Were Britain and France aware of the Chechen rebellion against the Soviet oppression when they were making plans for Operation Pike (bombing the Soviet oilfields of Baku)?
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Maybe, but I don’t think so. Operation Pike was planned as a reaction to the Soviet Invasion of Poland and really took of with the Winter War.
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Perhaps Britain restarted planning for Operation Pike in 1945 as part of Operation Unthinkable and considered support for the Chechens then.
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Well Operation Pike was revived after the Germans initiated Operation Barbarossa as a contingency plan for if the Axis took the Caucuses. As far as Operation Unthinkable reviving Operation Pike, I’m not aware of any part of the Allies considering the Chechens.
This bit here is gonna be me speculating. The Chechen rebellion had limited aid from the Germans in 1942, so maybe the Allies didn’t want to touch the situation after the war with being associated with a perceived “collaboration” group. Perhaps the Allies were also not wanting to upset the Soviets during the war, or just didn’t know about the Chechens before the war and weren’t gonna bring it up. It’s possible that the Allies could have used the NKVD’s deportations of the Chechens in 1944 as a propaganda boost as the early Cold War was starting. Again, if the Allies knew about the situation in the Caucuses and wanted to act on it. Remember, there had been the previous Russian Civil War and the Allied Intervention to help the White Army failed. Operation Pike was meant to be a reaction to the USSR’s aggression in Poland and Finland. It was to deter the Soviets, but never passed the planning process. If the Allies had planned to go in boots on the ground, maybe they would’ve considered linking up with the Chechen rebels, but Operation Pike was a bombing mission not a ground operation. Your question is very interesting, there just isn’t a lot of info on the Allies and their relationship with the Chechens during Operation Pike’s planing.
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