Operation Argonaut and Ukraine

March 1, 2005, marked 60 years from the day that US President Franklin D. Roosevelt reported the successful completion of Operation Argonaut. The title was adopted by the Allies (US, UK, and USSR), for reasons of security, as a code name for the Crimea conference that Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin attended between February 4 and 11, 1945, in Yalta, in the Crimea.

Over the past decades this event has been the subject of a discussion focusing on its proceedings and significance. Researchers are still divided, with some praising and others sharply criticizing the event. The key figures have also been exposed to criticism. In the US one often hears that Roosevelt was too conciliatory toward Stalin, and there have even been proposals to strike Roosevelt’s image from the 2 – cent coins.

In Great Britain, opinions on Sir Winston Churchill also differ. Many believe that the statue on Trafalgar Square doesn’t tally with the politician’s actual image. He is portrayed as an old and totally disillusioned man, who can hardly keep himself in an upright position, relying heavily on his thick cane. Stalin is correctly blamed for mind-boggling atrocities against his people. President Roosevelt died on April 12, 1945, just weeks before the Allied victory in WWII. He is often accused of having failed to uphold American national interests during the Yalta Conference, owing to reasons of health. Sir Winston Churchill found himself exposed to vigorous political opponents’ criticism and lost the July 1945 parliamentary elections along with his party, immediately after the cessation of hostilities in Europe and after the Pacific campaign reached its peak. After Stalin’s death on March 5, 1953, a number of his atrocities and other abominable acts were publicly exposed, and his system of administration duly condemned. Without going into any vital details relating to these political leaders, who were destined to make fateful decisions in Yalta in 1945, it should be noted that history is a complex and controversial matter. Individual political personalities, regardless of their positions, appear as pawns on a huge political chessboard. Each must be assessed in the context of pertinent events and realities, as well as in terms of his role, then and there. A scholarly approach excludes a black-and-white/good or bad-man attitude; this is a childishly naive approach. Most historical events turn out to be controversial, demanding a palette of colors rather than just black and white. Here every phenomenon must be exposed along with all attendant consequences. A positive assessment of a historical figure’s actions does not refute that personality’s negative deeds, and vice versa.

Preparations for the Allied Yalta Conference began with the US President forwarding a proposal to the Council of People’s Commissars of the USSR on July 19, 1944: “Since events are unfolding so quickly and so successfully, I think a meeting between you, the prime minister, and myself should take place as quickly as possible.” Churchill supported the idea on July 20. Stalin first sent his photo to each of them, implying: “I am entering Europe.” Both were forced by protocol to thank him for the unusual present, but both were left in a troubled state of mind. Stalin only informed them about his agreement to the conference one week later, adding that he would attend only if it were held in the Soviet Union, since he couldn’t afford to leave the USSR and his leadership of the army, not even for a couple of days. President Roosevelt replied that he was prepared and willing to travel anywhere in order to attend the summit. The American president was known for being eager to reciprocate in any way, so he had his bust presented to Stalin by the US ambassador in Moscow, which was another way of saying, “I’ll be in Europe, too” (after launching the second front, of course). In the course of further debate, President Roosevelt’s chief foreign policy aide, Harry Hopkins, suggested that the conference be held somewhere on the Soviet Black Sea coast. Roosevelt liked the idea, discussed it with Churchill, and Stalin also agreed to hold the top-level conference in Yalta, Crimea.

Churchill suggested the summit’s code name, Operation Argonaut, and the other leaders concurred. The name originated from the Greek myth about the Golden Fleece and the voyagers aboard the boat Argo. On January 22, 1945, President Roosevelt set off on board the heavy cruiser Quincy headed for Yalta. The voyage was kept top secret. On February 2 he reached the seaport of La Valetta (Malta) to greet Churchill, who had flown in earlier. That same day, during a dinner held on board the USS Quincy, the American and British leaders finally agreed on their stance for the Yalta summit. Sir Winston Churchill later wrote that they were both opposed to the idea of the Soviets occupying more space in Western Europe than absolutely necessary.

Joseph Stalin arrived in Simferopol on February 1, 1945, on board a special train from Moscow, with enhanced security arrangements. That same day he left for Yalta, making a brief stopover in Alushta. The Soviet delegation was quartered at Yusupov Palace located between Livadia and Alupka. Stalin sent Churchill a short message: “I am here.”

On the night of February 3, cargo aircraft lifted off every ten minutes from the Malta airfield, escorted by Lockheed Lightnings, twin-engine fighter planes, carrying the US and British delegations to the Crimea. The delegations totaled some 700 persons and they had to fly 2,000 km over the Mediterranean and Black Seas to land on an airfield near Saky in the Crimea. The hard-ground landing strip was 1,300 m long, a rarity at the time, which permitted the landing of heavy aircraft, including the Flying Fortresses. Carrying out such flights as well as transporting and accommodating the delegations was a very risky business. In February 1945 the Crimean Peninsula, with its ground and air force facilities, was within the Luftwaffe’s striking range, as Nazi airfields were based in the north of Italy, Austria, and Hungary. The possibility of Nazi terrorist acts was another big risk, which was the case with the 1943 Big Three conference in Teheran, and the Abwehr was constantly after the Allied leaders. The Nazi espionage network in the Crimea was becoming very active; among other things, agents were required to report weather conditions on a 24-hour basis: the Germans were planning an air raid to destroy the leadership of the anti-Hitler coalition.

An alternative conference site was prepared in Odesa, just in case, complete with premises, communications, and top-level security arrangements. It was also meant as a diversionary maneuver intended to turn the Nazis’ attention from Yalta.

The Douglas C-54 plane, dubbed “The Sacred Cow,” carrying FDR and his daughter Anna, landed at Saky on the morning of February 3, 1945, marking the last airlift of the US and British delegations. Roosevelt was transferred to a Willis jeep while Churchill, smoking his invariable 20-cm cigar, walked alongside. Accompanied by Molotov, they inspected the guard of honor and thanked the brass band for a good rendition of the Stars and Stripes. Afterwards the distinguished guests were taken to a tent with tables laden with glasses of sweet tea and twists of lemon, bottles of vodka, cognac, and champagne, plates of caviar, smoked salmon, cheeses, boiled eggs, and brown and white bread. Then the heads of the US and British delegations boarded Soviet armored ZIS-101 limos with boosted engines and blinds covering the side windows, and headed for the south Crimean seacoast. Churchill recalled that the trip took almost eight hours and that they often saw neatly turned out Soviet soldiers (men and women) who were standing shoulder- to-shoulder on the roads of settlement, main bridges, and mountain canyons. After crossing the Crimean mountain ridge and descending to the Black Sea, they were greeted with sunlight and warm air. The microclimate was very mild. The guests were then offered lunch on the Angar Pass.

The Allied functionaries were shocked to see the war’s devastation. Riding in their limos, they often passed ruined buildings, burned-out vehicles, trains, and tanks. Later, Roosevelt told the US Congress on March 1 that hardly a dozen dwelling structures had survived the ravages of war in Sevastopol, adding that he had read about Warsaw, Lidice, Rotterdam, and Coventry, but that he had also seen Sevastopol and Yalta; that he was now sure that German imperialism and Christian decency could not coexist.

The main plenary sittings (eight in all) were held in the Great White Hall of Livadia Palace. There was no previously coordinated agenda, except that every side was entitled to broach any subject. The Ukrainian problem was not discussed separately, although most issues on the agenda per se related to Ukraine in one way or another. After all, the conference was held in the Crimea, a territory bordering on Ukraine, and which is now its legally inseparable component.

The first session commenced at 17:00 on February 4, and the three sides considered the course and prospects of WWII operations. By February 1945 almost all Nazi-occupied countries had been cleared of the aggressor, but the situation remained very complicated. Despite the reductions in the Third Reich’s sources of raw material and the constant Allied air raids, the German defense industry continued to grow in 1944. The Nazi regime had not been ultimately vanquished, not in moral, material, or military terms. In early 1945 the Wehrmacht still had a high potential, numbering 5.6 million men, including 3.7 million troops on the Eastern Front, 56,200 cannons and mortars, 8,100 tanks and assault cannons, and 4,100 fighter planes. At this time Germany’s atomic weapons development program had entered the crucial phase.

In Yalta, the sides exchanged military data and the Allies were interested in the Soviets’ experience of forced water crossings - e.g., during the Korsun-Shevchenkove and other WWII combat operations aimed at liberating Ukraine. Such operations boiled down to focusing some 230 artillery pieces per kilometer in a given breakthrough area. Such massive artillery attacks would destroy most of the enemy manpower and materiel. The surviving German troops were so intimidated and unnerved that they would fail to offer any tangible resistance and often simply fled the battlefield. A positive assessment was given to Allied cooperation during the shuttle missions that were launched by the US Air Force in June 1944, using air bases in the vicinity of Poltava, Myrhorod, and Pyriatyn in Ukraine. The air bases received 1,030 B-17 Flying Fortresses, B-24 Liberators, Mustang-1 fighter escort planes, which had 2,207 combat missions to their credit, having dropped some 2,000 tons’ worth of bombs on Nazi territories. Wounded US pilots were treated at the hospital of Novy Sanzhary (32 km from Poltava) and those who died were buried in the local cemetery.

After considering the situation on the various fronts, the Allied leaders agreed that it was necessary to step up offensives everywhere to counteract possible Nazi and Axis threats in the Third Reich’s final attempt to win the war. They further agreed on coordinating Allied combat missions, because in the past such combat operations were often uncoordinated, allowing the enemy to maneuver the available forces. As part of the Yalta Conference, Allied general staff meetings were held to work out closer Allied cooperation in these matters.

The Ukrainian people were interested in the successful implementation of the plans outlined during the conference, which was aimed at ending the war. Hitler and his hirelings had launched hostilities that had turned into a worldwide confrontation, largely because they wanted to have Ukraine’s rich and fertile land and to turn the Ukrainian people into slaves. The only way to save our people from enslavement and death was by totally destroying Nazism. The number of Ukrainian officers and troops in the Red Army tripled in 1943-44, amounting to 34%, compared to the number of Russian troops (51.8%). The heroism and willingness to sacrifice themselves, demonstrated by our fellow countrymen who were fighting the final battles of WWII, culminated in considerable losses; by the end of the war their percentage in the Red Army ranks was down to 20-25%. Nor should we forget that among those who hoisted the Flag of Victory above the Reichstag was the Ukrainian lieutenant, O. Berest.

Militarily and economically the Ukrainian people made a tangible contribution to guaranteeing the conclusion of the war. The liberated territory of the republic was the Soviet army’s rear line near the front, supplying materiel and provisions. Thirty percent of Ukraine’s reinstalled/rebuilt production facilities worked for the front, and a number of army supply routes traversed Ukrainian territory.

Pressed by Roosevelt and Churchill, the Yalta conference concluded an agreement on the Soviet Union’s entry into the war against Japan, some two or three months after Germany’s capitulation. The Western powers were interested in this. In early 1945 the Japanese militarists had an army of 7 million troops, more than 10,000 aircraft, some 500 warships, compared to the US and Great Britain’s 1.8 million troops, 5,000 aircraft, and 750 warships deployed in Southeast Asia, the Pacific, and Indian theaters of war. Allied headquarters estimated that the war against Japan could last until 1947 and cost the US at least a million fatalities, along with considerable material damage.

(To be continued)