Thursday, Nov 25, 2004
Thursday, Nov 25, 2004 |
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This Day That Age
Speaking at a meeting in his constituency to mark his 80th birthday on November 23, the British Prime Minister, Sir Winston Churchill, made the surprising disclosure that he was prepared to use the defeated German troops in 1945 to resist the Russian armies if they continued to advance to the West and that he had issued instructions to Gen. Montgomery accordingly. There is no reference to this incident in Churchill's book, "Second World War" and its disclosure at the present time has shocked some people. "I believe I was the first well-known person publicly to state that we must have Germany on our side against Russian Communist aggression," Sir Winston said. "Even before the war had ended and while the Germans were surrendering by hundreds of thousands and the streets were crowded with cheering people, I telegraphed Gen. Montgomery to be careful in collecting the German arms so that they could be easily issued again to the German soldiers whom we should have to work with, if the Soviet advance continued," he added. It is believed that since this telegram is not mentioned in Churchill's book, it must have been one of his sudden acts, done without consulting the War Cabinet. In May 1945, just as the Germans were surrendering, there was an agreement on the zones which the Russians on the one side and the Western Allies on the other were to occupy. Mr. Eisenhower's troops, which had pushed forward to the east of the line, were to get back to it, but there was some fear lest the Russians should similarly cross the line and occupy territory west of it. All this is in the published record, but no one had hitherto known of any message from Mr. Churchill either to Mr. Eisenhower or Gen. Montgomery suggesting that the surrendered Germans might be re-armed to stop the Russian advance.
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