Foreign Relations of the United States: Diplomatic Papers, 1943, The British Commonwealth, Eastern Europe, the Far East, Volume III

861.415/80

Memorandum by Mr. Charles E. Bohlen of the Division of European Affairs²⁸

[Washington,] February 23, 1943.

The order of the day²⁹ issued by Stalin as Commander-in-Chief of the Soviet armed forces in honor of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Red Army stands out sharply against the background of generous and unstinted praise which American and British officials including the King and the President sent to the Soviet Government on the same occasion.³⁰ In his order of the day Stalin, in contrast to his November 6 speech,³¹ made no mention of the United Nations as a group nor of the United States or Great Britain. He omits any reference to the aid, direct or indirect, which the Soviet armed forces have received from the United States and Great Britain in the war and states that “in view of the absence of a second front the Red Army alone is bearing the whole weight of the war”. He furthermore attributes specifically the increase in Soviet equipment which has now given the Red Army superiority over the Germans to the efforts of the Soviet peoples.

Throughout his order of the day Stalin in conformity with his previous utterances characterizes the war aims of the Soviet armies as the liberation of Soviet soil and peoples (in which he includes Latvians, Lithuanians, and Estonians) from the German invader. The war arose, according to Stalin, as a result of the German breach of the non-aggression pact with the Soviet Union³² which in his words “compelled the Red Army to launch a campaign to defend its native land against the German invader and to drive him from the border of our country”.

It is perhaps too soon to state definitely the political import of Stalin’s order of the day. It will be of particular interest to observe whether his reference to the second front sets off in the Soviet press and the Communist press abroad a new campaign, with all its attendant bitterness, against the United States and Great Britain on this issue. However, the following points should be noted in regard to this order of the day taken by itself:

1. Stalin has chosen to present the war against Nazi-Germany as exclusively a Soviet-German affair the origin of which was merely the German attack in June 1941.

2. He by implication divests himself of any obligations for assistance rendered to Russia by her allies or associates in this war.

3. The only positive war aim of the Soviet Government which emerges from this particular statement is the liberation of Soviet soil.

It is of course likely that the harsh implications of this order will be softened in the replies and press reactions to the messages of congratulations sent by representatives of the United Nations.

28. Addressed to the Acting Chief of the Division (Atherton) and the Adviser on Political Relations (Dunn).
29. See telegram No. 203, February 24, 4 p.m., from the Ambassador in the Soviet Union, infra.
30. For a press statement by Secretary of State Hull, and a message from President Roosevelt to Stalin, February 22, see Department of State Bulletin, February 27, 1943, p. 184. Stalin acknowledged the President’s felicitations on February 24.
31. Stalin’s speech of November 6, 1942, on the XXV anniversary of the October Revolution, was reported in telegram No. 438, November 8, from the Chargé in the Soviet Union, Foreign Relations, 1942, vol. iii, p. 475.
32. Signed at Moscow on August 23, 1939; for text, see Documents on German Foreign Policy, 1918–1945, series D, vol. vii (Washington, Government Printing Office, 1956), pp. 245–247.