861.001/11: Telegram
The Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Standley) to the Secretary of State
[Received 8:33 p.m.]
1075. Stalin appeared last night61 to be in excellent condition bronzed, rested, alert and vigorous. He stated that he expected soon to return to the front where he said he preferred to be since he could be out in the open and was not obliged to sit in office all day. He was in fine humor and conversed amicably about conditions on Russian [Page 564] and Sicilian fronts. He stated that Kharkov would probably be taken in a few days; however the Germans were fighting fiercely and refused to surrender or to give up uncontested even a foot of territory. I pointed out in addition to the Germans we were faced by a similar type of enemy in the Pacific and referred to recent radio reports of the fighting at Buna where the Japanese preferred death to surrender. The British Ambassador also compared the fighting at Catania to conditions at Kharkov described by Stalin. Stalin appeared to be fairly well informed of the Sicilian operations and aware of their magnitude. He made no mention of second front. I showed him some excellent OWI photos of the Ploesti raid62 which have just been received and he seem[ed] to be impressed with the importance of this operation.