The Guns at Last Light: The War in Western Europe, 1944-1945 (167 page)

The Soviets currently possessed a seven-to-one advantage
: Horst Boog, “Invasion to Surrender: The Defense of Germany,” in Brower, ed.,
World War II in Europe: The Final Year
, 132;
FRUS
, 582–83 (
180 to 80
); Robert H. Abzug, “The Liberation of the Concentration Camps,” in
Liberation 1945
, 35–36; “Auschwitz,” USHMM,
http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005189
; Posner and Ware,
Mengele: The Complete Story
, 3–8 (
medical experiments
); Gill,
The Journey Back from Hell
, 25–27; Weinberg,
A World at Arms
, 798–800 (
seven tons of women’s hair
); Read and Fisher,
The Fall of Berlin
, 212 (
pyramids of dentures
).

“
Our wishes
”:
FRUS
, 582–83; Feis,
Churchill, Roosevelt, Stalin
, 498–99; Weinberg,
A World at Arms
, 798–800; Erickson,
The Road to Berlin
, 475–76, 480, 517 (
threatened the flanks in East Pomerania
); Buell,
Master of Seapower
, 487 (“
It takes a very brave man
”).

By late 1945, an estimated two million German women
: Antony Beevor, introduction to Anonymous,
A Woman in Berlin
, xx; Hitchcock,
The Bitter Road to Freedom
, 154–167 (
dragged from operating tables
and
forced migration of 7.5
million Germans); Evans,
The Third Reich at War
, 710 (“
Our men shoot the ones
” and “
They are going to remember
”); Erickson,
The Road to Berlin
, 466–67 (
nailed by their hands
).

“
in very good humor
”:
FRUS
, 589–90.

Great care had been taken
: notes, Feb. 4, 1945, Anna Roosevelt Halsted papers, FDR Lib, box 84; Sherwood,
Roosevelt and Hopkins
, 852 (
Filipino mess boys
); William M. Rigdon, log, “The President’s Trip to the Crimea Conference and Great Bitter Lake, Egypt,” Averill Harriman papers, LOC MS Div, 25 (
five types of wine
); Bishop,
FDR’s Last Year
, 319 (“
peace for a hundred years
”); Dilks, ed.,
The Diaries of Sir Alexander Cadogan
, 707 (“
drinking buckets
”); Stettinius,
Roosevelt and the Russians
, 111 (
recharging his glass
).

Not until the final half hour
:
FRUS
, 589–90.

“
But of your seven million Poles
”: Stettinius,
Roosevelt and the Russians
, 113.

“
The eagle should permit
”:
FRUS
, 589–90.

“
A terrible party
”: Eden,
The Reckoning
, 593.

Stalin’s attitude toward Germany
:
FRUS
, 611–14, 624–27, 633.

Glancing at a note slipped to him
: ibid., 612–18, 629, 634.

“
I can get the people and Congress
”: Stettinius,
Roosevelt and the Russians
, 127.

“
Germany should be run by those
”:
FRUS
, 612–18.

“
He loves France like a woman
”: Moran,
Churchill: Taken from the Diaries of Lord Moran
, 241.

rather than remind Stalin
: Fenno, ed.,
The Yalta Conference
, 48–50;
FRUS
, 612–18, 629 (“
France must take her place
”).

But who should pay
: Clemens,
Yalta
, 37 (
Stalin had pressed
); Smith,
American Diplomacy During the Second World War
, 132;
FRUS
, 620–21; Byrnes,
Speaking Frankly
, 26–27.

Washington and London had second thoughts
: Clemens,
Yalta
, 37–41, 137–39, 172; “The Crimea and Potsdam Conferences of the Leaders of the Three Great Powers,”
International Affairs
, All-Union Society, Moscow (June 1965): 101; Byrnes,
Speaking Frankly
, 28 (
$200 million
).

Recalling the ruinous conditions
:
FRUS
, 621–23.

On it went for six more days
: Stettinius,
Roosevelt and the Russians
, 185 (“
in for ½ hour of it
”); Meacham,
Franklin and Winston
, 319 (“
ran away from the interpreter
”); Moran,
Churchill: Taken from the Diaries of Lord Moran
, 243 (
wooden stethoscope
); Danchev, 658–59; Roberts,
Masters and Commanders
, 552–55 (
Crimean War battlefields
).

Back at the Villa Livadia
: Churchill,
Triumph and Tragedy
, 365; Hastings,
Winston’s War
, 417 (“
feeble lot of fools
”); Clemens,
Yalta
, 174–177; Harriman and Abel,
Special Envoy to Churchill and Stalin, 1941–1946
, 411 (
150,000 Polish soldiers
); Montefiore,
Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar
, 494 (
ten million Red Army troops
).

Rising from his chair
: Bohlen,
Witness to History, 1929–1969
, 187; Byrnes,
Speaking Frankly
, 30–32 (“
Within a month’s time
”).

elections would not be held in Poland for two years
: Kimball,
Forged in War
, 307–8; Dobbs,
Six Months in 1945
, 64, 85 (
Missouri
); Colville,
The Fringes of Power
, 555 (“
All the Balkans except Greece
”); Addison,
Churchill, the Unexpected Hero
, 206–7 (“
Terrible and humbling submissions
”).

For Roosevelt, two paramount concerns
:
FRUS
, 396; Fenno, ed.,
The Yalta Conference
, 96–98; Howarth, ed.,
Men of War
, 104; FCP, “Yalta in Retrospect,” in Snell, ed.,
The Meaning of Yalta
, 201 (
huge American casualties
); Dallek,
Franklin D. Roosevelt and American Foreign Policy, 1932–1945
, 517; Stoler,
George C. Marshall: Soldier-Statesman of the American Century
, 126.

Stalin at the Teheran conference
: Kimball, ed.,
Churchill & Roosevelt: The Complete Correspondence
, vol. 3, 527; Harriman and Abel,
Special Envoy to Churchill and Stalin, 1941–1946
, 400, 412 (“
same horse twice
”); Plokhy,
Yalta
, 285–88; Feis,
Churchill, Roosevelt, Stalin
, 535 (
Japan forfeited its entire empire
); Leahy,
I Was There
, 318–21.

The second issue preoccupying Roosevelt
: Leahy,
I Was There
, 315;
http://www.un.org/en/aboutun/history/
(“
United Nations
”); Dallek,
Franklin D. Roosevelt and American Foreign Policy, 1932–1945
, 507 (
committed to the wider world
); Clemens,
Yalta
, 216–18 (
all sixteen Soviet republics
); Stettinius,
Roosevelt and the Russians
, 174–75, 187, 281; Plokhy,
Yalta
, 289–92, 366–67; Leahy,
I Was There
, 321 (
would remain secret
). Stalin at one point offered Roosevelt two extra votes for the United States.

ARGONAUT
staggered to an end
: Kimball,
Forged in War
, 324 (“
tired all through
”);
FRUS
, 797–98 (
forty-five toasts
); diary, William D. Leahy, Feb. 8, 1945, LOC MS Div, micro R-4, container 6, 27 (
mosquitoes
); Bishop,
FDR’s Last Year
, 384–85 (“
Drink it down!
”);
FRUS
, 797–98; Churchill,
Triumph and Tragedy
, 361–62 (“
We regard Marshal Stalin’s life
”).

Roosevelt, who had tossed down two cocktails
: Bishop,
FDR’s Last Year
, 384–85. A staff officer who later rose to four-star rank, John E. Hull, described FDR as drinking heavily at one dinner (OH, 1974, James W. Wurman, SOOHP, MHI, VI-6, 7).

Guests hopped around the table
: diary, William D. Leahy, Feb. 8, 1945, LOC MS Div, micro R-4, container 6, 28; Peckham and Snyder, eds.,
Letters from Fighting Hoosiers
, vol. 2, 211 (
butter and oily salmon
); Cunningham,
A Sailor’s Odyssey
, 628 (
advising the marshal
); Montefiore,
Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar
, 493, 516–20 (“
our Himmler
”).

Churchill hosted the final dinner
: Churchill,
Triumph and Tragedy
, 393 (“
The fire of war
”); Bohlen,
Witness to History, 1929–1969
, 178–80; Meacham,
Franklin and Winston
, 320 (“
secret weapon
”); menu, Feb. 10, 1945, Anna Roosevelt Halsted papers, FDR Lib, box 84; Bishop,
FDR’s Last Year
, 421–22 (
gathered in the foyer
).

They were done
: Clemens,
Yalta
, 300;
FRUS
, 972–73 (“
declaration on liberated Europe
”); Black,
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
, 1072 (“
We will meet again
”); William M. Rigdon, log, “The President’s Trip to the Crimea Conference and Great Bitter Lake, Egypt,” Averill Harriman papers, LOC MS Div, 31 (Target: Germany); Roosevelt,
As He Saw It
, 242–43 (
Two Russian servants
); Bishop,
FDR’s Last Year
, 430–31 (“
worked so hard
”).

Churchill had begun the day
: Moran,
Churchill: Taken from the Diaries of Lord Moran
, 248–49, 251 (
chef from the
Queen Mary); Clemens,
Yalta
, 267–68 (“
this bloody thing
”); Argonaut files, UK NA, PREM 4/77/1B (
hampers of gifts
).

“
Papa, genial and sprightly
”: Jenkins,
Churchill: A Biography
, 782.

“
I am a bit exhausted
”: Goodwin,
No Ordinary Time
, 582; Jonathan Daniels, “The Presidency,” in Goodman, ed.,
While You Were Gone
, 124 (“
afraid of getting hit
”).

“
in a sulky mood
”: Willis,
The French in Germany
, 13.

Instead the president again boarded
Quincy: OH, W. B. McCarthy, U.S.S.
Murphy
, March 8, 1945, NARA RG 38, E 11, U.S. Navy WWII Oral Histories; official file, 200-4-E, ship’s logs, FDR Lib, box 67; William M. Rigdon, log, “The President’s Trip to the Crimea Conference and Great Bitter Lake, Egypt,” Averill Harriman papers, LOC MS Div, 43–49 (“
harem attire
”); Tully,
F.D.R. My Boss
, 352–53 (“
2 Kings & 1 Emperor
”).

“
a slender contact with life
”: Churchill,
Triumph and Tragedy
, 397; Roosevelt,
As He Saw It
, 246 (“
It’s been a global war
”).

“
We really believed in our hearts
”: Sherwood,
Roosevelt and Hopkins
, 870. Hopkins had been treated for stomach cancer as early as 1937 (James A. Halsted, “Severe Malnutrition in a Public Servant of the World War II Era: The Medical History of Harry Hopkins,”
Transactions of the American Clinical and Climatological Association
, 86 (1975),
http://www.scribd.com/doc/20368863/Harry-Hopkins-Medical-Bio
, 23
+)
.

“
For what we have gained here
”: Stoler,
Allies and Adversaries
, 226; Danchev, 661 (“
Conference is finished
”).

“
Stalin doesn’t want anything
”: Roberts,
Masters and Commanders
, 557–58; Stoler,
Allies in War
, 196 (“
I don’t think I’m wrong
”); Reynolds,
In Command of History
, 465 (“
great and good man
”).

“
justify and surpass most of the hopes
”: msg, Jonathan Daniels to S. Early, Feb. 13, 1945, official files, FDR Lib, box 3; memo, Hadley Cantril to FDR, “Public Reaction to the Crimea Conference,” March 13, 1945, official file 200-4-E, FDR Lib, box 67 (
Polling results
); Byrnes,
Speaking Frankly
, 45 (“
all doubts
”).

“
the shadows of victory
”: Colville,
The Fringes of Power
, 562–63; Reynolds,
In Command of History
, 468 (
Neville Chamberlain
); Smith,
American Diplomacy During the Second World War
, 134–35; Clemens,
Yalta
, 269–71, 277, 280–89; Weinberg,
A World at Arms
, 809 (
Moscow in turn consolidated its grip
); Dobbs,
Six Months in 1945
, 114 (
slave laborers
), 110 (“
partition of Poland
”); Kissinger, “The Age of Kennan,” review of John Lewis Gaddis,
George F. Kennan: An American Life
,
NYT Book Review
, Nov. 13, 2011 (
sentimentality of
ARGONAUT
); Stoler,
Allies and Adversaries
, 231 (“
Russian non-cooperation
”); Harriman and Abel,
Special Envoy to Churchill and Stalin, 1941–1946
, 444 (“
We can’t do business
”); Black,
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
, 1081 (“
the best I could do
”).