Why did the Soviet high command, headed by Stalin, station the bulk of Soviet troops so close to the front, allowing them to be encircled and wiped out by the Germans in the first phase of Barbarossa?
Was he trying to attack western Europe, like it had been claimed by the Nazis and some historians, thus Barbarossa preempted the Soviet invasion by "just days";
Or was it because the Soviets tried to protect their industrial and agricultural heartland from being taken, just like what the Poles tried to do?