Yalta: The Price of Peace by S. M. Plokhy

Author:S. M. Plokhy [Plokhy, S. M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780143118923
Amazon: 0143118927
Publisher: Penguin Books
Published: 2011-01-24T23:00:00+00:00

Half an hour before Stalin and Roosevelt’s private conversation, the American and Soviet military leaders had met for their first discussion of joint action in the Pacific theater. When the American military learned that General Antonov had agreed to the meeting, they were not sure what to make of it. That morning, Admiral Leahy was quite pessimistic, saying that he “entertained little hope of engaging in extended conversations with the Soviet General Staff.” Marshall was more optimistic. “[O]ur success in arranging a meeting with the Soviet Army Staff was a good omen as to the Soviets’ willingness to discuss the matters in which we are interested,” he noted.12

When the meeting began at 3:00 p.m. at Koreiz Palace, Admiral Leahy was the first to speak. He went straight to business and announced that he wanted to discuss the Far East and needed information to proceed with the planning of the war. The Soviet commanders were both accommodating and cautious. After making Leahy read aloud the list of American requests, General Antonov stated that what he was about to say was a reflection of his personal views only. He promised, however, to “refer the questions to Marshal Stalin the same day and . . . arrange to provide complete and authoritative answers as quickly as possible.”

Antonov explained that there had been no change in Soviet war plans. This meant that the Soviets intended to direct the main thrust of their attack into Manchuria, with the goal of cutting off Japanese forces there from their formations in the rest of China. The Soviets were prepared to occupy southern Sakhalin at the start of hostilities. They might require American help in protecting Kamchatka and eastern Siberia from seaborne attack and would need Pacific supply routes to be open. Aside from American supplies of military equipment, food, and ammunition, which were already pouring into the Far East, they would appreciate American assistance in constructing storage facilities. On the question of American air bases in the Soviet Far East, Antonov was reluctant to offer even his personal view. He promised to refer the question to Stalin.

In the fall of 1944 the U.S. military had dispatched a group of planners to Moscow to prepare for joint operations in the Pacific theater, but the Soviets had dragged their feet and sabotaged the planning. The Soviets wanted to avoid at all costs the presence of foreign troops on their territory, remembering Western military intervention during the Russian Revolution, but they were never shy about securing as much military hardware and supplies as possible from the Americans. The rationale was that Soviet troops were bearing the main burden of the war and paying for Allied achievements with their lives. The least the Allies could do was provide equipment and supplies—this, in any event, was Admiral Kuznetsov’s credo. He was prepared to send three thousand crewmen to the United States to man the ships that would be transferred to the Soviet Pacific Fleet.13

Despite Antonov’s disclaimer, and his refusal to discuss U.S. bases, the American commanders were satisfied with the results of the meeting.

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