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Operation Unthinkable was the codename of a battle plan made by the United States and the United Kingdom in the case of war with the Soviet Union immediately after the end of World War II in Europe in May 1945.

Prime Minister Winston Churchill ordered the creation of war plans for World War III in May 1945, as the Allied chiefs of staff were concerned that the presence of 228 Soviet infantry divisions, 36 armored divisions, 11,802 tactical aircraft, and 960 strategic aircraft (to the Allies' 80 infantry divisions, 23 armored divisions, 6,048 tactical aircraft, and 2,750 strategic aircraft) in Central Europe would present a threat to a postwar Europe. Operation Unthinkable would be launched under the justification of seeking a "square deal" for Poland. The hypothetical start for the Allied offensive against the communists would begin on 1 July 1945, four days before the British general election. 47 British and American divisions would attack the middle of the Soviet lines at Dresden, while Polish forces and 10 remobilized German divisions would join the fight. If a quick success could not be obtained before the beginning of winter, the Allies would be committed to a protracted total war. As the war with Japan was still ongoing, the Western Allies anticipated the formation of a USSR-Japan alliance in the Pacific.

The Cambridge Five spy cell warned the Soviets of the Allied preparations for war, causing Marshal Georgy Zhukov to order Soviet forces in Poland to regroup in June 1945 and prepare their positions for defense. By 22 May, however, the Allies had concluded that an offensive against the numerically superior Soviets would be hazardous. The Allies continued to consider their possibilities for an anti-Soviet war into 1946 as Italy and Yugoslavia disputed control over the Julian March.

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