When WWII Ended in Europe, the Big Three No Longer Shared a Common

L-r: British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, US By John T. Correll President Harry Truman, and Soviet leader Joseph Stalin in the garden of Cecilienhof Palace before meeting in Potsdam, Germany, in 1945. Last Elaborate preparations were made for the Potsdam Conference, including a Soviet star fashioned of red flowers in the courtyard between the main gate Tango and entrance to the conference room at Cecilienhof Palace. When WWII ended in Europe, the Big Three in Potsdam no longer shared a common purpose. n July 7, 1945—two months af- for purely political reasons in the ter the German surrender and 1944 election campaign—had told less than three months since he him almost nothing. During his short became President of the Unit- tenure as vice president, he was not ed States—Harry S. Truman included when important issues were Oboarded the US Navy cruiser Augusta discussed in the White House. at Newport News, Va. He was bound for It was only after assuming the pres- Germany to meet with Prime Minister idency that Truman learned the rev- Winston Churchill of Great Britain and olutionary secret he carried with him Marshal Joseph Stalin of the Soviet to Potsdam. The United States had Union to settle the future of Europe. developed an atomic bomb and was This third and last meeting of the ready to test it at a remote site in the wartime Big Three was to be held at Truman (right) and Secretary of State New Mexico desert. Potsdam, a suburb of Berlin, from July James Byrnes on the bow of USS Churchill outside the German Truman would not be the only 16 to Aug. 2. It followed conferences in Augusta en route to the Potsdam Reichstag during a tour of Berlin new leader at Potsdam. Before the Teheran in 1943 and at Yalta in Febru- Conference. before the start of the conference. conference was over, Churchill would ary 1945. be gone as well, replaced as prime At the two previous meetings, Allied and Britain to placate Stalin. And it was The war against Japan continued minister by Clement Attlee, who was leaders had reached tentative agree- becoming increasingly clear—although in the Pacific, but that was more of a as surprised as everyone else by the ments on issues ranging from the post- not as clear as it would be later—that concern to Truman and the United results of a general election back The conference table at Cecilienhof Palace. The “Big Three” and their top aides are war map of Europe to the degree of Stalin could not be trusted. States than to Churchill and Stalin, home. seated around the table, and US ambassador to the Soviet Union Averell Harriman reparations to be imposed on Germany, In many ways, Stalin held the whip who were focused primarily on the is standing at the extreme left. but the final decisions were to be made hand in the disposition of control in balance of power in Europe. UNCLE JOE at Potsdam. Europe because the Red Army was Truman, who took office when Stalin seldom left Moscow and he was chosen as the location for the Big al zone, was relatively untouched by In recent months, the situation had in possession of conquered territory Franklin D. Roosevelt died in April, flatly refused to venture beyond ter- Three conference. the bombing. It had been the capital changed. With the war against Germa- stretching as far west as the Elbe River, had to learn fast. Roosevelt—who ritory controlled by the Soviet Union. Potsdam, on the southwestern edge of the German film industry before ny over, there was less need for the US halfway across Germany. selected Truman as his running mate It was at his insistence that Potsdam of Berlin and in the Soviet occupation- the war and numerous aristocrats Museums Library Archives; War National Imperial via Photos: Truman 62 SEPTEMBER 2017 H WWW.AIRFORCEMAG.COM SEPTEMBER 2017 H WWW.AIRFORCEMAG.COM 63 German aggression. Stalin felt justified Italy out of action and British strength front," said historian Geoffrey Roberts. in stripping to the bone what was left of depleted by the war, there was no effec- "The Germans suffered in excess of 90 Germany for reparations. tive check on the Soviets by the Euro- percent of their losses on the Eastern Truman and the British, on the other peans themselves. Churchill hoped the front." hand, wanted to avoid the mistakes of United States would fill the gap. That greatly reduced the number of the Treaty of Versailles in 1919, which In April, Churchill had objected German forces available to oppose the officially ended World War I. The harsh vigorously when the Supreme Allied US and British on the Western front, conditions imposed on Germany stim- Commander, Europe, Gen. Dwight and it gave Stalin leverage in dealing ulated the rise of Hitler and the Nazis. D. Eisenhower, halted the US-British with Roosevelt and Churchill. Punitive reparations destabilized the advance at the Elbe and left it to the Stalin pointed out that Russia had international economy and provoked Red Army to take Berlin. The postwar been invaded from the west three times, an extreme backlash in Germany. occupation zones had been decided by Napoleon in 1812 and by the Ger- The Germans defaulted on the repa- already, and Berlin was 100 miles inside mans at the beginning of both world rations in 1923, but US banks lent them the Soviet sector. Eisenhower would not wars. Now that he held what amount- enough money to make their payments expend tens of thousands of casualties ed to a large defensive buffer zone in to the French and British. Germany and risk a clash with the Russians for a Eastern Europe, he was not about to soon defaulted on the US loans as well. prize that would be turned over to the give it up. In 1933, Hitler canceled the reparations Russians anyway. "The Americans and the British gen- outright. At the time of the surrender, Al- erally agreed that future governments of "We do not intend again to make lied troops held positions in parts of the Eastern European nations bordering the mistake of extracting reparations Germany, Austria, and Czechoslovakia the Soviet Union should be 'friendly' in money and then lending Germany that were designated for Soviet control. to the Soviet regime, while the Soviets the money with which to pay," Tru- Churchill tried to persuade Truman pledged to allow free elections in all man said. to keep US troops in place instead of territories liberated from Nazi Germa- Truman's most urgent objective at retreating back to the occupation zone ny," a US State Department historian Henry Stimson, US Secretary of War, Potsdam was to obtain Russia's entry boundaries established at Yalta. said later. Residents of inspects the 2nd Armored Division in into the war in the Pacific, where an Churchill thought it might be possi- As Stalin wanted, the Polish and Lodz, Poland, Berlin during the conference. In the invasion of the Japanese home islands ble to gain concessions from Stalin by German borders would be moved to greet Soviet tanks lead armored car with Stimson are was to begin in November 1946. The refusal to withdraw, but Truman refused the west but the final boundaries were entering the city in Maj. Gen. Frank Parks, Gen. George Russians, having their hands full in to ignore the zone agreement, which not confirmed until Potsdam. At Yalta, 1945. When postwar Patton, Col. W. H. Kyle, J. J. McCloy, Europe, had never revoked a neutrality was one of several struck previously it had been decided that substantial boundaries were and H. H. Bundy. pact with Japan signed in April 1941. when times were different. reparations would be levied against drawn, a westward Stalin had promised to join the fight Germany with half of the total amount shift of Poland’s and the Soviet leadership wish to live in against Japan once Germany was de- DONE DEALS going to the Russians. How much the borders meant honorable friendship and equality with feated, but he had not yet done so. The Soviets had provided most of the Russians would be allowed to take millions changed the Western democracies. I feel also that Churchill's chief concern was the forces fighting Germany and they took away would also be determined at nationalities. their word is their bond." balance of power in Europe. The Ameri- most of the casualties. "More than 80 Potsdam. That perception had begun to wear cans had served notice that their troops percent of all combat during the Second The lines of the occupation zones thin as Stalin reneged on promises of would be going home. With France and World War took place on the Eastern in Germany had been drawn in 1943. free choice for liberated nations in east- The first plan, called "Rankin (C)," was ern Europe. In his memoirs, Truman Soviet anti-tank riflemen fire devised by the British, who offered depicted himself as talking tough to on German troops during an it for consideration at Teheran. The the Russians. Indeed, there was some engagement on the eastern eventual map for the occupation, with of that, but the main effort was toward front July 20, 1943. The Soviet the Russian zone extending to the Elbe, cooperation. Union lost about 15 percent of its was basically a British product and was Sitting alongside Truman at the table population in the war. accepted at Yalta. at Potsdam as diplomatic advisor was Churchill's push for the Americans Joseph E. Davies, the former ambassa- to adopt a more aggressive stance at dor to the Soviet Union, noted for his Potsdam ended when he was ousted and movie stars had homes there.

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