England and France were preparing an attack on the USSR in the summer of 1940: Operation Pike.

The consequences of the destruction of the Baku oil fields could have been very serious for the USSR, if not deadly. There is no doubt that England and France would have carried out their intentions, implementing their Operation "Pike", which went in unison with Hitler's plans to attack the USSR. A blow from the combined forces of Europe: Germany, England and France could have been deadly for the USSR. But these intentions violated the business interests of the USA.Operation Pike: England and France planned to attack the USSR in the spring of 1940. This would have radically changed the course of World War II and the entire history of the 20th century. The question arises: who prevented a scenario that would be disastrous for the USSR and why?

After the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact on August 23, 1939, the British and French authorities became alarmed by the possible rapprochement between Germany and the USSR. This document was regarded by the European powers as an alliance treaty between Germany, which was threatening its neighbors, and the Bolshevik USSR, which was gaining industrial power. Perceiving the German-Soviet Pact as a direct threat to their own security, the British and French decided to develop a strategic operation for their own defense. By the way, when a year before this event, or more precisely on November 30, 1938, Britain, and a little later France, themselves signed a declaration of mutual non-aggression with Germany, for some reason this fact was not interpreted by the authorities of these countries as an act of alliance with fascist Germany.

Having achieved the absorption of Czechoslovakia thanks to the Munich Agreement, Hitler, encouraged by the authorities of these same European powers, who were ready to sacrifice the interests and sovereignty of small states for the sake of maintaining peace on the continent, very quickly began to get out of their control.

Such a scenario was disadvantageous for Britain and France, which followed in the wake of its policy, which for a long time satisfied Germany's needs only to set it against the USSR and get rid of the communist threat with someone else's hands. After the conclusion of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, the European giants feared the growth of oil imports from the USSR to Germany. This circumstance increased the military power of the Wehrmacht, which meant that Germany received an excellent chance to get rid of the dictate of London and Paris.

On January 19, 1940, French Prime Minister E. Daladier instructed the commanders-in-chief of the French land and sea forces to present their views on the possibility of bombing the Baku oil fields by the French Air Force from Syrian territory. At the same time, the US Ambassador to France, William Bullitt, immediately informed President Roosevelt that the French considered the bombing of Baku by the French Air Force to be the most effective way to weaken the Soviet Union. Attached was an analytical note provided by General Gamelin to the French Prime Minister that the lack of fuel would paralyze the armed forces of the USSR and its agriculture. This would make it possible to organize a large-scale famine or even the collapse of Russia: "The fundamental weakness of the Russian economy is its dependence on Caucasian oil. Both their armed forces and mechanized agriculture are completely dependent on this source. More than 90% of oil production and 80% of oil refining are concentrated in the Caucasus (mainly in Baku). Therefore, any significant interruption in oil supplies will have far-reaching consequences, and may even lead to the collapse of Russia's military, industrial and agricultural systems."

On March 8, 1940, the British Chiefs of Staff Committee prepared a memorandum, "Military Consequences of Operations Against Russia in 1940." This document envisaged three main directions of operations against the USSR: northern (in the Petsamo, Murmansk and Arkhangelsk areas), Far Eastern and southern. The report emphasized that "the most vulnerable targets in the Caucasus are the oil industrial areas of Baku, Grozny and Batumi." It was noted that naval forces should be involved in air strikes: "carrier raids in the Black Sea with the aim of bombing oil refineries, oil storage facilities or port facilities at Batumi and Tuapse. These will be a useful supplement to the main air raids on the Caucasus region and may lead to the temporary destruction of Russian defenses." The immediate planning of the operation, codenamed "Operation Pike", was started by the British in March 1940. By April, plans for air strikes on Baku, Batumi and Grozny from air bases in Iran, Turkey and Syria were ready. The operation was scheduled to begin on May 15, 1940.

French Prime Minister P. Reynaud wrote to the British government on March 25: "Decisive operations in the Black and Caspian Seas are necessary for the Allies, first of all, to paralyze the entire economy of the USSR before the Reich manages to use it for its own interests."

The French Prime Minister continues: "The absence of a state of war between the Allies and Russia may perhaps be regarded by the English Government as an obstacle to such action. But the French Government considers that we should not hesitate to take upon ourselves, if necessary, the responsibility for a break with Russia."

On March 30, 1940, a British Lockheed 12A reconnaissance aircraft, taking off from a British airbase in Iraq, took stereoscopic photographs of Baku and the adjacent oil fields and storage facilities from a height of 7 km. Four days later, the same aircraft reconnoitred the areas of Batumi and Poti, where oil refineries were located. This time, Soviet anti-aircraft artillery opened fire on it twice, firing 34 shells, but failed to hit.

And what about Stalin?

In April 1940, Soviet RUS-1 radar systems were relocated from the Karelian Isthmus to Transcaucasia. In April-May 1940, front-line air brigade commands and 9 air regiments, two medium-bomber brigades, and two long-range bomber brigades were transferred from the Northwestern Front. Additionally, three fighter regiments were relocated from the
Belorussian and Moscow military districts.
Despite the measures taken by Stalin, the high vulnerability of the Baku oil fields to massive aerial bombardment was inevitable.

Stalin understood that the only hope to escape from the blow of the Anglo-French "Spear" was the influential American Rockefeller clan.

The Baku oil fields, pipelines and refineries were prudently transferred by Stalin to the Rockefellers in a 50% concession - in exchange for financial and technological support for Soviet industrialization. Therefore, Stalin was not particularly worried about the destruction of the Baku oil fields. Stalin was sure that the United States would not allow England and France to destroy the invested capital of Rockefeller.

Stalin at one time contributed to the creation of the Russian-American Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Rockefeller, which became the main trading partner of the USSR. By that time, John Rockefeller united all his enterprises in the Standard Oil Trust. The trust controlled 91% of oil production and 85% of sales in the United States and almost 100% of export deliveries. Its structure included 41 companies, 20,000 oil wells, 4,000 miles of pipelines, and 5,000 tanker trucks. John Rockefeller provided the Bolsheviks with a $75 million loan. Under a 1927 agreement, New York's Standard Oil built oil refineries in Soviet Russia. Thanks to the active participation of American Rockefeller capital in Russia, the United States government officially recognized the Soviet state in 1933.
And Stalin was not mistaken, on April 9, 1940, Operation Weserübung began - the landing of German troops in Norway. This event pushed the operation against the Caucasian oil fields to the back burner of planning, the British had no time for Baku oil. Almost all of the British aviation that fought on the side of Norway was destroyed by Hitler's Luftwaffe. The British government urgently recalled air units from the Middle East, which had already been brought to full combat readiness to bomb the Caucasian oil fields.

Hitler could not refuse his friend Rockefeller a small request, and opened a front in Norway.
Rockefeller was the main sponsor of Hitler and fascist Germany. "Rockefeller's Standard Oil" alone sold Hitler gasoline and lubricants worth 20 million dollars through the German concern I.G. Farbenindustry. One Venezuelan branch of Standard Oil sent 13 thousand tons of oil to Germany every month, which the powerful chemical industry of the Reich immediately processed into the same gasoline. Until the middle of 1944, the tanker fleet of "neutral" Spain worked exclusively for the needs of the Wehrmacht, supplying it with Standard Oil. In addition to fuel, the Germans received tungsten from overseas, synthetic rubber, which the Fuhrer was supplied with by his great friend Mr. Henry Ford Sr. In particular, the Wehrmacht received 30% of the tires manufactured at Ford factories, and in the fall of 1942 alone, Ford's branch in Switzerland repaired 2 thousand German trucks." So, Hitler, as a business partner, could not refuse the USA in their small request. After which the defeat of England and France was only a matter of time.