[The following takes place during a diplomatic mission that Churchill took to Moscow in October 1944.]
Stalin pledged to support “any steps” Britain took to be compensated “for the losses it has suffered.”
Churchill insisted that the German metals, chemical, electrical and other industries that made war be closed “for a generation at least.” Prussia, the military “taproot” of the German “arch-evil,” should be amputated from Germany. The industrial region along the Rhine should go “under international control.”
Stalin agreed. Churchill marveled that they had so few differences: It was a “pity” that when “God created the world,” the two of them were not consulted. Stalin liked the joke. “It was God’s first mistake!” he replied.
Source:
Beschloss, Michael R. “As Useful as Ten Fresh German Divisions.” The Conquerors: Roosevelt, Truman, and the Destruction of Hitler's Germany, 1941-1945. New York: Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 2007. 158. Print.
Further Reading:
[Иосиф Сталин / იოსებ სტალინი (Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin)
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill KG OM CH TD PCc DL FRS RA
No comments, yet...