The Grand Alliance (90 page)

4. I read with much pleasure your admirable war
statement at end of session.

I sent the following message to Mr. Menzies, Prime Minister of Australia:

Prime Minister to Mr.

15 Aug. 41

Menzies

You have no doubt seen the relevant cables about
Atlantic meeting. I trust you approve of what was
accomplished. President promised me to give the
warning to Japan in the terms agreed. Once we know
this has been done, we should range ourselves beside
him and make it clear that if Japan becomes involved in
war with United States she will also be at war with
Britain and British Commonwealth. I am arranging this
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with Eden, and you will be advised through the regular
channels. You should note that the President’s warning
covers an attack upon Russia, so that perhaps Stalin
will line up too, and of course the Dutch. If this combined front can be established, including China, I feel
confident that Japan will lie quiet for a while. It is
however essential to use the firmest language and the
strongest combination.

2. United States Navy is effectively taking over
America-Iceland stretch of Atlantic, thus giving us relief
equal to over fifty destroyers and corvettes, soon to be
available for home waters and South Atlantic.

The voyage to Iceland was uneventful, although at one point it became necessary to alter course owing to the reported presence of U-boats near-by. On this portion of the journey our escort included two United States destroyers, in one of which was Ensign Franklin D. Roosevelt, Junior, the President’s son.

The
Prince of Wales
reached the island on Saturday morning, August 16, and anchored at Hvals Fiord, from which we travelled to Reykjavik in a destroyer. On arrival at the port I received a remarkably warm and vociferous welcome from a large crowd, whose friendly greetings were repeated whenever our presence was recognised during our stay, culminating in scenes of great enthusiasm on our departure in the afternoon, to the accompaniment of such cheers and hand-clapping as have, I was assured, seldom been heard in the streets of Reykjavik.

After a short visit to the Althingishus, to pay respects to the Regent and the members of the Icelandic Cabinet, I proceeded to a joint review of the British and American forces. There was a long march past in threes, during which the tune “United States Marines” bit so deeply into my memory that I could not get it out of my head. I found time to see the new airfields we were making, and also to visit The Grand Alliance

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the wonderful hot springs and the glass-houses they are made to serve. I thought immediately that they should also be used to heat Reykjavik, and tried to further this plan even during the war. I am glad that it has now been carried out. I took the salute with the President’s son standing beside me, and the parade provided another remarkable demonstration of Anglo-American solidarity.

On return to Hvals Fiord, I visited the
Ramillies,
and addressed representatives of the crews of the British and American ships in the anchorage, including the destroyers
Hecla
and
Churchill.

As darkness fell after this long and very tiring ordeal, we sailed for Scapa. Next day, the 17th, we met a combined homeward-bound convoy of seventy-three ships, all in good order and perfect station after a fortunate passage across the Atlantic. It was a heartening sight, and the merchant ships too were glad to look at the
Prince of Wales.
We reached Scapa without further incident early on August 18, and I arrived back in London on the following day.

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5

Aid to Russia

Russian Valour and the Approaching Winter
—

Lord Beaverbrook Champions Aid to Russia
—

Our Sacrifices of Vital Munitions
—
The Beaverbrook-Harriman Mission — My Letter to Stalin of
August
29
— His Reply — Interview with Ambassador Maisky — An Air of Menace
—
My Answer
to Stalin
—
I Communicate My Anxieties to
President Roosevelt
—
Letter to Sir Stafford
Cripps of September
5
— Further Message from
Stalin — A Fantastic Suggestion
—
My Response

—
Lord Beaverbrook Sails for Archangel in the

“London” — My Letter to Stalin of September
21

— The Beaverbrook Mission in Moscow
—
A Grim
Reception — Cordial American Contacts
—

Protocol for Supplies to Russia — Continuous
Cycle of Convoys to Archangel
—
Mr. Attlee Goes
to Washington
—
Insistent Demands in Moscow
for the Second Front
—
The Crisis of the Struggle
in Russia
—
My Telegram to Sir Stafford Cripps of
October
28
— A Plain Statement — Winter Casts
Its Shield Before the Russian Armies
—
Mrs.

Churchill’s “Aid to Russia” Fund.

T
WO MONTHS had now passed on the Russian front, and terrific blows had been struck by the German armies. But by now there was another side to the tale. Despite their fearful losses Russian resistance remained tough and unbending.

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Their soldiers fought to the death, and their armies gained in experience and skill. Partisans rose up behind the German fronts and harassed the communications in a merciless warfare. The captured Russian railway system was proving inadequate; the roads were breaking up under the heavy traffic, and movement off the roads after rain was often impossible. Transport vehicles were showing many signs of wear. Barely three months remained before the dreaded Russian winter. Could Moscow be taken in that time? And if it were, would that be enough? Here then was the fateful question. Though Hitler was still elated by the victory at Kiev, the German generals might well feel that their early misgivings were justified. There had been four weeks of delay on what had now become the decisive front.

The task of “annihilating the forces of the enemy in White Russia,” which had been given to the Central Army Group, was still not done.

But as the autumn drew on and the supreme crisis on the Russian front impended, the Soviet demands upon us became more insistent.

Lord Beaverbrook returned from the United States having stimulated the already powerful forces making for a stupendous increase in production. He now became the champion in the War Cabinet of aid to Russia. In this he rendered valuable service. When we remember the pressures that lay upon us to prepare the battle in the Libyan Desert, and the deep anxieties about Japan which brooded over all our affairs in Malaya and the Far East, and that everything sent to Russia was subtracted from British vital needs, it was needful that the Russian claims should be so vehemently championed at the summit of our war The Grand Alliance

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thought. I tried to keep the main proportion evenly presented in my own mind, and shared my stresses with my colleagues. We endured the unpleasant process of exposing our own vital security and projects to failure for the sake of our new ally – surly, snarly, grasping, and so lately indifferent to our survival.

On the way home from Iceland I had felt that when Beaverbrook and Averell Harriman got back from Washington and we could survey all the prospects of munitions and supplies, they should go to Moscow and offer all we could spare and dare. Prolonged and painful discussions took place upon the details on the lines of our joint offer of August 16. The Service de-partments felt it was like flaying off pieces of their skin. However, we gathered together the utmost in our power, and consented to very large American diversions of all we longed for ourselves in order to make an effective contribution to the resistance of the Soviets. I brought the proposal to send Lord Beaverbrook to Moscow before my colleagues on August 28. The Cabinet were very willing that he should present the case to Stalin, and President Roosevelt felt himself well represented by Harriman.

I therefore informed Lord Beaverbrook:
Prime

Minister

to

30 Aug. 41

Lord Beaverbrook

I wish you to go to Moscow with Mr. Harriman in
order to arrange the long-term supply of the Russian
armies. This can only be achieved almost entirely from
American resources, though we have rubber, boots,
etc. A large new installation must be made in the United
States. Rate of supply is of course limited by the ports
of entry and by the dearth of shipping. When the metre-gauge railway from Basra to the Caspian has been
doubled in the spring, this will be an important channel.

It is our duty and our interest to give the utmost
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possible aid to the Russians, even at serious sacrifices
by ourselves. However, no large flow can begin till the
middle or end of 1942, and the main planning will relate
to 1943. Your function will be not only to aid in the
forming of the plans to help Russia, but to make sure
we are not bled white in the process; and even if you
find yourself affected by the Russian atmosphere I shall
be quite stiff about it here. I am sure however you are
the man for the job, and the public instinct has already
endorsed this.

The decision to send Harriman means that Hopkins
does not feel well enough to go himself. There is no
point in sending Eden at the present time.

As to the date, we are in the hands of the Americans, but we must act in a bona-fide spirit and not give
occasion for anyone to say we have been fooling the
Russians or playing for delay. It will be necessary to
settle the date of the conference in the next few days. I
do not think a fortnight one way or the other makes any
difference, as ninety per cent of its work must relate to
long-term projects.

As a preliminary to this mission I outlined the position in general terms in a letter to M. Stalin.

Prime

Minister

to

29 Aug. 41

Lord Beaverbrook

I have been searching for any way to give you help
in your splendid resistance pending the long-term
arrangements which we are discussing with the United
States and which will form the subject of the Moscow
Conference. Maisky has represented that fighter aircraft
are much needed in view of heavy losses. We are
expediting the two hundred Tomahawks about which I
telegraphed in my last. Our two squadrons should
reach Murmansk about September 6, comprising forty
Hurricanes. You will, I am sure, realise that fighter
aircraft are the foundation of our home defence,
besides which we are trying to obtain air superiority in
Libya, and also to provide for Turkey so as to bring her
on our side. Nevertheless, I could send two hundred
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