The Guns at Last Light: The War in Western Europe, 1944-1945 (166 page)

That was unlikely
:
SC
, 409;
GS
VI, 90; Crosswell,
Beetle
, 862–63 (“
Please leave this to me
”).

As the chiefs convened again
: Crosswell,
Beetle
, 862–63; Cray,
General of the Army
, 502–3 (“
practically never sees General Eisenhower
”); Pogue,
George C. Marshall
, 516–17 (“
wrong foot
”).

He had not finished
: Chandler, 2461; Cray,
General of the Army
, 500–501;
SC
, 413; Bland, ed.,
George C. Marshall Interviews and Reminiscences for Forrest C. Pogue
, 400–402 (“
everything he asked for
”); Crosswell,
Beetle
, 862–63 (“
over-cautious commander
”).

“
Marshall clearly understood nothing
”: Danchev, 653.

“
Marshall’s complaint was not unjustified
”: Cunningham,
A Sailor’s Odyssey
, 626–27; Roberts,
Masters and Commanders
, 577.

For another month, the British conspired
: corr, F. L. Anderson to C. A. Spaatz, Feb. 2, 1945, “Operation Argonaut,” HIA, Frederick L. Anderson papers, box 95, folder 14; Orange,
Tedder: Quietly in Command
, 297; Hastings,
Armageddon
, 195 (“
a very, very small man
”); Chandler, 2480–82 (“
no question whatsoever
”).

“
The P.M. was sore
”: Orange,
Tedder: Quietly in Command
, 297.

Light rain spattered Luqa airdrome
: Pogue,
George C. Marshall: Organizer of Victory
, 519; Stettinius,
Roosevelt and the Russians
, 28–29 (
Mission No. 17
); “Argonaut,” No. AR/2, n.d., UK NA, CAB 120/172 (
black bands and yellow tags
).

Roosevelt in recent months had proposed
: Olsen, “Full House at Yalta,”
American Heritage
(Jan. 1972): 1
+
. Stalin initially proposed Odessa, but that port city remained within range of German bombers (Mason, ed.,
The Atlantic War Remembered
, 447–48).

“
I emphasized the difficulties
”: memo, A. Harriman to FDR, Dec. 27, 1944, NARA RG 165, E 422, OPD, box 31; cable file, ARGONAUT, NARA RG 165, E 422, OPD, box 31 (“
toilet facilities
”); Sherwood,
Roosevelt and Hopkins
, 844–45 (“
his adventurous spirit
”).

Roosevelt and Churchill had agreed to limit
: memo, William Leahy to GCM, E. King, Dec. 28, 1944, NARA RG 165, E 422, OPD, box 31; Clemens,
Yalta
, 111; Mason, ed.,
The Atlantic War Remembered
, 447–48 (
Americans numbered 330
); “Argonaut,” No. AR/2, n.d., UK NA, CAB 120/172; admin papers, UK NA, CAB 104/177 (“
plausible cover story
”).

In view of the rustic conditions
: admin papers, UK NA, CAB 104/177; memo, M. Moritz, Malta Command, to E. A. Armstrong, War Cabinet Offices, Feb. 23, 1945; admin papers, UK NA, CAB 104/177 (“
Yalta Voyage 208
”); Harriman and Abel,
Special Envoy to Churchill and Stalin, 1941–1946
, 390 (“
good for typhus
”).

“
We left Malta in darkness
”: Charles H. Donnelly, “Autobiography,” May 1979, MHI, 719–23; Leahy,
I Was There
, 295–301 (
set their watches ahead
).

Churchill boarded a four-engine C-54
: Kuter,
Airman at Yalta
, 103; Goodwin,
No Ordinary Time
, 575 (“
hot pink baby
”).

Down the flight line stood C-54 No. 252
:
http://www.strategic-air-command.com/aircraft/cargo/c54_skymaster.htm
; Bishop,
FDR’s Last Year
, 300 (
caged elevator
); Gallagher,
FDR’s Splendid Deception
, 202 (“
a transparency
”).

Spitfire and P-38 fighter escorts
: memo, Jan. 27, 1945, Naples, “Trips of the President,” FDR Lib, container 21, file 6-1; William M. Rigdon, log, “The President’s Trip to the Crimea Conference and Great Bitter Lake, Egypt,” Averill Harriman papers, LOC MS Div, 17–18.

A Fateful Conference

Wedged into a natural amphitheater
: Twain,
The Innocents Abroad
, 280; Anton Chekhov, “The Lady with the Pet Dog,”
http://www.enotes.com/lady-pet-text
(“
The stories told
”).

That sea—to the ancients Pontus Euxinus
: Thomas Spencer Baynes, ed.,
The Encyclopaedia Britannica
, vol. 3, 795, online ed.; “Notes on the Crimea,” 1945, “WWII Summit Conferences,” Charles H. Donnelly papers, MHI (
Cimmerians and Scythians
); Ponomarenko,
Yalta: A Short Guide
, 11, 19–21 (
Lenin’s decree
); Yhagapov and Shekurov,
Greater Yalta
, 19–26; Clemens,
Yalta
, 113 (
three dozen sanatoriums
).

Then came the Germans
: Leasor,
The Clock with Four Hands
, 286–87; corr, E. J. Flynn to wife, Feb. 8, 1945, Edward J. Flynn papers, FDR Lib, box 25 (
brass doorknobs
); John E. Hull, “Unpublished Autobiography,” n.d., MHI, 14-4; Mason, ed.,
The Atlantic War Remembered
, 449–50; Harriman and Abel,
Special Envoy to Churchill and Stalin, 1941–1946
, 393 (
coat hangers
).

British and American support ships
: Buhite,
Decisions at Yalta
, 4 (“
didn’t leave a map
”); Olsen, “Full House at Yalta,”
American Heritage
(Jan. 1972): 1
+
(
nine hundred hairpin turns
); memo, T. W. Sullivan and L. H. Backus, U.S. Navy physicians, Feb. 18, 1945, Ross T. McIntire papers, FDR Lib, box 4 (“
marked infestation
”).

Four Soviet regiments arrived
: Montefiore,
Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar
, 480–81; Davies,
No Simple Victory
, 191–92 (
dozen Georgians
); Plokhy,
Yalta
, 58, 233 (
Eavesdroppers
).

“
This may well be a fateful conference
”: corr, WSC to FDR, Jan. 8, 1945, GCM Lib, box 62, folder 19; Pawle,
The War and Colonel Warden
, 358 (“
nineteen full colonels
”); Ismay,
The Memoirs of General Lord Ismay
, 384 (“
would have been difficult
”).

Sacred Cow
touched down
: William M. Rigdon, log, “The President’s Trip to the Crimea Conference and Great Bitter Lake, Egypt,” Averill Harriman papers, LOC MS Div, 19; Stettinius,
Roosevelt and the Russians
, 80–81 (
agent lifted him
); Clemens,
Yalta
, 128 (“
Stone Ass
”); Guy H. Spaman, “President’s Trip,” July 5, 1945, Secret Service records, FDR Lib, container 4, file 103-1 (
ammunition had been confiscated
); Moran,
Churchill: Taken from the Diaries of Lord Moran
, 234 (“
a great icicle
”).

“
We will destroy
”: Aron Kots version,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Internationale#Russian_lyrics
.

Beside steaming glasses of tea
: Charles H. Donnelly, “Autobiography,” May 1979, MHI, 719–23; John E. Hull, “Unpublished Autobiography,” n.d., MHI, 14-4 (“
Let’s get going
”); Houghton, “That Was Yalta,”
New Yorker
(May 23, 1953): 86
+
(
khaki overcoat
).

Soon a weaving convoy
: Stettinius,
Roosevelt and the Russians
, 81; U.S. Navy color footage, FDR Lib, 71-8: 65–67 (
women in shawls
); Kuter,
Airman at Yalta
, 114–15; Charles H. Donnelly, “Autobiography,” May 1979, MHI, 719–23; notes, Feb. 3–4, 1945, Anna Roosevelt Halsted papers, FDR Lib, box 84 (
a few sheep
); William M. Rigdon, log, “The President’s Trip to the Crimea Conference and Great Bitter Lake, Egypt,” Averill Harriman papers, LOC MS Div, 18–20 (
Route Romanoff
). Author Michael Dobbs notes that at least some of the destruction likely was inflicted by Soviet forces during a 1944 purge of Tatar villages (
Six Months in 1945
, 24–25, 10 [Don Juan]).

Churchill and the British contingent
: Ismay,
The Memoirs of General Lord Ismay
, 386–87; Dilks, ed.,
The Diaries of Sir Alexander Cadogan
, 703 (“
hideosity
”); Churchill,
Triumph and Tragedy
, 347 (
goldfish
).

“
nothing is left out but cleanliness
”: Moran,
Churchill: Taken from the Diaries of Lord Moran
, 237–38; Leasor,
The Clock with Four Hands
, 288 (
shipped by special train
); Richardson,
From Churchill’s Secret Circle to the BBC
, 198 (“
We sleep in droves
”); Plokhy,
Yalta
, 50 (“
queuing for a bucket
”); Hastings,
Winston’s War
, 442 (“
Riviera of Hades
”); Danchev, 656 (“
a great northern diver
”).

Ten miles away the Americans settled
: Kuter,
Airman at Yalta
, 121–22, 138 (
tea in tall glasses
); Olsen, “Full House at Yalta,”
American Heritage
(Jan. 1972): 1
+
; Houghton, “That Was Yalta,”
New Yorker
(May 23, 1953): 86
+
(“
Please do not pilfer
”).

An air of tragedy
: Clemens,
Yalta
, 113 (
two million rubles
); Massie,
Nicholas and Alexandra
, 156–64 (
reindeer tongue
); Plokhy,
Yalta
, 43–44.

Now Roosevelt slept
: Houghton, “That Was Yalta,”
New Yorker
(May 23, 1953): 86
+
.

At four o’clock on Sunday
: William M. Rigdon, log, “The President’s Trip to the Crimea Conference and Great Bitter Lake, Egypt,” Averill Harriman papers, LOC MS Div, photo; OH, John E. Hull, 1974, James W. Wurman, SOOHP, MHI, VI-6, 7; Beevor,
Berlin: The Downfall, 1945
, 79 (
Hero of the Soviet Union
); Dobbs,
Six Months in 1945
, 35 (
talcum powder
); Buhite,
Decisions at Yalta
, 17 (
smallpox scars
); Houghton, “That Was Yalta,”
New Yorker
(May 23, 1953): 86
+
(
rattle the teacups
).

Joseph Stalin intrigued even Franklin Roosevelt
: Bohlen,
Witness to History, 1929–1969
, 180; Fox, “The Super-Powers Then and Now,”
International Journal
(summer 1980): 417
+
; Reynolds,
Rich Relations
, 438. See also William T. R. Fox,
The Super-Powers
(New York: Harcourt Brace, 1944).

In other respects the wealthy patrician
: Montefiore,
Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar
, 25; Dallek,
Franklin D. Roosevelt and American Foreign Policy, 1932–1945
, 521 (“
a Christian gentleman
”); Plokhy,
Yalta
, 56–57, 77; MMB, 527–28; Overy,
Why the Allies Won
, 259 (“
military brain
”); Murphy,
Diplomat Among Warriors
, 232–33 (“
I can handle Stalin
”); Roberts,
Masters and Commanders
, 486 (“
bigger coins
”).

Beneath a painting of a farmer
: Hastings,
Winston’s War
, 444 (“
You said it!
”); Stettinius,
Roosevelt and the Russians
, 99 (
communicate directly
).

The marshal replied that the carnage
: Tooze,
The Wages of Destruction
, 468–69, 477–83;
FRUS
, 571–73 (“
sadistic hatred
”).

Roosevelt offered Stalin
: Bishop,
FDR’s Last Year
, 310–11; Kersaudy,
Churchill and De Gaulle
, 392–93 (“
unpleasant and impossible
”).

“
Only out of kindness
”:
FRUS
, 571–73; Montefiore,
Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar
, 492 (“
Why did nature
”).

Upon Churchill’s arrival
: William M. Rigdon, log, “The President’s Trip to the Crimea Conference and Great Bitter Lake, Egypt,” Averill Harriman papers, LOC MS Div, photo; Bishop,
FDR’s Last Year
, 312–13; Massie,
Nicholas and Alexandra
, 168–69 (
diamonds and pearls
).

Much of
ARGONAUT
’s initial meeting
: Bland, ed.,
George C. Marshall Interviews and Reminiscences for Forrest C. Pogue
, 405;
FRUS
, 575–78. Among other discrepancies, Soviet minutes of the conference quote Marshall as putting German oil production at 40 percent of previous levels (Clemens,
Yalta
, 124). A Soviet account also reported that Churchill seemed bored by the military recitations (“The Crimea and Potsdam Conferences of the Leaders of the Three Great Powers,”
International Affairs
, All-Union Society, Moscow [June 1965]: 97).

The Soviet account
:
FRUS
, 582–83; Erickson,
The Road to Berlin
, 447–48, 461, 471–72; Read and Fisher,
The Fall of Berlin
, 211 (“
You are now in goddam Germany
”).