See also: foreign trade; Germany, relations with the National Socialist-Soviet Pact of 1939; During World War II, Stalin was sure of victory, even when Hitler`s troops pushed the suburbs of Moscow in the fall and winter of 1941. This was followed by a series of perceived German goodwill signals and the replacement of Litvinov by Molotov. [186] [187] [188] According to Geoffrey Roberts, documents recently published in Soviet diplomatic acts show that Western historians were mistaken in assuming that the Merekalov Weiszäcker meeting in April 1939 was the cause of Soviet signals of desire for détente with Nazi Germany. [189] His position,[172] supported by Derek Watson,[87] and Jonathan Haslam,[190] is that the change in policy did not take place until late July 1939 – August 1939 and that it was a consequence rather than a cause of the collapse of the Franco-Anglo-Soviet tripartite alliance negotiations. .