Subject: Re: [LPNY DISCUSS] Life in Bulgaria
Date: Wed, 25 Dec 2002 12:42:37 -0500
To:        <lpny_discuss@yahoogroups.com>
From:     Bob Armstrong <bob@cosy.com>
On Wed, 25 Dec 2002 00:46:07 -0500, Gary Popkin wrote:
>=A0I wouldn't expect Churchill to say in his memoirs that he=
 doomed tens of millions of people to Soviet rule. But there was=
 that well known agreement for the western Allies to hold back on=
 their rapid advance to the east so that the Soviets could=
 advance westward to a pre-agreed meeting point. The western=
 Allies could have made much more eastward progress if they had=
 fought all out, but they held back as part of the agreement to=
 allow the Soviets to occupy an agreed-upon part of eastern=
 Germany.

 Churchill's memoirs are based very directly in his telegrams and=
 "minutes" included
 verbatim so as to present the decisions as made without coloring=
 of hindsight .
 I've just reached Paris on August 30 , 1944 , and certainly up=
 to this point there
 has been no holding back altho the Russians have been harping=
 for the West to 
 attack across the channel since '41 . I'm still about 300 pages=
 from the final book ,
  "The Iron Curtain" , in this final volume , so I'll be better=
 informed on the
 end game in another month or so .

 I heard the rather boorish Duma leader Zerinovsky(?) on CSPAN a=
 while ago bitching
 about how the west delayed opening the second front in order to=
 cause Russia to
 exhaust itself facing Germany alone . 

 It is true that the Americans thwarted Churchill's desire to=
 open up a front in
 Greece an Yugoslavia , but the western allies weren't even close=
 to being able
 to do anything for the Baltic countries .
 

--
=A0Bob Armstrong -- http://CoSy.com -- 212-285-1864
=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A02002/12/25 11:51:32 AM