The Pittsburgh Press (December 6, 1943)
BIG THREE PACT REVEALED
Three-front war to knock out Germany; formula for lasting peace adopted
Roosevelt, Churchill, Stalin map victory, push from east, west, south
By Oskar Guth, United Press staff writer
Historic meeting of Marshal Joseph Stalin, President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill brought this picture of the three Allied leaders sitting on the portico of the Russian Embassy at Tehran, Iran. Mr. Churchill is in the uniform of an RAF marshal.
With military, naval aides, Marshal Joseph Stalin, President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill pose on the portico of the Russian Embassy at Tehran after their conference. In the background are Gen. H. H. Arnold, Chief of the U.S. Army Air Forces; an unidentified British officer; Adm. Sir Andrew Browne Cunningham, British Chief of Naval Staff, and Adm. William Leahy, Chief of Staff to President Roosevelt.
Outside the Tehran Embassy, a group of Allied leaders are shown after the conference. Gen. George C. Marshall, U.S. Army Chief of Staff, shakes hands with an unidentified man. others are Harry Hopkins, an interpreter, Marshal Stalin, Soviet Foreign Minister Molotov and Russian Marshal Kliment Y. Voroshilov.
Tehran Conference in brief
The men
- Franklin Delano Roosevelt, President of the United States
- Winston Churchill, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
- Joseph Stalin, Premier of the Soviet Union
The place
Tehran, capital of ancient Iran, where the mechanized military might of the Western nations who have made Iran a supply route for Russia contrasts with the customs of the Orient unchanged for centuries.
What they did
Agreed to work together in the war and in the peace to follow; agreed to the scope and timing of the final assault upon Germany from east, west and south; agreed to write a peace welcoming all enemies of tyranny into a world of democratic amity.
Tehran, Iran –
President Roosevelt, Prime Minister Churchill and Premier Stalin have agreed on a master plan to crush Germany by powerful offensives on three fronts – including invasions of Western Europe and possibly the Balkans – and have mapped a peace that should endure for “many generations.”
The “Big Three” of the Allied nations announced their decisions in broad terms in a declaration issued today after 100 hours of unparalleled conferences that embraced military, diplomatic and political questions both of the war and the peace to follow.
After concluding their four-day sessions last Wednesday, Premier Stalin returned to Moscow and Messrs. Roosevelt and Churchill to Cairo to translate into action the decisions that their joint declaration said guaranteed “victory will be ours.”
With the Tehran Conference, the Allies completed the blueprint for the war in the months to come in both the Atlantic and Pacific. The previous week, Messrs. Roosevelt and Churchill conferred with Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek and laid down the broad strategy calculated to bring Japan to her knees.
Specifically, the three heads of states proclaimed in their joint Tehran declaration:
-
“We have reached complete understanding as to the scope and timing of operations which will be undertaken from the East, West and South.”
-
“No power on earth can prevent our destroying the German armies by land, their U-boats by sea, and their war plants from the air. Our attacks will be relentless and increasing.”
-
“We recognize fully the responsibility resting upon us and all the United Nations to make a peace which will command good will from the overwhelming masses of the world and banish the scourge and terror of war for many generations.”
-
“We will welcome… as they may choose to come into the world family of democratic nations… all nations, large and small, whose peoples in heart and in mind are dedicated, as are our own peoples, to the elimination of tyranny and slavery, oppression and intolerance.”
-
“We came here with hope and determination. We leave here friends in fact, in spirit and in purpose.”
Contrary to expectations in many quarters, the declaration contained no ultimatum to the German people to throw out their Nazi leaders and surrender unconditionally to avoid complete devastation of their homeland.
It was believed that the “Big Three” may have decided to delay any such ultimatum until a moment when success is assured. Most Allied authorities agree that German morale has not yet reached the breaking point.
Messrs. Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin, in a subsidiary statement on Iran’s part in the war, said they counted upon the participation of all:
…peace-loving nations, in the establishment of international peace, security and prosperity after the war, in accordance with the principles of the Atlantic Charter, to which all four governments (including Iran) have continued to subscribe.
Though the conference laid the groundwork for an international post-war organization to build and enforce a lasting peace, the immediate military decisions overshadowed all else.
Anglo-American plans for the opening of a “second front” by an invasion of Western Europe and how it can be coordinated with a mammoth Red Army offensive from the East and new blows from the Mediterranean presumably dominated the discussions.
Military conferees who accompanied the “Big Three” included Gen. George C. Marshall, U.S. Chief of Staff and likely choice as Supreme Commander of the assault from the west, and Marshal Kliment Y. Voroshilov, hero of Stalingrad and one of Russia’s ablest military leaders.
The declaration’s reference to “complete agreement” on all major aspects of the three-front war by land, air and sea confirmed for the first time that Russia has accepted the date proposed by Messrs. Roosevelt and Churchill for a second front.
It also indicated that Stalin for the first time had informed the United States and Britain of the most secret details of the Red Army’s plans for offensive blows from the East.
Disclosure that operations will also be undertaken “from the South” pointed to a possible Allied thrust into the turbulent Balkans, either across the Adriatic from newly-won bases in southern Italy or from Africa and the Levant into the Aegean, in addition to a quickening of the current campaign in Italy.
Turkish participation would be most helpful in any Balkan operation and there has been widespread speculation that Turkey at least will grant bases to the Allies under the terms of her mutual-assistance pact with Britain.
Held in place
The Tehran Conference sessions were held in an old Persian palace which now serves as the Soviet Embassy. All servants of the Embassy, except for some U.S. Army cooks, were Russian secret police. British soldiers and Indian Sikhs stood guard around the compound wall and armored cars were stationed at each street intersection.
Other elaborate precautions were also taken because the Germans still have many agents in Iran seeking to stir up the natives.
Marshal Stalin, making his first trip outside Russia’s borders since he went to Krakau, Austria, in 1912, arrived in Tehran Nov. 26 and Messrs. Roosevelt and Churchill on Nov. 27.
Guest of Stalin
Mr. Roosevelt went to the U.S. Legation the first night, but moved into the main building of the Soviet Embassy as Premier Stalin’s guest the following night and remained there throughout the rest of the conference. Premier Stalin stayed in a small house in the Embassy compound, while Mr. Churchill stayed at the British Legation across the street.
The social program of the conference included a birthday party on Mr. Churchill’s 69th birthday Nov. 30, at which the 34 guests drank at least 34 toasts, including those by Marshal Stalin to both Mr. Roosevelt and Mr. Churchill, whom he called “my fighting friends,” and to American production, in which he mentioned victory in the past tense.
Roosevelt gives bowl
Mr. Roosevelt gave Mr. Churchill an old Persian bowl which connoisseurs called a “fair antique” with a card expressing the hope “may we be together for many years.” Marshal Stalin did not give a present.
Another high spot in the program was the dramatic presentation by Mr. Churchill to Premier Stalin and Marshal Voroshilov of the British honor Sword of Stalingrad on behalf of King George VI and the British people.
The conferees recognized Iran’s part in the war as a transit base for Allied supplies bound for Russia in a statement that promised all economic assistance possible during and after the war and expressed their desire for the maintenance of “the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Iran.”
Roosevelt and Stalin meet in closely guarded room
Tehran, Iran (UP) –
The moment which President Roosevelt had said would be the realization of his fondest hope – his meeting face to face with Joseph Stalin – occurred at about 3:15 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 28.
Mr. Roosevelt, who had driven on his arrival Saturday to the U.S. Legation, had just moved over to the handsome Russian Embassy, a former palace located in a compound guarded by Russian secret service men, Russian officers bearing Tommy guns, British Army Sikhs and Tommies.
Stalin strode up the gravel path from his villa within the grounds, wearing the dark blue uniform of a Soviet marshal and a long coat. Behind him a few steps came V. M. Molotov, Soviet Foreign Minister. Behind Molotov were several generals.
They vanished from view through the handsome portal.
Packed with guards
Eyewitnesses to the historic handclasp are not available. It occurred in a building closely packed with guards. Almost every few feet within the building was a Soviet secret service man. They were described as standing for hours without moving.
There were also many U.S. Secret Service men. In the kitchen were U.S. Army cooks to prepare the President’s meals.
Stalin was closeted with the President for 90 minutes while Molotov waited in an adjacent room. Mr. Churchill arrived about 4:45 p.m. and the initial plenary session began.
Four such meetings were held, one each day. The “Big Three” dined together each night.
Meanwhile, the military men of the three nations met almost continuously.
Nine-foot table
The table at which Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin conferred was made of oak and was about nine feet in diameter. The Russian Embassy gave a Tehran carpenter an order for the table shortly before the conference.
By Friday, when Stalin arrived, the Embassy compound was a fortress. Huge screens had been put up at each end of the street in which the Soviet Embassy and British Legations face one another and a four-block area, swarming with guards, was blocked off.
The excitement started long before Stalin’s arrival. For days the city’s streets had been abustle with innocent-looking Russians, Americans with broad-brimmed hats and rain-coated Englishmen. Miles of telephone wires were strung by American soldiers between the various United Nations embassies and legations.
Saturday guards around the British Legation were tripled and the city swarmed with new groups of mysterious foreigners.
Planes circle city
In midafternoon, several large planes circled the city and crowds in the streets cried:
Here they are! Roosevelt! Churchill!
The airfield was surrounded by troops armed with Tommy guns and bayonet-tipped rifles.
Mr. Roosevelt, surrounded by tanks and armored cars, led and followed by motorcycle troops, sped through Tehran to the legation at the other end of the city.
By comparison, Mr. Churchill was almost unguarded. Iranian police and horse guards lined some streets along his route.
Tehranites gathered on the main streets and cheered Mr. Roosevelt as he whizzed past.
So far as could be ascertained, Voroshilov was the only high Soviet military official participating in the vital sessions other than Stalin.
Final session Wednesday
The final conference started with a luncheon on Wednesday and continued without interruption until 10:30 p.m. Among those who participated were the three leaders, Molotov, Harry Hopkins, British Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden, U.S. Ambassador to Russia W. Averell Harriman, U.S. Ambassador to Britain John Winant, Adm. William D. Leahy, Gen. George C. Marshall, Adm. Ernest King, Gen. H. H. Arnold, and Lt. Gen. Brehon Somervell.
Other British participants were Sir Alan Brooke, Adm. Sir Andrew Browne Cunningham, Air Marshal Sir Charles Portal, Sir John Dill and Clark-Kerr.
Military decisions were completed by 4:00 p.m. Thursday, after which a 10-hour session was devoted to drawing up the communiqué. The final conference broke up after Dec. 2.
Axis propaganda stresses delay
By Paul Ghali
Berne, Switzerland –
The delay in issuing a communiqué concerning the Tehran tripartite conference is being exploited by Axis propagandists to belittle its importance and reassure their apprehensive peoples concerning its outcome.
From both Berlin and “Fascist circles in northern Italy” come widely-publicized reports that the conference has not attained the results hoped for by Washington and London. It is even stated that Stalin has returned from his trip a very disappointed man.
Fascist circles, according to Chiasso dispatches today, speak of a “sensational diplomatic surprise” which forthcoming days reserve for those Fascists and Nazis who have never doubted final victory.