Text 10407, 95 rader
Skriven 2013-09-23 18:30:46 av Roy Witt (1:387/22)
  Kommentar till text 10374 av alexander koryagin (2:5020/2140.2)
Ärende: Putin Blinks
====================
 Brer alexander koryagin wrote to Brer Roy Witt about Re: Putin Blinks:

 ak>>> force to the USSR. In June 1945, at Potsdam Conference, Truman
 ak>>> boasted of the Abomb before Stalin, but he appeared unimpressed.

 RW>> Actually if you read the real history books about it, Truman did
 RW>> not boast of the Abomb, but did talk about a very powerful weapon
 RW>> that had never been seen in this world before. Stalin, whether he
 RW>> actually knew about the July 1945 test of the Abomb or not before
 RW>> the Potsdam meeting, encouraged Truman to use it to help end the
 RW>> war ASAP.

 ak>     we can read all versions here:
 ak> http://www.dannen.com/decision/potsdam.html

Not a bad souce.

 ak>     So, Stalin had no idea of Truman's intention and the bomb power.

If he had, he certainly didn't show it. In fact, Winston Chruchill said it
best.

[Stalin]

"I was sure that he had no idea of the significance of what he was being
told. Evidently in his immense toils and stresses the atomic bomb had
played no part. If he had the slightest idea of the revolution in world
affairs which was in progress his reactions would have been obvious.
Nothing would have been easier than for him to say, "Thank you so much for
telling me about your new bomb. I of course have no technical knowledge.
May I send my expert in these nuclear sciences to see your expert tomorrow
morning?" But his face remained gay and genial and the talk between these
two potentates soon came to an end. As we were waiting for our cars I
found myself near Truman. "How did it go?" I asked. "He never asked a
question," he replied. I was certain therefore that at that date Stalin
had no special knowledge of the vast process of research upon which the
United States and Britain had been engaged for so long..."

 ak> Truman could say "We've made a diabolical bomb, and we are going to
 ak> burn alive 200 thousand people from two big Japanese cities. Isn't it
 ak> great news?"

Of course, Truman had no idea of the destruction the bomb could do at this
time.

 ak> Then, probably we could see the real reaction of Stalin.

They did see the real reaction of Stalin. He was as dumb as a bump on a
log.

 ak> But we know Truman's reaction only -- he liked the results of the
 ak> first bomb so much that he decided to drop the second one.

Truman didn't know the true power of the 1st bomb (July 1945) until they
dropped the 2nd bomb on August 6, 1945 over Hiroshima. The 1st bomb was
exploded at White Sands, New Mexico the month before.

 LL>>>> Russians were wimps, choosing to fight Japan in China. The US
 LL>>>> defeated Japan in Japan, atomizing two heavily populated cities
 LL>>>> in the process. No other country in the world can lay claim to
 LL>>>> doing that.

 ak>>> At Yalta conference, in 1945 (Stalin, Roosevelt, Churchill), the
 ak>>> USSR had taken an obligation to declare war on Japan, to help the
 ak>>> US to defeat Japan. That was an agreement, that was a part of
 ak>>> allies military actions. So, it must not be any wonder why the
 ak>>> USSR declared war on Japan in 1945.

 RW>> The Soviet Union's last-minute declaration of war on Japan on
 RW>> August 8 became more a political headache than a military benefit
 RW>> for the U. S. The Soviets saw intervention as an inexpensive way to
 RW>> reap the spoils of war in Japan's final hours. Not to mention
 RW>> revenge for the Japanese annextion of Mancuria to the empire in
 RW>> 1910 and wanted it back. Stalin couldn't give a shit less about
 RW>> helping anyone else.

 ak>     Well, the US could easily refuse from the USSR's help and don't
 ak> discuss it. As one Russian literature character said, "Agreement is
 ak> the product of the sides' non-resistance." ;=)

"Years later, Marshal Georgi K. Zhukov, in his memoirs, disclosed that
that night (Potsdam) Stalin ordered a telegram sent to those working on
the atomic bomb in Russia to hurry with the job."  Charles E. Bohlen,
Witness to History 1929-1969 (New York: W. W. Norton, 1973) pp. 247-248.

I'm pretty certain that Stalin knew what Truman was talking about when he
mentioned the bomb to him...


         R\%/itt



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