>>18067757
They were in a forward position and that's literally your only argument.
They had been in a forward position much of the inter-war period as well. It had to do with Soviet military thinking and doctrine where counter-attack was emphasised to take the fight to the enemy in the event of a war.
Generals such as Tukhachevsky that advocated tactical withdraw were executed during the purge because it was regarded as defeatism or conspiring with the enemy.
The fact that the Soviets were taken completely by suprise is the result of multiple factors of neglect, denial and foreign policy to appease and cooperate with Germany, it had nothing to do with these supposed preparations for war.
Even those like Suvorov who argues for a Soviet prepared offensive does not do so from the point of 1941. The Soviet military was in the process of rehabilitation, restructure, retraining, and rearming after the disaster in Finland and the German success against France, these self-correcting programs were estimated to be completed by 1944 at the earliest. The idea that the Soviets were planning a major offensive across Europe in 1941 after Finland is absurd. Axis-Soviet talks were focused on extending Soviet influence over the Bosporus and the Persian corridor, Stalin wanted the cooperation at all cost to continue for as long as possible since the USSR was already getting everything they wanted.
In the spring and summer of 1941 the Soviets were increasing their quotas of oil and metal to the Germans while the Germans were withholding their quotas to the Soviets, specifically because they were preparing a war with the Soviets.
