The Grand Alliance (138 page)

The second phase which will then open may be called the phase of liberation. During this phase we must look to the recovery of the territories which have been lost or which may yet be lost, and also we must look to the revolt of the conquered peoples from the moment that the rescuing and liberating armies and air forces appear in strength within their bounds. For this purpose it is imperative that no nation or region overrun, that no Government or State which has been conquered, should relax its moral and physical efforts and preparation for the day of deliverance. The invaders, be they German or Japanese, must everywhere be regarded as infected persons to be shunned and isolated as far as possible. Where active resistance is impossible passive resistance must be maintained. The invaders and tyrants must be made to feel that their fleeting triumphs will have a terrible reckoning, and that they are hunted men and that their cause is doomed. Particular punishment will be reserved for the Quislings and traitors who make themselves the tools of the enemy. They will be handed over to the judgment of their fellow-countrymen.

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There is a third phase which must also be contemplated, namely, the assault upon the citadels and the home-lands of the guilty Powers both in Europe and in Asia.

Thus I endeavour in a few words to cast some forward light upon the dark, inscrutable mysteries of the future. But in thus forecasting the course along which we should seek to advance we must never forget that the power of the enemy, and the action of the enemy, may at every stage affect our fortunes. Moreover, you will notice that I have not attempted to assign any time-limits to the various phases. These time-limits depend upon our exertions, upon our achievements, and on the hazardous and uncertain course of the war.

I was lucky in the timing of these speeches in Washington and Ottawa. They came at the moment when we could all rejoice at the creation of the Grand Alliance with its overwhelming potential force, and before the cataract of ruin fell upon us from the long, marvellously prepared assault of Japan. Even while I spoke in confident tones I could feel in anticipation the lashes which were soon to score our naked flesh. Fearful forfeits had to be paid not only by Britain and Holland but by the United States, in the Pacific and Indian Oceans, and in all the Asiatic lands and islands they lap with their waves. An indefinite period of military disaster lay certainly before us. Many dark and weary months of defeat and loss must be endured before the light would come again. When I returned in the train to Washington on New Year’s Eve I was asked to go into the carriage filled with many leading pressmen of the United States. It was with no illusions that I wished them all a glorious New Year. “Here’s to 1942. Here’s to a year of toil

– a year of struggle and peril, and a long step forward towards victory. May we all come through safe and with honour!”

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16

Anglo-American Accords

Signing of the United Nations Pact — Litvinov’s
Fears
—
American Troops for Northern Ireland
—

Report of January
3
to the War Cabinet
—
The
Combined Chiefs of Staff Committee
—
Its
Smooth Efficiency
—
The Russians Not Represented on It
—
Special Position of Sir John Dill
—

Lord Beaverbrook’s “Ferment
” —
The American

“History
of
the War Production Board” — Vast
Expansion of American Supplies — And of Output
of Merchant Shipping — Repose at Palm Beach

— Effective Secrecy — Bad News from Alexandria — The Italian Human Torpedoes
—
Our
Mediterranean Battle Fleet out of Action
—
Air
Reinforcements for Egypt — Untimely Proposals
About Indian Self
-
Government — Russia and the
Baltic States — My Telegram to Mr. Eden,
January
8
— Wendell Willkie: an Amusing Incident

— Back to the White House.

O
N MY RETURN to the White House all was ready for the signature of the United Nations Pact. Many telegrams had passed between Washington, London, and Moscow, but now all was settled. The President had exerted his most fervent efforts to persuade Litvinov, the Soviet Ambassador, newly restored to favour by the turn of events, to accept the phrase “religious freedom.” He was invited to luncheon with us in the President’s room on purpose. After The Grand Alliance

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his hard experiences in his own country he had to be careful. Later on the President had a long talk with him alone about his soul and the dangers of hell-fire. The accounts which Mr. Roosevelt gave us on several occasions of what he said to the Russian were impressive.

Indeed, on one occasion I promised Mr. Roosevelt to recommend him for the position of Archbishop of Canterbury if he should lose the next Presidential election. I did not however make any official recommendation to the Cabinet or the Crown upon this point, and as he won the election in 1944 it did not arise. Litvinov reported the issue about “religious freedom” in evident fear and trembling to Stalin who accepted it as a matter of course. The War Cabinet also got their point in about “social security,” with which, as the author of the first Unemployment Insurance Act, I cordially concurred. After a spate of telegrams had flowed about the world for a week, agreement was reached throughout the Grand Alliance.

The title of “United Nations” was substituted by the President for that of “Associated Powers.” I thought this a great improvement. I showed my friend the lines from Byron’s
Childe Harold:

Here, where the sword United Nations drew,
Our countrymen were warring on that day!

And this is much – and all – which will not pass away
The President was wheeled-in to me on the morning of January 1. I got out of my bath, and agreed to the draft. The Declaration could not by itself win battles, but it set forth who we were and what we were fighting for. On New Year’s Day President Roosevelt, I, Litvinov, and Soong, representing China, signed this majestic document in the

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President’s study. It was left to the State Department to collect the signatures of the remaining twenty-two nations.

The final text must be recorded here.

A Joint Declaration by the United States of America,
the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern
Ireland, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, China,
Australia, Belgium, Canada, Costa Rica, Cuba,
Czechoslovakia, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador,
Greece, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, India, Luxem-burg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua,
Norway, Panama, Poland, South Africa, and Yugoslavia.

The Governments signatory hereto,

Having subscribed to a common programme of purposes and principles embodied in the Joint Declaration of the President of the United States of America and the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, dated August 14, 1941, known as the Atlantic Charter,

Being convinced that complete victory over their enemies is essential to defend life, liberty, independence, and religious freedom, and to preserve human rights and justice in their own lands as well as in other lands, and that they are now engaged in a common struggle against savage and brutal forces seeking to subjugate the world, DECLARE:

(1) Each Government pledges itself to employ its full resources,

military

or

economic,

against

those

members of the Tripartite Pact and its adherents with which such Government is at war.

(2) Each Government pledges itself to co-operate with the Governments signatory hereto, and not to make a separate armistice or peace with the enemies.

The foregoing Declaration may be adhered to by other nations which are, or which may be, rendering material assistance and contributions in the struggle for victory over Hitlerism.

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Among other requests which I had made to the President the movement of three or four United States divisions into Northern Ireland stood high. I felt that the arrival of sixty or seventy thousand American troops in Ulster would be an assertion of the United States resolve to intervene directly in Europe. These newly raised troops could just as well complete their training in Ulster as at home, and would at the same time become a strategic factor. The Germans would certainly consider the move as an additional deterrent against the invasion of the British Isles. I hoped they would exaggerate the numbers landed, and thus continue to pay attention to the West. Besides this, every American division which crossed the Atlantic gave us freedom to send one of our matured British divisions out of the country to the Middle East, or of course – and this was always in my mind – to North Africa. Though few, if any, saw it in this light, this was in fact the first step towards an Allied descent on Morocco, Algeria, or Tunis, on which my heart was set. The President was quite conscious of this, and while we did not give precise form to the idea I felt that our thoughts flowed in the same direction, although it was not yet necessary for either of us to discuss the particular method.

Mr. Stimson, the War Secretary, and his professional advisers also found this move to Ireland in harmony with their inclination to invade Europe at the earliest moment.

Thus all went forward smoothly. We were anxious that the enemy should be aware of this strategic movement, and made the fact public, without of course specifying numbers.

We hoped also that this would detain German troops in the West and thus be not unhelpful to the Russian struggle.

The British public and newspapers could not be made privy to our reasons, and many unsound criticisms arose. “Why,”

for instance, it was asked, “should American troops be sent

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to Ulster? Would they not be much better employed at Singapore?” When later on I became conscious of this point of view I thought of Pope’s lines:
Ye gods, annihilate but space and time
And make two lovers happy.

It was of course physically impossible to send an army all that way in time to be of any use.

I reported all these decisions to the War Cabinet.

Prime Minister to Lord

3 Jan. 42

Privy Seal

You will have got my two telegrams about what we
did yesterday. President has chosen the title “United
Nations” for all the Powers now working together. This
is much better than “Alliance,” which places him in
constitutional difficulties, or “Associated Powers,” which
is flat.