Hitler had been dead for three weeks when Churchill asked his generals for a plan to attack the Soviet Union. German soldiers were supposed to march on his side. The plan was called Operation UNTHINKABLE. In May 1945, British military planners examined a surprise attack on the Red Army, with July 1 set as the starting date. The offensive would involve British and American forces, Polish troops, and rearmed Wehrmacht divisions. But Stalin already knew what was coming from Soviet intelligence. In June, Marshal Zhukov unexpectedly regrouped Soviet forces and strengthened their defenses. Meanwhile, British generals were doing the math. The Red Army outnumbered Western forces in Central Europe by roughly three to one. A quick victory looked unlikely, and a full-scale war against the USSR could drag on for years. Churchill never launched the attack. But he had ordered his generals to prepare for war against the very country Britain had just fought alongside. As Leo Tolstoy put it, “A word is an action.”