Russia at war 1941-1945

"Russian products" (obviously caviare) that had been added to the English party's luggage:

It is only since my arrival in London that I have realised the great generosity of your gifts of Russian products for myself and members of my mission. Please accept the warmest thanks of all who have been the grateful recipients of this new example of Russian hospitality.

[ Stalin-Churchill correspondence, pp. 263-6.]

At all the Moscow parties, Churchill had, indeed, shown a gargantuan liking for caviare.

Throughout the visit, Stalin had gone out of his way to show Churchill and Eden the

greatest friendliness; he had even gone to see them off to the airfield. There had been nothing like it since the Matsuoka visit in 1941. The communiqué recorded "considerable progress" in the talks on Poland, "greatly reduced differences" and "dispelled misunderstandings"; agreement on Bulgaria, and agreement on a joint policy on

Yugoslavia—the Yugoslavs would, of course, be "free to choose their own system", but meantime there would be a fusion of the National Liberation Committee and the Royal

Yugoslav Government.

Chapter XII STALIN'S HORSE-TRADING WITH DE GAULLE

There is a long story behind de Gaulle's visit to Moscow in December 1944. During the Soviet-German Pact the Soviet Union had established diplomatic relations with the Vichy Government, though the Vichy Ambassador, M. Gaston Bergery and his American wife,

Bettina, the ex-Schiaparelli mannequin, did not arrive in Moscow until April 25, 1941, i.e. after the German invasion of Yugoslavia. When he presented his credentials to

Kalinin in the presence of Molotov, and urged Russia to "take part in the organisation of the New Order in Europe", his speech was met with stony silence from the Russians. On the following day, Mr Bogomolov, the Soviet Ambassador to Vichy France, who

happened to be in Moscow at the time, called on Bergery and explained to him, in

"ideological terms", why the Soviet Union did not think it possible to accept Germany's hegemony in Europe.

[G. Gafencu. Préliminaires de la guerre à F Est. (Paris, 1944), pp. 234-5. Bogomolov was to become Ambassador to the various "allied" (i.e. exiled) governments in London.]

Diplomatic relations with Vichy were, of course, broken off the moment the Germans

invaded the Soviet Union. The first direct contacts between the Free French and the

Russians were made as early as the beginning of August 1941 on de Gaulle's initiative when M. Jouve, de Gaulle's unofficial representative in Turkey, called on Mr S.

Vinogradov, the Soviet Ambassador there and informed him that de Gaulle, whom he had just seen at Beirut, would like to send two or three Free French representatives to

Moscow. Without insisting on recognition—official or unofficial—of the Free French by the Soviet Government, de Gaulle was anxious to establish direct relations with the

Russians, instead of dealing with them, as hitherto, through the British. According to the Soviet account of the meeting, Jouve pointed out that, in General de Gaulle's view, the Soviet Union and France were both continental Powers which had problems and aims

different from those of the Anglo-Saxon states. And Jouve added:

General de Gaulle talked a lot about the Soviet Union. Her entry into the war, he said, represented for us a great chance on which we had not counted before. He also said that while it was impossible to say when exactly victory would be won, he was absolutely certain that, in the end, the Germans would be smashed.

[ Sovietsko-Frantsuzskie otnosheniya.., 1941-1945. (Moscow 1959), pp. 43-44.]

During the same week MM. Cassin and Dejean called on Mr Maisky, the Soviet

Ambassador in London proposing to him the establishment of "some kind of official relations" between the Soviet Union and the Free French. They suggested that these relations be modelled on those existing between the Free French and the British

Government. On September 26, 1941, Maisky informed de Gaulle that the Soviet Union

recognised him as the leader of all the Free French who had rallied to him, "regardless of where they were". It also promised the Free French all possible aid in the common struggle against Germany and her allies.

[Ibid., p. 47.]