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Churchill's Warning to Stalin: a Reappraisal

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2009

Gabriel Gorodetsky
Gabriel Gorodetsky
Affiliation:
Tel Aviv University
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Type
Communications
Information
The Historical Journal , Volume 29 , Issue 4 , December 1986 , pp. 979 - 990
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1986

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References

1 Churchill, Winston S., The Second World War, III (London, 1950), 316, 319–23Google Scholar.

2 Recent examples are Erickson, J., The road to Stalingrad (London, 1975), p. 74Google Scholar; Hanak, H., ‘Sir Stafford Cripps as British ambassador in Moscow, May 1940 to June 1941’, English Historical Review, CCCLXX (1979), 69Google Scholar. Gilbert, M. in Finest hour: Winston S. Churchill, 1939–1941 (London, 1983), pp. 1050–51Google Scholar, follows the same pattern, though he quotes Churchill's original minutes of October 1941 discussed below.

3 London, Public Record Office, FO 371 24852 N6029/243/38 and N6458/283/38, memo by Sargent, 17 July and min. by Collier and Halifax, 18 July and 2 Sept. 1940.

4 P.R.O. FO 371 29497 N159/88/38, tel. from Cripps, 11 Jan.; Cripps papers, letter to daughter Diana, 10 Jan. and letter to wife Isobel, 1 Feb. 1941. I am indebted to Mr M. Shock for allowing me to consult Cripps's papers, which are deposited with him. For the nature of the debate see Gorodetsky, G., Stafford Cripps' mission to Moscow, 1940–42 (Cambridge, 1984)Google Scholar.

5 Barker, E., British policy in South-East Europe in the Second World War (London, 1976), pp. 78–108CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

6 P.R.O. FO 371 29464 N1526/3/38 and FO 837/1098, tels. from Cripps, 23 and 29 Mar. 1941.

7 P.R.O. CAB 65/18 33(41)7, 31 Mar. 1941.

8 P.R.O. FO 371 29479 N1360/3/38, 2 Apr. 1941.

9 See the most revealing and authoritative study of Hinsley, F. H. et al. , British intelligence in the Second World War (3 vols., London, 1979–1984), I, 237–41Google Scholar; P.R.O. FO 371 29479 N107, N255 and N286/78/38, mins. by Maclean, Collier, Cadogan and Eden, 10 and 18 Jan. 1941.

10 P.R.O. FO 371 29528 N648/648/38 20 Jan., and mins. by Maclean and Collier, 22 and 23 Feb. 1941.

11 Ibid. 26518 C2317/19/18, 7 Mar. 1941.

12 Ibid. C2222/19/18, tels. from O'Malley, Halifax and Mallet, 6 and 7 Mar., and mins. by Cavendish-Bentinck, Strang, Cadogan and Collier, 9, 10, II and 12 Mar. 1941.

13 Ibid. 29135 W3205/53/50, 19 Mar. 1941.

14 State Dept., 740.0011 EW/39/8919, tel. from Steinhardt, 7 Mar. 1941; Assarasson, V., I Skuggan av Stalin (Stockholm, 1963), p. 56Google Scholar; Gafencu, G., Prelude to the Russian campaign (London, 1945), pp. 134–6Google Scholar; Duranty, W., The Kremlin and the people (New York, 1942), pp. 151–2Google Scholar; Werth, A., Moscow' 41 (London, 1942), p. 133Google Scholar; Elvin, H., A cockney in Moscow (London, 1958), p. 54Google Scholar.

15 On the accuracy of the information see Whaley, B., Codeword Barbarossa (Cambridge, Mass., 1973). pp. 50–1Google Scholar.

16 P.R.O. FO 371 26518 C2919, C2924, C2935/19/18, tels. from Cripps, 24 and 25 Mar. 1941.

17 Ibid., FO mins., 26, 27 and 28 Mar. 1941.

18 Hinsley, , British intelligence, I, 446–50Google Scholar.

19 Churchill, , Second World War, III, 316–19Google Scholar.

20 Dilks, D. (ed.), The diaries of Sir Alexander Cadogan, 1938–45 (London, 1965), p. 367Google Scholar.

21 Churchill, , Second World War, III, 151, 319Google Scholar.

22 Diaries of Cadogan, p. 367.

23 Hinsley, , British intelligence, I, 451–2Google Scholar.

24 P.R.O. FO 371 29479 N1316, N1324/78/38 and mins. of 3 Apr. 1941.

25 P.R.O. WO 190/983; FO 371 29135 W3859/53/50.

26 See for example his opposition to Eden's visit to Moscow in P.R.O. PREM 3/395/16, tel. to Eden, 22 Feb. 1941.

27 Churchill, , Second World War, III, 320–1Google Scholar; PREM 3/403/7.

28 P.R.O. FO 371 29479 N366/78/38, tel. to Cripps and min. by Cadogan, 4 Apr. 1941.

29 Churchill, , Second World War, III, 321Google Scholar.

30 P.R.O. FO 371 29544 N1401/1392/38, tel. from Cripps, 6 Apr. and min. 7 Apr. 1941.

31 Ibid. N1392/1392/38, tel. from Cripps, 6 Apr. 1941.

32 Ibid. FO 371 29479 N1397/78/38.

33 Ibid. N1492/78/38, 6 Apr. 1941.

34 Ibid. FO 371 29479 N1364/78/38 and 29465 N1713/3/38, 12, 15 and 19 Apr. 1941.

35 Ibid.29479 N1429/78/38, min. by Coote endorsed by Cadogan, 8 Apr. 1941.

36 Ibid. N1510/78/38 and N1534/78/38.

37 Ibid. N1510/78/38, 11 Apr. 1941.

38 Eden, A., The Eden memoirs: the reckoning (London, 1965), p. 262Google Scholar.

39 P.R.O. FO 371 29463 N1386/3/38, 4, 10 and 15 Apr.; tel. to Cripps 17 Apr. 1941.

40 Monckton papers, Box 4, p. 201, 17 Apr.; Cripps papers, Isobel's diary, 16 and 20–4 Apr.; Weaver papers, letter from Cripps, 18 Apr. 1941.

41 P.R.O. FO 371 29480 N1848/78/38, 11 Apr. 1941.

42 Ibid. 29479 N1573/78/38, tel. from Cripps, 12 Apr. 1941 (also quoted in Churchill, , Second World War, III, 321 with obvious omissions).Google Scholar

43 P.R.O. FO 371 29479 N1573/78/38, mins. by Sargent, 13 and 16 Apr., and Eden to Churchill, 15 Apr. 1941.

44 on the effect of the news see Diaries of Cadogan, p. 371.

45 Reported in The Times, 10 Apr. and commentary in The Times, 20 Apr. 1941.

46 P.R.O. FO 371 29465 N1658/3/38, tel. to Cripps, 16 Apr. 1941; FRUS 1941, 1, p. 715.

47 Ibid.FO 371 29465 N1667/3/38; FRUS 1941, 1, 164; also Cripps papers, Isobel's diary, 28 APr 1941.

48 P.R.O. FO 371 29465 N1828/3/38. See also State Dept. 740.0011 EW 39/8919, tel. from Steinhardt, 7 Mar. 1941.

49 P.R.O. FO 371 29465 N1692/3/38, tel. from Cripps, 18 Apr. 1941.

50 P.R.O. FO 371 29480 N1725/78/38, tel. from Cripps, 22 Apr. 1941; Zhilin, P. A., Kak fashistskoi Germaniya gotovila napadenie na Sovetskii Soyuz (Moscow, 1966), p. 219Google Scholar; Petrov, V. (ed.), ‘June 22, 1941’: Soviet historians and the German invasion (Chapel Hill, 1968), pp. 178–80; Whaley, Barbarossa, ch. 8Google Scholar.

51 Sontag, R. J. and Beddie, J. S. (eds.) Nazi-Soviet relations 1939–41: documents from the archives of the German foreign office (Washington, 1975), chap. 8Google Scholar; Weinberg, G. L., Germany and the Soviet Union, 1939–1941 (Leiden, 1972), pp. 159–63Google Scholar.

52 P.R.O. FO 371 29465 N1667/3/38, and 29473 N1889/22/38, FO mins. 12 and 18 Apr. 1941.

53 P.R.O. CAB 65/18 42 (41)3, 21 Apr. 1941.

54 P.R.O. FO 371 29465 N1725/3/38, Churchill to Eden and min. by Collier, 22 Apr.; draft tel. to Cripps, 26 Apr. 1941.

55 P.R.O. FRUS 1941, 1, pp. 702, 712–13, 715.

56 For the impact of the Russian war on Cripps's career see Addison, P., The road to 1945: British politics and the Second World War (London, 1975), chap. VIIGoogle Scholar.

57 Gorodetsky, Cripps' mission to Moscow, chaps, V–VII; Sherwood, R., Roosevelt and Hopkins: an intimate history (New York, 1950), pp. 323–49Google Scholar.

58 P.R.O. CAB 69/2 DO(41)69, 27 Oct.; CAB 79/55 COS(41)34 and min. by Churchill, 28 Oct. 1941.

59 Churchill, , Second World War, III, 420, mentions neither the earlier correspondence nor the acrimonious exchanges with StalinGoogle Scholar.

60 Beaverbrook papers, D 93, Churchill to Eden and Beaverbrook, 1 Nov. 1941.

61 P.R.O. PREM 3 403/7, Churchill to Beaverbrook, 14 Oct. 1941.

62 Werth, A, Russia at war, 1941–1945 (New York, 1964), p. 270; P.R.O. PREM 3 403/7, Eden to Churchill, 14 Oct. 1941Google Scholar.