The ill-fated Big Three summit is bigger in symbolic meaning than it was in actual achievement.

The Muddled

US Army Signal Corps photo Legend of Yalta By John T. Correll National Archives photo

AIR FORCE Magazine / September 2012 107 he war in Europe was not but the legend is muddled. Some of the others flew without protection. From over yet as 1945 began, things attributed to the conference hap- the landing field at Saki, 85 miles from but the outcome was not in pened there. Some didn’t. However, it is Yalta, the delegations traveled south doubt. The Germans were Yalta that is linked—sometimes fairly, to the “Russian Riviera” by a six-hour in retreat everywhere. The sometimes not—to the beginning of the motorcade over rough roads. Allies were about to enter the Rhineland Cold War and the takeover of eastern Roosevelt and his party were lodged onT the western front. To the east, the and central Europe by the Soviet Union. about five miles from the small town Soviets were within 400 miles of Berlin. Stalin refused to travel, so war-torn in the 116-room Livadia Palace, built The prewar governments of most Yalta in the Soviet Union was chosen in 1911 as a summer residence for Tsar European nations were defunct, having as the venue. Churchill said, “If we had Nicholas II and his family. More recently, fallen to invasion between 1938 and spent 10 years on research, we could it had been occupied by German Army 1941. Borders had been moved and not have come up with a worse place Group South. Stalin’s headquarters was moved again. Industries, economies, in the world.” just down the shore at Koreiz Palace, and and national infrastructures were in the British were at Vorontsov Palace, ruins. Refugees were a common sight, Coffee? No, Vodka some 12 miles farther along. displaced by war and political turmoil. Yalta offered a panoramic view of the Amenities, especially restrooms, were Germany itself would soon be in the Black Sea from the tip of the Crimean in short supply. Everyone except the most hands of its former enemies. peninsula, not far from Balaclava, where senior individuals lined up to wait their The allied Big Three leaders—Presi- the British Light Brigade charged into turn. In a rare concession to luxury, the dent Franklin D. Roosevelt of the United the “Valley of Death” against Russian Russians brought a double bed down States, Prime Minister Winston Churchill guns in 1854. Yalta was an imperial from Moscow for Churchill, who liked of Great Britain, and Premier Joseph resort in the days of the Romanovs, but to work in bed and spread out his papers. Stalin of the Soviet Union—met at the Germans did not leave much of it Cabbage soup was served every day Yalta in the Crimea on the coast of the standing when they pulled out in April for lunch. For breakfast there was Cream Black Sea Feb. 4-11, 1945, to decide the 1944. The Soviets managed to refurbish of Wheat and butter spiced with garlic. postwar fate of Europe. In eight days, just enough to house the conference One morning, Adm. William D. Leahy, they agreed among themselves on new participants. Roosevelt’s Chief of Staff, asked for egg, governments and boundaries for the The Americans and British, some 700 toast, and coffee. Fifteen minutes later, defeated and liberated nations. of them, gathered in Malta and flew the the waiter brought caviar, ham, smoked Yalta, initially heralded as a success, rest of the way. The transports, mostly fish, and vodka. is mostly remembered today as a failure, C-54 Skymasters, took off singly and The American delegation included se- On the previous page. Top: Livadia made their 1,500-mile journey by night nior administration officials and military Palace, where Roo­sevelt was lodged to avoid detection by scattered Luftwaffe leaders. The new Secretary of State, Ed- and most of the Yalta meetings took interceptors still operating in the Balkans. ward R. Stettinius Jr., was a lightweight place. Bottom: The Big Three—(l-r) The aircraft carrying Roosevelt and on foreign policy but was offset by the Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin—pose for photos on a patio at Livadia. Churchill had P-38 fighter escorts. The presence of W. Averell Harriman, the

German troops, such as those pictured here in Crimea after being captured by the Russians in 1944, left much of the former RIA Novosti photo Tzarist resort Yalta in ruins.

108 AIR FORCE Magazine / September 2012 RIA Novosti photo

A Russian artillery crew in Poland able US ambassador to the Soviet Union. of the Big Three. Ravages of chronic in 1945. A USSR puppet government Alger Hiss, a Soviet agent embedded in illness made him look older and he retained control of Poland after the war, the State Department, was also there, but had two months left to live. Despite his despite Stalin’s promises at Yalta of free it does not appear he did any damage frailty, his mental capacity at Yalta was elections. at Yalta. Hiss reported through Soviet not impaired. His political style was military intelligence channels but his intuitive and personal. He saw the Soviet seeking to induce the United States to keepers were not particularly interested Union as an ally rather than a potential enter the war. He did not regard the in the agenda of the conference. threat. Despite cautions from Harriman, principle of self-determination as ap- Churchill led a strong British team he was inclined to trust Stalin. plying to colonies of the British Empire. anchored by his friend and longtime Unlike Roosevelt, Churchill did be- colleague, Foreign Secretary R. Anthony The Atlantic Charter lieve in spheres of influence. He and Sta- Eden. Stalin’s right hand man at Yalta Like many Americans, Roosevelt had lin met bilaterally in Moscow in October was his protégé, V. M. Molotov, the a distaste for “spheres of influence,” the 1944 and settled on a division of influence Foreign Minister. 19th century practice in which strong in the Balkans. By a formula proposed At Stalin’s initiative, conference nations established domination—if not by Churchill, Britain got predominance sessions were held at Livadia for the outright rule—over their weaker neigh- in Greece—traditionally a British sphere convenience of Roosevelt, who was bors. He was committed to the principle of influence—in exchange for Soviet in a wheelchair. The plenary, or main of self-determination and looked forward hegemony in Rumania and Bulgaria. sessions, always chaired by Roosevelt, to the breakup of the European colonial The Russians did not interfere as British began around 4 p.m. and ran until the empires. troops disarmed pro-communist forces early evenings. Diplomatic and military Churchill, 70, had led Britain through in Greece and installed a government members of the delegations held their the darkest days of the war. By 1945, favorable to Britain. own meetings earlier in the day. British power was in decline relative At Yalta, Churchill wanted to pro- The Yalta conference was not paper- to that of the United States, which had vide for a postwar balance of power in work intensive. There was no official more than twice as many forces engaged Europe, offsetting Soviet expansion. record. Each of the nations kept their and had assumed the leadership position An independent Poland, if it could be own notes and contributed to a sum- previously held by the British. Churchill achieved, would be of enormous value. mary joint communiqué at the end. The understood, but he did not like it. With US troops expected to go home looseness of the plenary sessions suited He had joined Roosevelt in 1941 in soon after the victory, Churchill also Roosevelt and Churchill. Both of them proclaiming the Atlantic Charter, which sought to strengthen France to help with liked to talk and often improvised as promised “the right of all peoples to defense of the west. they went along. choose the form of government under Stalin, 66, felt that the Soviet Union At Yalta, Stalin ran rings around them. which they will live.” had carried the war in Europe without At 63, Roosevelt was the youngest At the time, however, Churchill was much help from the Western Allies, who AIR FORCE Magazine / September 2012 109 did not open a second front until D-Day republics in their own right. Roosevelt German-Polish border was deferred, and in 1944. He saw no reason to negotiate agreed, although the extra memberships the border was not set until the final Big about territory the Red Army had taken for the Soviet Union were not disclosed Three meeting at Potsdam in 1945. and now held. From Stalin’s perspec- publicly. France was added as a fifth UN Two groups of Poles were competing tive, freedom for his neighbors was a executive “policeman” and approved as for postwar control. The government security risk. Germany had twice invaded a fourth occupation power in Germany. in exile group operated from London the Soviet Union through Poland. Self- Roosevelt was elated with the success and was supported by the British. The determination for eastern Europe was of his two priorities and wanted to secure Soviets supported the “Lublin Poles,” not part of Stalin’s plan. them from risk. He softened the United so called for the city in eastern Poland The Americans and the British had States position on issues of importance where they began. already revealed they would not risk to Stalin, including the war reparations The Lublin Poles had gained con- the cohesion of the alliance for the sake to be imposed on Germany and the new siderable advantage in 1944 when the of small nations. At the first Big Three borders and government for Poland. Polish Home Army in Warsaw, loyal meeting at Teheran in 1943, Roosevelt No Allied nation had suffered more to the government in exile in London, and Churchill had agreed that Stalin could grievously from German aggression was destroyed by the Germans while the keep the Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia, than the Soviet Union. As the Ger- Red Army, approaching from the east, and Estonia when they were recaptured man armies fell back from Moscow, halted in place and offered no help. The from the Germans. they destroyed anything they had left uprising lasted 43 days, during which the standing on the way in. Stalin proposed Germans wiped out more than 200,000 Roosevelt’s Priorities that the Allies extract $20 billion from members of the Polish resistance. When Roosevelt came to Yalta with two Germany, with half of that going to the it was over and the Germans ousted, the main objectives: to persuade Stalin to Soviet Union. The amount, he said, was Lublin Poles moved into Warsaw as the enter the war against Japan and to secure equal to about 20 percent of the actual provisional government. Soviet support and participation for the Soviet war losses. United Nations, of which Roosevelt was Churchill urged restraint. The victors Stalin Shows His Hand the leading sponsor. had not gained much from punitive Churchill and Roosevelt managed to The United States had done most of reparations, more than Germany could convince themselves that Stalin was open the fighting in the south Pacific. British pay, after World War I. The international to the idea of a coalition government and commitment was minimal and the Soviet economy was disrupted and the total free elections in Poland, even though he Union was still party to a neutrality pact collected in reparations, about a billion had given diplomatic recognition to the with Japan, signed in 1941 when Stalin pounds, was possible only because of US provisional regime in January 1945. Ac- needed to concentrate on Europe without loans to Germany. The United States did cording to Churchill, Stalin said elections worrying about his eastern border. not want reparations in 1945, but saw could be held “within a month, unless Roosevelt did not believe that a naval no reason that Germans should have a there is some catastrophe on the front, blockade and strategic bombardment by postwar standard of living higher than which is improbable.” B-29s would force a Japanese surrender that of the Soviet Union. So satisfied were Roosevelt and anytime soon. The atomic bomb in de- Roosevelt and Churchill eventually Churchill with Stalin’s indicated coop- velopment at Los Alamos, N.M., was agreed to Stalin’s numbers, with repara- eration that they did not quibble about not a significant factor in his thinking. tions to be collected in kind rather than the wording of the joint communiqué, He assumed that defeat of Japan would in money. Consequently, the Soviets which stated, “The provisional gov- ultimately require an invasion of the stripped their part of Germany—oc- ernment which is now functioning in Japanese home islands. cupation zones had been established in Poland should therefore be reorganized To Roosevelt’s pleasure, Stalin agreed 1944—of plants, factories, and rolling on a broader democratic basis with the at Yalta to a deal that had been discussed stock as well as “surplus” food and raw inclusion of democratic leaders from at Teheran and promised to declare war on materials. Additional reparations were Poland itself and from Poles abroad.” Japan as soon as Germany was finished. taken in forced labor. The provisional government was cited In a secret protocol, Roosevelt agreed to by name, but the government in exile a Soviet sphere of influence in the Far The Agony of Poland in London was not. The communiqué East. It included parts of the Sakhalin “Poland had been the most urgent rea- also promised “free and unfettered elec- and Kurile Islands, access to the ice-free son for the Yalta conference,” Churchill tions as soon as possible.” A Big Three ports at Dairen and Port Arthur, and joint said. It was discussed at seven of the commission, operating out of Moscow, control with the Chinese of railroads in eight plenary sessions, but several of would consult with the Poles on the Manchuria. the critical decisions were already made. reorganization. The United Nations, as envisioned by Under the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact of The Americans put great stock in in- Roosevelt, would vest executive power 1939, Hitler and Stalin divided up Poland spirational words on paper and Stalin was in “four policemen”—the US, USSR, with the USSR taking the eastern third. happy to oblige. The Yalta communiqué Britain, and China—to guarantee world Yalta confirmed the Allied agreement at included a “Declaration on Liberated security. The concept was further defined Teheran that the Soviets would keep the Europe,” which recognized the Atlantic at Dumbarton Oaks in Washington, part of Poland seized in 1939 and that Charter and “the right of all peoples to D.C., in 1944. the Poles would be compensated by the choose the form of government under At Yalta, Stalin agreed to virtually addition of conquered German territory which they will live.” the entire US plan. He wanted separate in the west. Returning home, Churchill and Roo­ membership for the Ukraine and Belo- The net effect was to shift Poland more sevelt proclaimed Yalta to have been a russia, which were, he argued, Soviet than 100 miles westward. Fixing the new great success. Churchill told the House 110 AIR FORCE Magazine / September 2012 Bush, en route to Moscow on the 60th anniversary of the defeat of Nazi Ger- many, denounced the results of the Yalta conference in a speech in Riga, Latvia. “The agreement at Yalta followed in the unjust tradition of Munich and the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact,” Bush said. “Once again, when powerful govern- ments negotiated, the freedom of small nations was somehow expendable. Yet this attempt to sacrifice freedom for the sake of stability left a continent divided and unstable. The captivity of millions in Central and Eastern Europe will be remembered as one of the greatest wrongs of history.” Back in the United States, liberal President Roosevelt signs a bill in 1944. Although only 63 years old, his health was in steep decline. He died just two months after the Yalta conference. historians and Roosevelt loyalists coun- terattacked furiously. Jacob Heilbrunn of the Los Angeles Times called it “cheap of Commons that he believed “Marshal bomb, dropped on Nagasaki Aug. 9, historical revisionism” and a “slander Stalin and the Soviet leadership wish to brought on the Japanese surrender of against Roosevelt.” Historian Robert live in honorable friendship and equal- Aug. 15. The Red Army swept across Dallek of Boston University said, “This ity with the Western democracies.” Manchuria, carrying away captives idea that Roosevelt and Churchill gave In his address to Congress, Roosevelt and loot, and securing the new Soviet away Eastern Europe to the Soviets is said, “We have made a good start on holdings in the Far East. Soviet opera- nonsense.” Cold War historian John the road to a world of peace.” He cited tions had no effect on the outcome of Lewis Gaddis said, “If the Yalta confer- the prospect of a “free, independent, the war with Japan. ence had never taken place, the division and prosperous Polish state” as one of In 1946, Churchill declared “an iron of Europe into two great spheres of the achievements, and said the Yalta curtain has descended” across Europe. influence would still have happened.” agreements should “spell the end” of Behind it, the nations of Eastern Eu- For his part, Russian President the old system of spheres of influence. rope were held under Soviet control Vladimir Putin said, “Our people not Unfortunately, as Churchill later for another 40 years. only defended their homeland but also said, “our hopeful assumptions were Harriman, considering later what liberated 11 countries of Europe.” soon to be falsified.” There was no had actually been gained from the eight Historian S. M. Plokhy, the foremost sign of elections in Poland. Using their days in the Crimea, said, “The agree- modern analyst of Yalta, comments, control of the provisional government ment on voting in the [UN] Security “There is always a price to be paid for as a wedge, the Soviets blocked rival Council was the most concrete political making alliances with dictatorships and candidates from the deliberations of the achievement of the Yalta Conference.” totalitarian regimes. If you support an new government and refused access to ally of convenience and build up his American and British observers. Yalta Lives On power, it can then become difficult to “Averell is right,” Roosevelt said. In the 1950s, the story was spun out keep him in check.” “We can’t do business with Stalin.” of factual recognition by Sen. Joseph The best that can be said for Roo­ Stalin revealed his intentions in April, McCarthy, who made “the sellout at sevelt and Churchill is that Yalta did after the death of Roosevelt, in a letter Yalta” a staple of his diatribes. Mc- not make that much difference. The to Churchill and US President Harry Carthy claimed that Hiss had been United States might have exerted more Truman. “The Soviet government can- “Roosevelt’s chief advisor at Yalta.” leverage than it did. Stalin was in dire not agree to the existence in Poland of However, criticism of Yalta crossed need of postwar American economic a government hostile to it,” Stalin said. party lines. In May 1997, Strobe Tal- aid when wartime Lend-Lease aid ran Enthusiasm for Yalta in Congress bott—the deputy secretary of state and out. Even so, Stalin’s position was and the news media dropped with de- a close friend of President William J. strong and he was determined to control velopments in Poland, and the uproar Clinton—said, “After World War II, Eastern Europe. It is unlikely that he worsened when it was revealed that many countries in the east suffered could have been denied. the Soviet Union had been given extra nearly half a century under the shadow In the course of the Big Three con- seats in the United Nations. However, of Yalta. ... That is a place name that has ferences, Stalin got almost everything there was not much that could be done come to be a code word for the cynical he might have hoped for—including about it, and in July, the United States sacrifice of small nations’ freedom to western recognition that conferred and Britain recognized the pro-Soviet great powers’ spheres of influence.” legitimacy on his subjugation of East- regime as the government of Poland. The issue flared up anew in May ern Europe—and he got it at a bargain On Aug. 6, the United States dropped 2007, when US President George W. price. n the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima. The Soviet Union declared war on John T. Correll was editor in chief of Air Force Magazine for 18 years and is now a Japan Aug. 8, fully three months after contributor. His most recent article, “The Billy Mitchell Court-Martial,” appeared in Germany’s surrender. A second atomic the August issue. AIR FORCE Magazine / September 2012 111