Churchill eats his words

In a letter to Stalin, the British PM does the unthinkable: he lauds the Red Army

23 FEBRUARY 1942

Despite his offer to help Stalin, Churchill was an inveterate anti-communist – both at home and abroad. After the Bolshevik revolution, he had been the leading cabinet advocate of aid to the anti-Bolshevik ‘Whites’ during Russia’s brutal civil war (1917–22), denouncing the “foul baboonery” of Bolshevism.

But by 1942, with Soviet troops bearing the brunt of the war against Hitler, and demands for a second front mounting at home, Churchill had to change his tune. He decided to congratulate Stalin on the anniversary of the Red Army, his bête noire when created in 1918, and spent some time improving the Foreign Office draft of the letter.

In the message (shown below) he praised the Red Army on “a campaign which has reflected the greatest glory on its officers and men and has enshrined its deeds in history for all time”, expressing the “admiration and gratitude” of the whole British empire and “our confidence in the victorious end of the struggle we are waging together against the common foe”.

Churchill even attended a reception for Red Army Day hosted by Ivan Maisky at the Soviet embassy.