093.112/518:.Telegram
The Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Standley) to the Secretary of State
[Received June 9—10:23 a.m.]
614. The presentation of decorations to members of the Soviet armed forces will probably take place in the near future. On this occasion I propose to make the following remarks. I should be glad to receive any suggestions the Department may care to make.4
“I have come here today to transmit to members of the Red army, the Red navy and the Red air force, decorations bestowed upon them by the Government of the United States in recognition of their outstanding accomplishments in the struggle against our common enemy. I consider it a great honor and privilege to have the opportunity of doing this. I know that the recipients of these decorations will not feel the less honored when I say that through them my Government and the American people desire to pay a tribute to all of the armed forces of the Soviet Union and to the civilian population whose steadfast courage has contributed so much to your success. This is not a hollow formality but a deeply sincere expression of the great admiration and gratitude that my countrymen feel toward you.5
I believe that the quality of the Red army and navy that has evoked our greatest admiration and has done the most to confound the enemy has been your unshakeable determination. Regardless of the circumstances, no matter how great the odds you have refused to admit defeat. Early in the struggle the Germans learned to their cost that it was not enough to cut off the members of a Red army unit from their comrades for they either fought their way back or continued the struggle behind the lines—sometimes to the last man. No matter how many times the Germans announced that your forces had been crushed, no matter how they drew the lines on their maps at headquarters, they found that wherever there was a Red soldier there was a determined and implacable enemy. Also when on paper the Germans had captured a Soviet city—and on paper the Germans have won the war many times—they found that Soviet cities did not fall in accordance with the rules of their textbooks and that a long and bitter struggle lay ahead.
The Germans did not learn this lesson easily. Sevastopol and Leningrad should have taught them but when the Axis armies appeared before Stalingrad Hitler was so forgetful of this lesson that he boastfully counted Stalingrad as his. I don’t think that Hitler will make any more boasts of this sort. This quality of iron determination [Page 540] expressed in the wise leadership of Marshal Stalin—expressed in the courage of the individual soldier, sailor or flyer—expressed in the heroism of the partisans—expressed in the glorious records of cities that would not surrender—this quality cost the Axis dearly and delayed and confused their plans. The defenders of Sevastopol share in the glory of Stalingrad for they contributed valiantly to that victory.
On the international scale the same relationship applies for we are all engaged against a common enemy. Just as Stalingrad contributed to the victory in North Africa, so that victory and the heavy blows that the Axis is receiving from the air will contribute to the victories to come.
I think it is not vain to hope that from this comradeship in arms will develop a lasting collaboration, for we have much in common besides a hated enemy. That is something the Axis propaganda machine tends to forget when it attempts to emphasize our differences. Such differences as we have arise chiefly out of method. Our fundamental purposes are the same. We, together with our Allies desire a secure and lasting peace. We all aim at the creation of conditions whereby men can work and build not just for a class and not for the benefit of a self-styled ‘master race’ but for the good of the people as a whole. We have already shown that we are willing and able to cooperate in the first task in the building of such a world—the destruction of fascism. I am confident that we will be equally successful in tasks of the future.[”]
- In telegram No. 436, June 14, 7 p.m., the Ambassador was informed that the Department had no suggestions to make and entirely approved these remarks.↩
- At the presentation of the decorations on June 22 (see telegram No. 721, June 23, 8 p.m., from the Ambassador in the Soviet Union, p. 546), the following paragraph was here interpolated: “Today the Soviet Union enters upon its third year of war for it was just two years ago today that the treacherous attack upon you was launched. Your achievements during the past two years constitute a record in which freedom loving peoples throughout the world take pride.” (093.112/535)↩