ЛОНДОН, 7 февраля (ТАСС) – Штаб американских военно-воздушных сил во Франции сообщил, что 6 февраля свыше 1300 американских тяжёлых бомбардировщиков совершило налёт на промышленные н транспортные об’екты в Центральной Германии, главным образом в районах Магдебурга, Лейпцига и Хемница. бомбардировщики шли в сопровождении 350 истребителей.
U.S. State Department (February 8, 1945)
Yusupov Palace, USSR
Marshal Stalin acted as host.
| Present | ||
|---|---|---|
| United States | United Kingdom | Soviet Union |
| President Roosevelt | Prime Minister Churchill | Marshal Stalin |
| Secretary Stettinius | Foreign Secretary Eden | Foreign Commissar Molotov |
| Fleet Admiral Leahy | Sir Archibald Clark Kerr | Fleet Admiral Kuznetsov |
| Mr. Byrnes | Sir Alexander Cadogan | General of the Army Antonov |
| Mr. Harriman | Field Marshal Brooke | Mr. Vyshinsky |
| Mr. Flynn | Marshal of the Royal Air Force Portal | Mr. Beriya |
| Mrs. Boettiger | Admiral of the Fleet Cunningham | Mr. Maisky |
| Miss Harriman | General Ismay | Marshal of Aviation Khudyakov |
| Mr. Bohlen | Field Marshal Alexander | Mr. Gusev |
| Mrs. Oliver | Mr. Gromyko | |
| Mr. Pavlov |
Leningrad, February 8, 1945, 9 p.m.
Top secret
The atmosphere of the dinner was most cordial, and forty-five toasts in all were drunk. Marshal Stalin was in an excellent humor and even in high spirits. Most of the toasts were routine – to the armed forces of the representative countries and the military leaders and the continuing friendship of the three great powers.
Marshal Stalin proposed a toast to the health of the Prime Minister, who he characterized as the bravest governmental figure in the world. He said that due in large measure to Mr. Churchill’s courage and staunchness, England, when she stood alone, had divided the might of Hitlerite Germany at a time when the rest of Europe was falling flat on its face before Hitler. He said that Great Britain, under Mr. Churchill’s leadership, had carried on the fight alone irrespective of existing or potential allies. The Marshal concluded that he knew of few examples in history where the courage of one man had been so important to the future history of the world. He drank a toast to Mr. Churchill, his fighting friend and a brave man.
The Prime Minister , in his reply, toasted Marshal Stalin as the mighty leader of a mighty country, which had taken the full shock of the German war machine, had broken its back and had driven the tyrants from her soil. He said he knew that in peace no less than in war Marshal Stalin would continue to lead his people from success to success.
Marshal Stalin then proposed the health of the President of the United States. He said that he and Mr. Churchill in their respective countries had had relatively simple decisions. They had been fighting for their very existence against Hitlerite Germany but there was a third man whose country had not been seriously threatened with invasion, but who had had perhaps a broader conception of national interest and even though his country was not directly imperilled had been the chief forger of the instruments which had lead to the mobilization of the world against Hitler. He mentioned in this connection Lend-Lease as one of the President’s most remarkable and vital achievements in the formation of the Anti-Hitler combination and in keeping the Allies in the field against Hitler.
The President, in reply to this toast, said he felt the atmosphere at this dinner was as that of a family, and it was in those words that he liked to characterize the relations that existed between our three countries. He said that great changes had occurred in the world during the last three years, and even greater changes were to come. He said that each of the leaders represented here were working in their own way for the interests of their people. He said that fifty years ago there were vast areas of the world where people had little opportunity and no hope, but much had been accomplished, although there were still great areas where people had little opportunity and little hope, and their objectives here were to give to every man, woman and child on this earth the possibility of security and wellbeing.
In a subsequent toast to the alliance between the three great powers, Marshal Stalin remarked that it was not so difficult to keep unity in time of war since there was a joint aim to defeat the common enemy which was clear to everyone. He said the difficult task came after the war when diverse interests tended to divide the allies. He said he was confident that the present alliance would meet this test also and that it was our duty to see that it would, and that our relations in peacetime should be as strong as they had been in war.
The Prime Minister then said he felt we were all standing on the crest of a hill with the glories of future possibilities stretching before us. He said that in the modern world the function of leadership was to lead the people out from the forests into the broad sunlit plains of peace and happiness. He felt this prize was nearer our grasp than anytime before in history and it would be a tragedy for which history would never forgive us if we let this prize slip from our grasp through inertia or carelessness.
Justice Byrnes proposed a toast to the common man all over the world. He said there had been many toasts to leaders and officials and while we all shared these sentiments we should never forget the common man or woman who lives on this earth.
Miss Harriman, replying for the three ladies present, then proposed a toast to those who had worked so hard in the Crimea for our comfort, and having seen the destruction wrought by the Germans here she had fully realized what had been accomplished.
The Pittsburgh Press (February 8, 1945)
Resistance crumbling before U.S. drive
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Japs report U.S. tanks crossing river
MANILA, Philippines (UP) – U.S. troops killed off the last Jap resistance in northern Manila today and loosed a heavy artillery barrage on the surviving enemy forces holed up in the blackened, burning southern half of the capital.
Tokyo reported that U.S. forces, including amphibious tanks, began crossing the Pasig River at a point west of Malacanang Palace. A Tokyo broadcast said the Japs were “fiercely attacking the enemy.”
Vanguards of the U.S. 11th Airborne Division were cutting their way slowly into the Jap rear from the south, but the main U.S. forces were stalled temporarily along the north bank of the Pasig River, which bisects Manila from east to west.
Last bridge blown up
American hopes for a quick thrust across the river to wipe out the surviving enemy were dashed Tuesday night when Jap sappers blew up the last of the four Pasig bridges – the Jones span leading into the old Walled City.
Their foray nullified the work of a daring American naval officer who a few hours earlier had dashed through a hail of gunfire to remove a spluttering demolition charge from the bridge.
Cut off from all supply and reinforcement, the Japs still were fighting back defiantly in the southern half of the city, battling desperately to hold the 11th Airborne Division and hurling artillery and mortar fire across the Pasig River into northern Manila.
Some of the enemy shells were landing in the Santo Tomas University grounds. were thousands of liberated American internees were quartered.
At the same time, Jap demolition squads were roving wantonly through the southern city, dynamiting and burning homes and waterfront installations, even in the Walled City.
Most of the fires set by the enemy in the northern section were brought under control by U.S. 37th Infantry and 1st Cavalry Divisions in their street-to-street cleanup of that half of the capital.
Mass along bank
The 37th Infantry and 1st Cavalry Divisions were massed all along the north bank of the Pasig. but the wide and swift-flowing river was under heavy enemy fire and it was believed likely that the Japs would be able to hold out until the 11th Airborne Division breaks into their main positions from the rear.
Gen. Douglas MacArthur’s communiqué indicated that the 11th Airborne Division was still some distance from the river bank Tuesday, and elements of the 11th Airborne were still meeting stiff resistance from bypassed Jap troops around Nichols Field, four miles south of the city limits.
Far to the north, other U.S. forces were making good progress into the hills northeast of their Lingayen Gulf beachheads.
Units of the 32nd Infantry Division cut the Balete Pass road leading into the Cagayan Valley, closing the main escape route for sizeable Jap forces holding out in the Lupao-Munoz-Rizal triangle 17 to 30 miles farther south.
The communique revealed that the Japs have lost 48,000 killed, wounded or captured since the landing at Lingayen on January 9, against U.S. casualties of 7,067.
Meanwhile, the softening-up bombardment of the forts guarding the entrance to Manila Bay was stepped up with a 204-ton air raid on Corregidor and a smaller attack on nearby Caballo Island.
Allied heads meet in Black Sea area
By Lyle C. Wilson, United Press staff writer
WASHINGTON – Announcement of the Big Three conference raised great hope here today that the meeting in the Black Sea area is reaching real agreement on Europe’s peacetime future and the style of Germany’s post-surrender straitjacket.
President Roosevelt, Prime Minister Winston Churchill and Marshal Joseph V. Stalin have agreed on the strategy to insure Germany’s military defeat.
Now they have begun political and economic talks. These are the key to the future, perhaps the most important conversations in the memory of any living person.
The world will pay for any mistakes made on the Black Sea shores and benefit from all wise decisions.
Would limit policing
Mr. Roosevelt is believed to have told Mr. Churchill and Marshal Stalin that the United States prefers not to participate in the ultimate, long-term policing of Germany. It is understood that task is to be assigned to Great Britain and Russia with the possible assistance of France. We would participate directly in post-war occupation but for a limited time only.
Compromises by all three toward mutual all-over agreements generally are expected. Assurances that U.S. troops would not be among the semi-permanent European police detail could count heavily toward winning American acceptance of such compromises as the President may have to make.
To rally support
Both Mr. Roosevelt and Mr. Churchill are reported planning to speed directly home from the conference to rally public support.
Official announcement that the Roosevelt-Stalin-Churchill meeting was taking place was made simultaneously yesterday in London, Moscow and Washington. Berlin had already accurately broken the news of time and place.
The announcement said the three men with their foreign ministers, chiefs of staff and advisers – probably Harry L. Hopkins for the President – were meeting in the Black Sea area. The Big Three has completed its military discussion and the staff chiefs are working out details for Germany’s early defeat.
Other problems faced
In search of “firm foundations for a lasting peace,” the conferees have begun the other phase of their conference.
The communiqué said:
These discussions will cover joint plans for the occupation and control of Germany, the political and economic problems of liberated Europe and proposals for the earliest possible establishment of a permanent international organization to maintain peace.
The language of the communiqué committed the conferees to discussion of “joint plans” for Europe’s political and economic future. Another communiqué was promised when the conference ends.
Program outlined
General Black Sea conference plans for post-war Germany are understood to be as follows:
Destruction of Germany’s warmaking potential centered in heavy industry, the aviation industry and the synthetics industry.
Prevention of German living standards from improving more rapidly than those of her ravished neighbors.
Assurance that Germany shall aid in reconstruction of her neighbors’ economies, notably by provision of materials and forced labor.
Would split up Reich
Mr. Roosevelt is known to have been convinced that Germany must survive in some form, but tailored geographically. He is believed to be proposing that Prussia shall be separate from all else in Germany – Prussia being damned as the seat of German belligerency. But the extent to which Germany shall be further dismembered – if at all – is subject to discussion.
Germany would be deprived of airplanes and submarines, the facilities to manufacture them, and, possibly, the privilege of teaching her people to fly.
The conception of “grounding” an entire nation is understood to be Mr. Roosevelt’s own.
Disarmament planned
Germany would be disarmed. The Black Sea conferees are expected to complete and perhaps to announce a peacetime plan for international policing and regular inspection of Germany to prevent nullification of armaments prohibitions this time as Germany so deftly nullified them after World War I.
If inspection found Germany cheating, her borders would be closed. If cheating persisted, air police with bombs would enforce the regulations.
A distinction is made between the initial period of “occupation” of Germany and the ultimate period of international police control. The United States will participate with its armed forces in Germany’s “occupation” as hostilities cease.
In joint custody
Occupation plans are expected to put Berlin in joint Anglo-American-Russian custody. Russian troops would occupy eastern Germany, British troops northwestern Germany, and U.S. troops southwestern Germany. Early plans called for Anglo-American occupation of the Rhineland. It is likely that France now will share in that.
Some officials here talk of occupation in terms of “until 2000 AD” – a matter of 50 to 55 years. Mr. Roosevelt, however, is believed to feel that the American people would not accept such direct responsibility for the peace of Europe on such long terms.
Mr. Churchill is understood to have felt – at least at one time – that the Americans would and should accept responsibility for keeping armed forces in Europe for many years.
Full participation for U.S.
Mr. Roosevelt’s idea is understood to be that the enforcing power of the regulations under which a surrendered Germany must live would be the United Nations (Dumbarton Oaks organization) with full U.S. participation and complete acceptance of that responsibility.
But the implement would be British, Russian and French international police – no Americans. If the police were unable to handle the job, they could call for help – and get it – including U.S. troops if needed.
The President’s idea of a likely period of initial “occupation” of Germany is understood to be about a year.
Wants treaty delayed
He would prefer that 12 months elapse after the end of hostilities before the United Nations undertake to write a peace treaty for the defeated Germans. Occupation would appear to be necessary pending the peace treaty.
The British have not abandoned their hope that the United States will contribute armed forces of some kind for the long-term policing of Germany after the occupation period ends. It has been suggested here and in Britain that the German police detail would be a good place to train some of our young men if we adopt post-war universal military training.
It is possible, of course, that the British may obtain agreement to at least a “token” armed force from this country. But the President is known to have doubted that the American people would accept such responsibility.
May allot areas
In what apparently will be partly a partition and partly an internationalization of portions of Germany, there has been discussion of allotting industrial Silesia on the east to Poland – a rich prize.
France wants internationalization of the Rhineland, the Saar Basin and part of the Ruhr Valley. That is industrial Germany on the west.
Germany under that setup would lose outright, or lose control, of about 75 percent of her coal. Her warmaking power would be lost with it.
Marshal Stalin may hear gently from Mr. Roosevelt that full dress Russian participation in the peace problems of the Atlantic and the Mediterranean areas is of questionable necessity.
Open elections favored
But Russia’s prime interests on the continent are recognized. The only string to that is that the United States urgently seeks assurances that liberated countries shall have a fair and open chance to choose their form of post-war government.
Polish, Greek, Italian and Yugoslav situations challenge that American objective in various degrees. The three little Baltic states – Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania – were long since incorporated into the Soviet Union by formal action preceded by a vote.
Objectors have complained that Russian troops were occupying the three states when the votes were taken. Few here, however, have any expectation that the question involved there will be opened for further examination.
Polish compromise sought
But a Polish compromise is eagerly sought and with some confidence. The idea is that Moscow might agree to some kind of merger of the Lublin Polish government, which Russia recognizes, with the London Polish government. The latter is recognized by the United States and Britain.
Mr. Roosevelt may propose that Stanislaw Mikolajczyk, leader of the Polish Peasant Party and former premier of the London Polish government, join the Lubin government. That is the nearest to a “solution” of the problem that American diplomacy has conceived so far as is known here.
The Polish question is hot in the United States where some millions of voters were born in Poland or are of Polish descent.
Frontiers to be changed
If the conferees face the Polish problem directly, they will have to agree on a substantial revision of that nation’s frontiers. Russia has taken back a large area of eastern Poland and intends to keep it.
There has been some apprehension here that events, with or without assistance from Moscow, will lead to the post-war communization of Europe. Mr. Churchill rather than Mr. Roosevelt is expected to take the lead in seeking any assurance from Marshal Stalin on that question. It has been repeatedly emphasized here by well-informed persons that on the continent of Europe neither the United States nor Britain has any really enforceable demands.
Moscow wants post-war credits, heavy machinery and technical aid from us. Those are bargaining points. But beyond bargaining and persuasion there does not appear to be any means by which Marshal Stalin could be prevented from adopting such continental policies as may seem desirable to him.
LONDON, England (UP) – Diplomatic quarters believed today that one of the decisions to be announced at the end of the Big Three conference may be the formation of a military board by America, Britain and Russia to deal the death blow to the German Army.
Observers here believe the Russians are ready – for the first time – to join the Americans and British in the formation of a military committee that will execute the strategy planned by President Roosevelt, Marshal Stalin and Prime Minister Churchill. Military experts are already working on the decisions made by the Big Three.
London diplomats believe the military board will function only until the defeat of Germany. After that, a joint administrative commission would be formed, it was reported, to rule the Reich.
Increase 26,376 since last Friday
WASHINGTON (UP) – Total U.S. combat casualties officially announced here reached 764,832 today, 27,490 more than the total in the last overall compilation made February 2.
The new total included 676,796 Army casualties, an increase of 26,376 since last Friday, and 88,036 Navy casualties, an increase of 1,114 in the same period.
Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson also announced that 865,000 Germans have been captured in the European Theater since the invasion of France June 6.
The Army and Navy casualty totals include:
| Army | Navy | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Killed | 130,266 | 33,288 | 163,494 |
| Wounded | 396,176 | 40,356 | 436,552 |
| Missing | 58,878 | 9,977 | 68,855 |
| Prisoners | 91,476 | 4,475 | 95,951 |
| TOTAL | 764,832 |
Secretary Stimson explained that the Army total included all casualties compiled here through January 28. He added, however, that they reflect battle losses only through December.
The total of Army killed, Mr. Stimson said, included 4,533 previously listed as missing but now declared dead. Of the Army wounded, 191,439 have returned to duty, he said.
Secretary Stimson said that U.S. forces on the Western Front in Germany have made substantial progress but have made no open breach in the Siegfried Line. Various segments of the fortifications have been taken, Mr. Stimson said. The outer works in some places have been thinly defended, but the enemy has attempted to keep a firm hand on all key points, he added.
Agency’s troubles begin with news from Stockholm – versions given, retracted
By Phelps Adams, North American Newspaper Alliance
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Former National Youth chief is called social worker lacking business experience
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Purported harsh armistice terms include cession of Pantelleria Island to Britain
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By the United Press
The Soviet Navy publication Red Fleet today hailed the U.S. liberation of Central Luzon and Manila as a “great victory for the Allies.”
The Americans are now in a good position to “sap the Japanese military strength,” the article said. It heralded the conquest as “the final and decisive stage” of the battle for the Philippines.
Offer amendments to British program
By Fred W. Perkins, Pittsburgh Press staff writer
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