The Danger Zone (DZ)

One of history’s most significant speeches was delivered to a joint meeting of both houses of Congress on 8 December 1941, by the United States President, Franklin Delano Roosevelt. In his speech he focussed on the surprise attack that had been launched on the United States naval base at Pearl Harbour in Hawaii by aircraft launched from 3 squadrons, 6 aircraft carriers, of the Empire of Japan following the breakdown in peace negotiations between Japan and the United States.

In this programme I am going to tell you a remarkable, true story, that has been learnt from the recent release of secret archives in Russia, after the fall of the USSR. It tells how Joseph Stalin manipulated both Japan and the United States into the war, one with the other, as part of his aims of saving the Soviet Union from the German invasion, which had gone far far worse for Russia than Stalin had ever imagined possible, to pursuing the eternal Communist goal of overthrowing every regime in the world that wasn’t Communist and replacing them with Communism.

Tag words: Chang Kai-shek; Mao Zedong; William Bullitt; Stalin; Nomonohan; Georgii Zhukov; BT7 tank; Khalkin Gol; Tripartite Pact; Operation Barbarossa; Yosuke Matsuoko; Fumimaro Konoe

The two most evil empires in Europe, by mid-1941, Stalin’s Russia and Nazi Germany, had divied up between themselves all the spoils. They had been able to share out Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, parts of Finland, and Russia had grabbed parts of Hungary.

Germany, without any help from Russia, had grabbed Denmark, Norway, France, Holland, Belgium, Yugoslavia and Greece. And now all that was left was to devour was each other.

The myth that has grown up, because it was the only story being told by the Russians, that they were the hapless victims of Adolf Hitler’s unprovoked invasion in 1941. But now we know that that wasn’t true. Stalin had been building up his armaments since 1929 ready to take over Europe.

Here’s a little illustration of how strong Russia was by 1939. Russians deployed 3,885 aircraft against tiny Finland during the Winter War of 1939-1940. That was more than the combined number of aircraft used by both Germany and Britain in the Battle of Britain.

By mid-1941 Stalin was ready to move against Germany, which would mean that he would then be in control of all of Germany’s conquests too.

In this programme I’m going to tell you about Russia’s incredible preparations for war. It was ironic that a man who was at least as evil as Hitler, and who was ready to launch his war of aggression against Europe became the heroic and much-admired ally of England and the United States. But the warning that the recalled, and astute, US ambassador to Moscow, William Bullitt, had given to President Roosevelt in July 1935, proved to be right on the money:

As for the prospect of a new European war, I don’t doubt that current Soviet policy is "peaceful, but this is only because Stalin has not yet completed his armament drive. It is the primary object of the Soviet Foreign Office to maintain peace. . . until the strength of the Soviet Union has been built up to such a point that it is entirely impregnable to attack and ready, should Stalin so desire, to intervene abroad."

By May 1941 Stalin believed that that build-up had been accomplished and he was ready to strike.

Tag words: Stalin; Molotov; Marshal Tukhachevsky; NKVD; Kahlkin Gol; General Pavlov; Georgi Zhukov;

In 1941 was Russia planning to engage in a war with Germany, to defeat Hitler’s Third Reich, and then take over his empire in Western Europe.

This programme is going to explore that question and what the evidence shows. The most important evidence that has to be closely examined are the records in the Russian archives that were opened up some years after the fall of the Soviet Union. You will be shocked. And if you’re not shocked you should be.

Tag words: Yang Jisheng; Tombstone; Nicholas von Below; Nicholas von Below; Reinhardt Gehlen; William Bullitt; Robert Kelley; Timoshenko;

Hamilton Fish III was a congressman from western New York. His grandfather had been a secretary of state. On a nationally syndicated radio broadcast he thundered:

“Opposed though I am to Nazism, I am certain that American mothers will not willingly sacrifice their sons to make the world safe for Communism. It is "preposterous to think of America being aligned with Joe Stalin as our pal and comrade, with his hands dripping with blood of murdered priests and nuns and the same dagger in his hand which he plunged into the backs of Poland, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania and our friend the little honest Republic of Finland."

That was pretty hard to argue with.

But something strange was happening at the very top of this brand new Roosevelt administration about how the Democrat, socialist regime, saw Stalin’s Russia. You might expect the State Department (responsible for overseeing America’s relations with foreign countries) would protect the interests of capitalist America. They’d done a great job so far, so there was nothing to worry about – or was there?

Tag words: Robert F. Kelley; Robert Kelley; Comintern; William Bullitt; Joseph Davies; Stalin; Loy Henderson; Loy Henderson; Ray Atherton; Charles "Chip" Bohlen; George Kennan; Eastern Division; State Department; Sumner Welles; Pravda; Izvestiya; Nicholas von Below; General Reinhard Gehlen; Paul Carrell;

From the distance of the years, from all that you see and hear about a man who has grown into something of a legend, the 32nd President of the United States, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, FDR was one of the great presidents. He was one of the Big Three leaders of World War II, along with Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin.

It’s not easy to get a view out of the ordinary view that we always hear about about FDR, one that looks at the failings of this man on the world stage. The serious flaws he had that betrayed the high ideals on which the United States of America was founded, but the book by Sean McMeekin, “Stalin’s War”, written with the benefit of access to records of the former Soviet Union that were opened up for many years, and now are substantially sealed again. This is a chilling book showing a side of FDR’s character that you won’t have heard about before anywhere. It tells you about how FDR helped to make the world safe for Communism. The results of his failings, as seen through the perspective of our world today, are disturbing and ongoing.

So I’ll stop waffling and get down to the bones looking at what happened from 4 March 1933 when FDR was inaugurated as 32nd President of the United States of America. Perhaps a date that may turn out to be one that will live in infamy.

Tag words: Franklin Delano Roosevelt; FDR; Robert F. Kelley; Comrade Litvinov; Stalin; American Communist Party; Laurence Duggan; Michael Straight; Alger

Hiss; Harry Dexter White; Henry Morgenthau; William Bullitt; Third Comintern