“Nevertheless, the extent to which the Germans still held firm in face of such odds was evidence - even before two years’ prolongation of the war confirmed it-that the Russian forces were still a long way from overtaking the German forces’ technical superiority. The American and British forces had driven the Axis forces out of North Africa but, as yet, had no foothold in Continental Europe. The period under discussion is June, 1943, after the Rus sians had won Stalingrad and the British El Alamein. The British historian's report appears in his “History of the Second World War,” published in London this fall and sched uled for publication in the United States by G. Had such negotiations been successfully concluded, an old soldier said, “we'd still be try ing to get across the Channel into Normandy.” Sir Basil's amnion, it was generally agreed, raises one of the great “if's” of World War II.
There was “extreme sensitivity” about the question in govern ment departments, they said. Other sources who did not wish to be named because of their present positions, said they recalled “apprehensions” about a Soviet‐German deal at that period in the war. Eisenhower's chief of intelligence from the North African campaign until the end of World War II, said, “I never heard anything about it.” The Earl of Avon, then Sir Anthony Eden and Britain's Foreign Secretary, also said he had never heard about the meeting. As junior commanders they had adopted the theories of armored war fare propounded by Sir Basil, and he believed that they talked with him with greater freedom than they did with American and British interro gators. Sir Basil, who died early this year, became the confidant of many senior German officers, including Gen. Sir Basil Liddell Hart, one of Britain's most distinguished mil itary historians and theorists, cites as evidence German of ficers who said they had at tended the meeting.
Molotov of the Soviet Union meet Joachim von Ribbentrop, Hitler's Foreign Minister, be hind the German lines in Rus sia early in 1943 to discuss a negotiated peace?
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