Triumph and Tragedy (The Second World War) (121 page)

“we might be fighting the Germans on the American coast at the present time. This justifies us in regarding these matters as above the purely financial plane.” I said I had told the election crowds that we were living to a large extent upon American imported food, for which we could not pay, but we had no intention of being kept by any country, however near to us in friendship. We should have to ask for help to become a going concern again, and until we got our wheels turning properly we could be of little use to world security or any of the high purposes of San Francisco. The Triumph and Tragedy

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President said he would do his very utmost; but of course I knew all the difficulties he might have in his own country.

I then spoke about Imperial Preference, and explained that it might cause a split in the Conservative Party if it were not wisely handled. I had heard that America was making great reductions in her tariff. The President said it had been reduced by 50 per cent, and he now had authority to reduce it by another 50 per cent, leaving it at one-quarter of its pre-war height. I replied that this was a great factor, and would have a powerful influence on our Dominions, especially Canada and Australia.

The President raised the subject of air and communications. He had great difficulties to face about airfields in British territory, especially in Africa, which the Americans had built at enormous cost. We ought to meet them on this, and arrange a fair plan for common use. I assured him that if I continued to be responsible I would reopen the question with him personally. It would be a great pity if the Americans got worked up about bases and air traffic and set themselves to make a win of it at all costs.

We must come to the best arrangement in our common interest. President Roosevelt knew well that I wished to go much further on this matter of airfields and other bases, and would have liked to have a reciprocal arrangement between our two countries all over the world. Britain was a smaller Power than the United States, but she had much to give.

Why should not an American battleship calling at Gibraltar be able to get the torpedoes to fit her tubes and the shells to fit her guns? Why should we not share facilities for defence all over the world? We could add 50 per cent to the mobility of the American Fleet.

Mr. Truman replied that all these sentiments were very near his own heart. Any plan would have to be fitted in, in some Triumph and Tragedy

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way, with the policy of the United Nations. I said that was all right so long as the facilities were shared between Britain and the United States. There was nothing in it if they were made common to everybody. A man might propose marriage to a young lady, but it was not much use if he were told that she would always be a sister to him. I wanted, under whatever form or cloak, a continuation of the existing war-time system of reciprocal facilities between Britain and the United States about bases and fuelling points.

The President seemed in full accord with this, if it could be presented in a suitable fashion, and did not appear to take crudely the form of a military alliance
àdeux.
These last were not his words, but give the impression I got of his mind. Encouraged by this, I went on with my long-cherished idea of keeping the organisation of the Combined Chiefs of Staff in being, at any rate until the world calmed down after the great storm and until there was a world structure of such proved strength and capacity that we could safely confide ourselves to it.

The President was replying to this in an encouraging way when we were interrupted by his officers reminding him that he must now start off to see Marshal Stalin. He was good enough to say that this had been the most enjoyable luncheon he had had for many years, and how earnestly he hoped the relations I had had with President Roosevelt would be continued between him and me. He invited personal friendship and comradeship, and used many expressions at intervals in our discussion which I could not easily hear unmoved. I felt that here was a man of exceptional character and ability, with an outlook exactly along the lines of Anglo-American relations as they had

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developed, simple and direct methods of speech, and a great deal of self-confidence and resolution.

That night, July 18, I dined with Stalin. We were alone except for Birse and Pavlov. We conversed agreeably from half-past eight in the evening to half-past one next morning without reaching any crucial topic. Major Birse produced a fairly long note which I summarise here. My host seemed indeed to be physically rather oppressed, but his easy friendliness was most agreeable. About the British election, he said that all his information from Communist and other sources confirmed his belief that I should be returned by a majority of about eighty. He thought the Labour Party would obtain between 220 and 230 seats. I did not attempt to prophesy, but I said I was not sure how the soldiers had voted. He said that the Army preferred a strong Government and would therefore vote for Conservatives. It seemed plain that he hoped that his contacts with me and Eden would not be broken.

He asked why the King was not coming to Berlin, and I said it was because his visit would complicate our security problems. He then affirmed that no country needed a monarchy so much as Great Britain, because the Crown was the unifying force throughout the Empire, and no one who was a friend of Britain would do anything to weaken the respect shown to the Monarchy.

Our conversation continued. I said that it was my policy to welcome Russia as a Great Power on the sea. I wished to see Russian ships sailing across the oceans of the world.

Russia had been like a giant with his nostrils pinched by the narrow exits from the Baltic and the Black Sea. I then brought up the question of Turkey and the Dardanelles. The Triumph and Tragedy

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Turks were naturally anxious. Stalin explained what had happened. The Turks had approached the Russians about a treaty of alliance. In reply the Russians had said that there could only be a treaty if neither side had any claims. Russia however wanted Kars and Ardahan, which had been taken away from her at the end of the last war. The Turks said that they could not consider this. Russia then raised the question of the Montreux Convention. Turkey said she could not discuss that either, so Russia replied that she could not discuss a treaty of alliance.

I said that I personally would support an amendment to the Montreux Convention, throwing out Japan and giving Russia access to the Mediterranean. I repeated that I welcomed Russia’s appearance on the oceans, and this referred not only to the Dardanelles, but also to the Kiel Canal, which should have a regime like the Suez Canal, and to the warm waters of the Pacific. This was not out of gratitude for anything Russia had done, but was my settled policy.

He then asked me about the German Fleet. He said that a share of it would be most useful to Russia, who had suffered severe losses at sea. He was grateful for the ships we had delivered to him after the surrender of the Italian Navy, but he would like his share of the German ships as well. I did not dissent.

He then spoke of Greek aggression on the Bulgarian and Albanian frontiers. He said there were elements in Greece which were stirring up trouble. I replied that the situation on the frontiers was confused, and the Greeks were grievously alarmed about Yugoslavia and Bulgaria, but I had not heard of any fighting worthy of the name. The Conference should make its will plain to these smaller Powers, and none should be allowed to trespass or fight. They should be told Triumph and Tragedy

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this plainly, and made to understand that any alteration to the frontier lines could only be settled at the Peace Conference. Greece was to have a plebiscite and free elections, and I suggested that the Great Powers should send observers to Athens. Stalin thought this would show a want of confidence in the honesty of the Greek people. He thought that the Ambassadors of the Great Powers should report on the elections.

He then asked what I thought about Hungary. I said I was not sufficiently informed to give a view on the immediate situation, but I would inquire of the Foreign Secretary.

Stalin said that in all the countries liberated by the Red Army the Russian policy was to see a strong, independent, sovereign State. He was against Sovietisation of any of those countries. They would have free elections, and all except Fascist parties would participate.

I then spoke of the difficulties in Yugoslavia, where we had no material ambitions, but there had been the fifty-fifty arrangement. It was now ninety-nine to one against Britain.

Stalin protested that the proportions were 90 per cent British, 10 per cent Yugoslav, and 0 per cent Russian interests. The Soviet Government often did not know what Tito was about to do.

Stalin also said that he had been hurt by the American demand for a change of Government in Rumania and Bulgaria. He was not meddling in Greek affairs, and it was unjust of them. I said I had not yet seen the American proposals. He explained that in countries where there had been an
émigré
Government he had found it necessary to assist in the creation of a home Government. This of course did not apply to Rumania and Bulgaria, where everything was peaceful. When I asked why the Soviet Government had given an award to King Michael he said he thought the Triumph and Tragedy

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King had acted bravely and wisely at the time of the
coup
d’état.

I then said how anxious people were about Russia’s intentions. I drew a line from the North Cape to Albania, and named the capitals east of that line which were in Russian hands. It looked as if Russia were rolling on westward. Stalin said he had no such intention. On the contrary, he was withdrawing troops from the West. Two million men would be demobilised and sent home within the next four months. Further demobilisation was only a question of sufficient railway transport. Russian losses during the war had amounted to five million killed and missing. The Germans had mobilised eighteen million men, apart from industry, and the Russians twelve million.

I said I hoped that before the Conference ended we should be able to agree about the frontiers of all the European countries, as well as Russia’s access to the seas and the division of the German Fleet. The three Powers gathered round the table were the strongest the world had ever seen, and it was their task to maintain the peace of the world.

Although satisfactory to us, the German defeat had been a great tragedy. But the Germans were like sheep. Stalin spoke again of his experience in Germany in 1907, when 200 Germans missed a Communist meeting because there was no one to take their railway tickets at the station barrier.
1
He then apologised for not having officially thanked Great Britain for her help in sending supplies during the war. Russia would make her acknowledgment.

In reply to my questioning, he explained the working of Collective and State farms. We agreed that both in Russia and Britain there was no fear of unemployment. He said that Russia was ready to talk trade with Britain. I said that the best publicity for Soviet Russia abroad would be the

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happiness and well-being of her people. Stalin spoke of the continuity of Soviet policy. If anything were to happen to him there would be good men ready to step into his shoes.

He was thinking thirty years ahead.

On July 17 world-shaking news had arrived. In the afternoon Stimson called at my abode and laid before me a sheet of paper on which was written, “Babies satisfactorily born.” By his manner I saw something extraordinary had happened. “It means,” he said, “that the experiment in the New Mexican desert has come off. The atomic bomb is a reality.” Although we had followed this dire quest with every scrap of information imparted to us, we had not been told beforehand, or at any rate I did not know, the date of the decisive trial. No responsible scientist would predict what would happen when the first full-scale atomic explosion was tried. Were these bombs useless or were they annihilating?

Now we knew. The “babies” had been “satisfactorily born.”