Russia at war 1941-1945

ALEXANDER WERTH

RUSSIA AT WAR 1941-1945

NEW YORK

E. P. DUTTON & CO., INC.

1964

ALSO BY ALEXANDER WERTH:

France in Ferment (1934)

The Destiny of France (1937)

France and Munich: Before and After the Surrender (1939)

The Last Days of Paris (1940)

The Twilight of France (1942)

Moscow '41 (1942)

Leningrad (1944)

The Year of Stalingrad (1946)

Musical Uproar in Moscow (1949)

France 1940-1955 (1956)

The Strange History of Pierre Mendès-France (1957)

America in Doubt (1959)

The de Gaulle Revolution (1960)

The Khrushchev Phase (1961)

Copyright, ©, 1964 by Alexander Werth. All rights reserved. Printed in Great Britain. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer who wishes to quote brief passages in connection with a review written for inclusion in a magazine, newspaper or broadcast.

To the Memory of

MITYA KHLUDOV

aged 19

Killed in Action

in Belorussia

July 1944

CONTENTS

Introduction

PART ONE

PRELUDE TO WAR

I Russia's 1939 Dilemma

II The Soviet-German Pact

III The Partition of Poland

IV From the Finnish War to the German Invasion of France

V Russia and the Fall of France—Baltic States and Bessarabia

VI Russia and the Battle of Britain: a Psychological Turning-Point?

VII Display of Russian Military Might—Molotov's Tragi-comic Visit to Berlin

VIII " 1941—it will be a Happy New Year"

IX The Last Weeks of Peace

PART TWO

FROM THE INVASION TO THE BATTLE OF MOSCOW

I Soviet Unpreparedness in June 1941

II The Invasion

III Molotov and Stalin Speak

IV Smolensk: the First Check to the Blitzkrieg

V Close-Up One: Moscow at the Beginning of the War

VI Close-Up Two: Autumn Journey to the Smolensk Front

VII Advance on Leningrad

VIII Rout in the Ukraine: "Khrushchev versus Stalin"

IX The Evacuation of Industry

X Battle of Moscow Begins—The October 16 Panic

XI Battle of Moscow II. Stalin's Holy Russia Speech

XII The Moscow Counter-Offensive

XIII The Diplomatic Scene of the First Months of the Invasion

PART THREE

THE LENINGRAD STORY

I The Dead of Leningrad

II The Enemy Advances

III Three Million Trapped

IV The Ladoga Lifeline

V The Great Famine

VI The Ice Road

VII Leningrad Close-Up

VIII Why Leningrad "Took It"

IX A Note on Finland

PART FOUR

THE BLACK SUMMER OF 1942

I Close-up: Moscow in June 1942

II The Anglo-Soviet Alliance

III Three Russian Defeats: Kerch, Kharkov and Sebastopol

IV The Renewal of the German Advance

V Patrie-en-Danger and the Post-Rostov Reforms

VI Stalin Ropes in the Church

PART FIVE

STALINGRAD

I Stalingrad: the Chuikov Story

II The " Stalingrad" months in Moscow—the Churchill visit and after

III Russians encircle the Germans at Stalingrad

IV Stalingrad Close-Ups. I: The Stalingrad Lifeline

II: The Scene of the Manstein Rout

V Stalingrad: the Agony

VI Close-Up III: Stalingrad at the Time of the Capitulation

VII "Caucasus Round Trip"

PART SIX

1943: YEAR OF HARD VICTORIES— THE POLISH TANGLE

I The Birth of "Stalin's Military Genius"

II The Germans and the Ukraine

III Kharkov under the Germans

IV The Economic Effort of 1942-3—the Red Army's New Look—Lend-Lease

V Before the Spring Lull of 1943—Stalin's Warning

VI The Technique of Building a New Poland

VII The Dissolution of the Comintern and Other Curious Events in the Spring of 1943

VIII Kursk: Hitler Loses His Last Chance of Turning the Tide

IX Orel: Close-Up of a Purely Russian City under the Germans

X A Short Chapter on a Vast Subject: German Crimes hi the Soviet Union

XI The Partisans in the Soviet-German War

XII Paradoxes of Soviet Foreign Policy in 1943—The Fall of Mussolini—The "Free

German Committee"

XIII Stalin's Little Nationalist Orgy after Kursk

XIV The Spirit of Teheran

PART SEVEN

1944: RUSSIA ENTERS EASTERN EUROPE

I Some Characteristics of 1944

II Close-Up I: Ukrainian Microcosm

III Close-Up II: Odessa, Capital of Rumanian Transniestria

IV Close-Up III: Hitler's Crimean Catastrophe

V The Lull Before D-Day—Stalin's Flirtation with the Catholic Church—"Slav Unity"

VI The Russians and the Normandy Landing

VII German Rout in Belorussia: "Worse than Stalingrad"

VIII What Happened at Warsaw?

IX Close-Up: Lublin—the Maidanek Murder Camp

X Rumania, Finland and Bulgaria Pack Up

XI Churchill's Second Moscow Visit

XII Stalin's Horse-Trading with de Gaulle

XIII Alternative Policies and Ideologies towards the End of the War

PART EIGHT

VICTORY—AND THE SEEDS THE COLD WAR

I Into Germany

II Yalta and After

III June, 1945: Berlin Under the Russians Only

IV The Three Months'Peace

V Potsdam

VI The Short Russo-Japanese War—Hiroshima

Selected Bibliography

Chronological Table

Acknowledgements

MAPS

The Partition of Poland

The Soviet-Finnish War

The Battle of Kiev

The German Offensive against Moscow

Moscow: the Russian Counter-offensive

The Leningrad Blockade

The Leningrad Lifeline

The Black Summer of 1942

The Battle of Stalingrad