Triumph and Tragedy (The Second World War) (105 page)

I must also give expression to our British sentiments
about all the valiant and magnanimous deeds of the
United States of America under the leadership of
President Roosevelt, so steadfastly carried forward by
you, Mr. President, since his death in action. They will
for ever stir the hearts of Britons in all quarters of the
world in which they dwell, and will, I am certain, lead to
even closer affections and ties than those that have
been fanned into flame by the two World Wars through
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which we have passed with harmony and elevation of
mind.

My wife was in Moscow at this time, and I therefore asked her to deliver my message there.

Prime Minister to Mrs.

8 May 45

Churchill (Moscow)

It would be a good thing if you broadcast to the
Russian people tomorrow, Wednesday, provided that
were agreeable to the Kremlin. If so you might give
them the following message from me, on which of
course our Embassy would obtain approval:

“Prime Minister to Marshal Stalin, to the Red Army,
and to the Russian people. From the British nation I
send you heartfelt greetings on the splendid victories
you have won in driving the invader from your soil and
laying the Nazi tyrant low. It is my firm belief that on the
friendship and understanding between the British and
Russian peoples depends the future of mankind. Here
in our island home we are thinking today very often
about you all, and we send you from the bottom of our
hearts our wishes for your happiness and well-being,
and that, after all the sacrifices and sufferings of the
Dark Valley through which we have marched together,
we may also in loyal comradeship and sympathy walk
in the sunshine of victorious peace. I have asked my
wife to speak these few words of friendship and
admiration to you all.”

Let me know what you will do. Much love. W.

In this atmosphere of general goodwill Stalin sent his answer.

A MESSAGE TO THE ARMED FORCES AND THE PEOPLES

OF GREAT BRITAIN FROM THE PEOPLES OF THE SOVIET

UNION

Marshal

Stalin

to

10 May 45

Prime Minister

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I send my personal greetings to you, the stout-hearted British Armed Forces and the whole British
people, and I congratulate you with all my heart on the
great victory over our common enemy, German
imperialism. This historic victory has been achieved by
the joint struggle of the Soviet, British, and American
Armies for the liberation of Europe.

I express my confidence in the further successful
and happy development in the post-war period of the
friendly relations which have grown up between our
countries in the period of the war.

I have instructed our Ambassador in London to
convey my congratulations to you all on the victory we
have won and to give you my very best wishes.

The unconditional surrender of our enemies was the signal for the greatest outburst of joy in the history of mankind.

The Second World War had indeed been fought to the bitter end in Europe. The vanquished as well as the victors felt inexpressible relief. But for us in Britain and the British Empire, who had alone been in the struggle from the first day to the last and staked our existence on the result, there was a meaning beyond what even our most powerful and most valiant Allies could feel. Weary and worn, impoverished but undaunted and now triumphant, we had a moment that was sublime. We gave thanks to God for the noblest of all His blessings, the sense that we had done our duty.

When in these tumultuous days of rejoicing I was asked to speak to the nation I had borne the chief responsibility in our Island for almost exactly five years. Yet it may well be there were few whose hearts were more heavily burdened with anxiety than mine. After reviewing the varied tale of our fortunes I struck a sombre note which may be recorded here.

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“I wish,” I said, “I could tell you tonight that all our toils and troubles were over. Then indeed I could end my five years’

service happily, and if you thought that you had had enough of me and that I ought to be put out to grass I would take it with the best of grace. But, on the contrary, I must warn you, as I did when I began this five years’ task — and no one knew then that it would last so long — that there is still a lot to do, and that you must be prepared for further efforts of mind and body and further sacrifices to great causes if you are not to fall back into the rut of inertia, the confusion of aim, and the craven fear of being great. You must not weaken in any way in your alert and vigilant frame of mind.

Though holiday rejoicing is necessary to the human spirit, yet it must add to the strength and resilience with which every man and woman turns again to the work they have to do, and also to the outlook and watch they have to keep on public affairs.

“On the continent of Europe we have yet to make sure that the simple and honourable purposes for which we entered the war are not brushed aside or overlooked in the months following our success, and that the words

‘freedom,’‘democracy,’ and ‘liberation’ are not distorted from their true meaning as we have understood them. There would be little use in punishing the Hitlerites for their crimes if law and justice did not rule, and if totalitarian or police Governments were to take the place of the German invaders. We seek nothing for ourselves. But we must make sure that those causes which we fought for find recognition at the peace table in facts as well as words, and above all we must labour to ensure that the World Organisation which the United Nations are creating at San Francisco does not become an idle name, does not become a shield for the strong and a mockery for the weak.

It is the victors who must search their hearts in their glowing Triumph and Tragedy

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hours, and be worthy by their nobility of the immense forces that they wield.

“We must never forget that beyond all lurks Japan, harassed and falling, but still a people of a hundred millions, for whose warriors death has few terrors. I cannot tell you tonight how much time or what exertions will be required to compel the Japanese to make amends for their odious treachery and cruelty. We, like China, so long undaunted, have received horrible injuries from them ourselves, and we are bound by the ties of honour and fraternal loyalty to the United States to fight this great war at the other end of the world at their side without flagging or failing. We must remember that Australia and New Zealand and Canada were and are all directly menaced by this evil power. These Dominions came to our aid in our dark times, and we must not leave unfinished any task which concerns their safety and their future. I told you hard things at the beginning of these last five years; you did not shrink, and I should be unworthy of your confidence and generosity if I did not still cry: Forward, unflinching, unswerving, indomitable, till the whole task is done and the whole world is safe and clean.”

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14

An Uneasy Interlude

Tito’s Troops Enter Trieste — My Correspondence
with President Truman, April
27
to April
30 —
The
German

Garrison

Surrenders

to

General

Freyberg, May
2 —
My Instructions to Field-Marshal Alexander — A Strong and Welcome
Telegram from the President, May
2
— I Urge a
Standfast Order for the American Forces in Europe

—
Hesitation in Washington — More Difficulties in
Trieste — The President and I Send Joint
Instructions to Eisenhower and Alexander —

Stalin’s Telegram of
21
June and My Reply —

Crisis in the Levant — My Speech to the Commons of February
27 —
Fighting in Beirut, Aleppo,
and Damascus — The British Commander-in-Chief Restores Order, May
31 —
Difficulties with
France in the Alpes-Maritimes — Mr. Truman’s
Indignation and General de Gaulle’s Reply.

A
S THE GERMAN ARMIES in Italy retreated, Tito’s forces had pushed rapidly into Italian territory in the northeast.

They hoped to seize the lands which they claimed in this area, and in particular to capture Trieste before the Anglo-American troops arrived. Both the Americans and ourselves were not only determined to prevent any frontiers being settled in this manner before the Peace Treaty, but also intended to secure Trieste, with its splendid port, as the essential supply point for the future occupation of zones in Triumph and Tragedy

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Austria. We were clear on these issues, and General Alexander, who had visited Tito at Belgrade in March, was accordingly authorised to take the steps necessary to secure the position.

Even before the surrender of the German armies I had raised the question of Trieste with President Truman. “It seems to me vital,” I said on April 27, “to get Trieste if we can do so in the easy manner proposed, and to run the risks inherent in these political-military operations. The late President always attached great importance to Trieste, which he thought should be an international port forming an outlet into the Adriatic from all the regions of the Danube basin. There are many points to consider about this, but that there should be an outlet to the south seems of interest to the trade of many States involved. The great thing is to be there before Tito’s guerrillas are in occupation.

Therefore it does not seem to me there is a minute to wait.

The actual status of Trieste can be determined at leisure….

I should be most grateful if you would give your personal attention to this.”

On the 30th Mr. Truman said he agreed there was no need to ask the Russians beforehand while operations were going on. Before entering Venezia Giulia, Alexander would explain his intentions to Tito and make it clear that any Yugoslav forces in the area must come under our command. Alexander’s instructions were to communicate with the Combined Chiefs, of Staff before taking further action if the Yugoslavs did not co-operate. The President thought this was important, for he wished to avoid having Americans fighting Yugoslav forces or being used in Balkan combats.

Alexander told me on May 1 that he expected troops of the Eighth Army to reach Trieste within the next twenty-four