the main body of the Wehrmacht. The Soviets became victim of their outdated military doctrine. They weren't planning an attack westward.