Operation Unthinkable
After having my interest stirred by the thread here on RAF supply drops during the Warsaw rising, I was amazed to read of "Operation Unthinkable". This was to have involved re-arming German prisoners of war in May 1945 to face the Soviets in order to, in Churchills words, "ensure a square deal for Poland". Chiefs of staff thought the idea barking, so the plan never got further than stockpiling captured German weapons. Soviet spies in Whitehall however promptly relayed details to Stalin which must have further heightened what was already an atmosphere of mistrust, setting the tone for the Cold War.