Vyacheslav Mikhaylovich Molotov was the indefatigable, (Uncle Joe called him "Iron Ass"), razor-sharp, penetrating, morally purblind, shrewd, all-comprehending, gullible, acid-tongued Soviet Foreign Minister during World War II. Uncle Alf and Ribbentrop were no match for him yet still were able to spring Barbarossa on him.
The late summer and fall of 1940 was not a high point in the relations between the two allied dictatorships. They both wanted Rumania, Hitler got her and gave her to Hungary for future use by him (against the Soviet Union). The Soviets had Finland but on September 16 Ribbentrop wired the Nazi ambassador in Moscow to "casually" mention to Molotov that Nazi troops were being sent to Norway (Germany's) through Finland. Molotov smelled a rat and a rat there was. Finland was to be a launching pad for Barbarossa. A few days later the Tripartite Pact was signed among Germany, Italy, and Japan. William Shirer picks up the mood:
The chilly Soviet Foreign Commisar, whose suspicions of the Germans were now growing like flowers in June, was highly skeptical when [the German chargé d'affaires] brought him this news on the evening of September 26. He said immediately, with that pedantic attention to detail which so annoyed all with whom he negotiated, friend or foe, that according to Article IV of the [Non-Aggression] Pact the Soviet government was entitled to see the text of this tripartite military alliance before it was signed, including, he added, the text of "any secret protocols." (original emphasis)
Molotov also wanted explanations on Finland. Why had the Soviets not been informed ahead of time (also required by the Non-Aggression Pact)? What was the purpose of German troops in three Finnish ports (which he had learned of only from a United Press report in the newspapers lol)?
Ribbentrop, repeatedly characterized by Shirer as "obtuse", a "dolt," etc. tried to make nice with his Soviet allies. He sent a telegram to Molotov disclaiming any hostile intent toward the Soviet Union in the German maneuvers in Finland and instructed his chargé to mention to Molotov "incidentally" that the Nazis were sending a "military mission" to Rumania. To that euphemism Molotov replied, "How many troops are you sending to Rumania?". Ribbentrop also sent a long letter to UJ: "The war as such has been won by us. It is only a question of how long...before England...admits to collapse" (In fact, Hitler had lost the Battle of Britain and had given up on "Sea Lion", the invasion of the British Isles); The Tripartite Pact and German aggression in Finland and Rumania were really a "boon" to Russia, the fatuous German dolt argued with a straight face; the British were trying to stir up diplomatic trouble between the Nazis and Soviets. Could UJ send Molotov to Berlin to clear the air? It was a decision Ribbentrop was to regret but once, and that was continuously.
Molotov arrived on November 12, 1940. Ribbentrop at the beginning of the first session:
England is beaten and it is only a question of time when she will finally admit her defeat"; any entry of the United States into the war is of no consequence at all for Germany...This is no military problem at all...The Axis Powers are, therefore, not considering how they can win the war, but rather how rapidly they can end the war which is already won.
Shirer:
...but Molotov quickly saw through him and sized up what the German game was.
Since the war with Britain was already won it was time for the four allied dictatorships, Germany, Russia, Italy, and Japan, to divvy up the British Empire. Uncle Alf and Ribbentrop bloviated and lied, had presented to Molotov that all four countries would naturally expand "in a southerly direction." (lol) For its part Germany would find its lebensraum in (Shirer:"of all places!") "Central Africa." (roflol) Would not the Soviets likewise "turn south for the natural outlet to the open sea which was so important for her." Shirer is best here:
"Which sea?" Molotov interjected icily.
...
The interruption floored Ribbentrop for a moment and he could not think of an answer.
...he rambled...Molotov insisted on an answer to his simple question...Ribbentrop finally replied..."in the direction of the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea." lolol
Molotov sat there..."with an impenetrable expression." He said very little...The wily Soviet negotiator was saving his ammunition for Hitler...in the afternoon. For [Hitler] it turned out to be quite a surprising, nerve-racking, frustrating and even unique experience.
[Hitler] finished a lengthy exposition of pleasant generalities, stressing that there were no fundamental differences between the two countries...in their respective aspirations and...common drive toward "access to the ocean," Molotov replied that "the statements of the Fuehrer had been of a general nature." He would now, he said, set forth the ideas of Stalin, who...had given him "exact instructions." Whereupon he hurled the book at the German dictator who, as the minutes make clear, was scarcely prepared for it.
"The questions hailed down upon Hitler," [Dr. Paul] Schmidt [Hitler's translator] afterward recalled. "No foreign visitor had ever spoken to him in this way in my presence." ...
Hitler, perhaps for the first time in his life, was too taken aback to answer. He proposed that they adjourn "in view of a possible air-raid..."
...the next morning...the Russian Commissar was relentless...Molotov demanded that Germany get its troops out of Finland...Hitler denied...They were merely being sent through Finland to Norway. (original emphasis) [Hitler] wanted to know "whether Russia intended to go to war against Finland."...Molotov "answered...somewhat evasively"...
"There must be no war in the Baltic," Hitler insisted. "It would put a heavy strain on German-Russian relations," a threat...[it] might bring "unforeseeable consequences."..."far-reaching consequences." (emphasie added)
"A new factor has been introduced into the discussion by this position," Molotov retorted.
So heated had the dispute become that Ribbentrop, who must have become thoroughly frightened by this time, broke in to say..."Perhaps [Finland] was merely a misunderstanding." ["Ho Ho Ho" in margin]
Hitler took advantage of this timely interruption to quickly change the subject....
"After the conquest of England the British Empire would be apportioned as a gigantic world-wide estate in bankruptcy...In this bankrupt estate there would be for Russia access to the ice-free and really open ocean. ..."
The chilly, impassive Russian...did not appear to be moved by such glittering "world-wide perspectives,", nor...[as] he later rubbed in--that the British Empire would soon be there for the taking. He wanted...to discuss problems "closer to Europe." ...
"The Soviet Government...is of the opinion that the German guarantee of Rumania is aimed against the interests of Soviet Russia--if one may express oneself so bluntly." He had been expressing himself bluntly all day, to the growing annoyance of his hosts... ["Ho Ho" in margin] He demanded that Germany "revoke" this guarantee. Hitler declined.
["<--The highlight of this book-->
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v in margin]
"All right, Molotov persisted,...what would Germany say "if Russia gave Bulgaria...a guarantee under exactly the same conditions...?"
"One can almost see Hitler's dark frown. ...["Ho Ho Ho" in margin].
But the Fuehrer, usually so talkative, had no more stomach for talk with this impossible Russian. ["Ho-Ho Ho" in margin]
"At this point..., say the German minutes, "the Fuehrer called attention to the late hour and...that...the possibility of English air attacks..., it would be better to break off the talk now..."
That night Molotov gave a banquet to his hosts at the Russian Embassy...Hitler, apparently exhausted and still irritated by the afternoon's ordeal, did not put in an appearance.
The British did. ["'The British did'! Ho Ho Ho in margin]
...shortly after 9 o'clock the air raid sirens began to whine and then you could hear...the hum of the bombers overhead. According to Dr. Schmidt, who was at the banquet...Molotov had just proposed a friendly toast and Ribbentrop had risen to his feet to reply when...the guests scattered to shelter. ...[in] the imprompu meeting...in the underground depths of the Foreign Office...the slippery Nazi Foreign Minister tried one last time to take the Russians in. ...an agreement which...transformed the Tripartite Pact into a four-power pact...Molotov listened patiently while Ribbentrop read...The most important one defined each country's "territorial aspirations." Russia's was to "center south of the national territory of the Soviet Union in the direction of the Indian Ocean." [emphases added]
Molotov did not rise to the bait. The proposed treaty was obviously an attempt to divert Russia from its historic pressure westward...to the Mediterranean...
...
The untiring, poker-faced Soviet Foreign Commissar left nothing out and Ribbentrop...felt himself being buried under the avalance of questions...protested that he was being "interrogated too closely."
"He could only repeat again and again that the decisive question was whether the Soviet Union was prepared...to co-operate with us in the giant liquidation of the British Empire.
Molotov was ready with a cutting retort:
"...the Germans were assuming that the war against England had already actually been won. If therefore [as Hitler had maintained] Germany was waging a life-and-death struggle against England, he could only construe this as meaning that Germany was fighting 'for life' and England 'for death.'"
This sarcasm may have gone over the head of Ribbentrop, a man of monumental denseness, but Molotov took no chances. To the German's constant reiteration that Britain was finished, the Commissar finally replied, "If that is so, why are we in this shelter, and whose are these bombs which fall?"
So ends the account of my favorite story about World War II.
Russia was in 1939, as Churchill said, "a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma." It was at this time in November, 1940. What kind of minds in a communist dictatorship make league with a fascist dictatorship in the first place? And with this one especially?! Only an inscrutable "other" kind of mind. Did no one in the Kremlin read Mein Kampf? In June, Churchill sent Stalin a personal letter warning of German intentions toward Russia. Stalin did not even bother to reply. How to explain Molotov with his penetrating uncovery of German designs, confirming Churchill's warning, still being taken completely by surprise by Barbarossa? Molotov's diplomatic trip sealed Adolph Hitler's decision! That it how bad the mission was. On December 18, Hitler "made up his mind at last" to invade Russia.
Russia was the same in 2008 when the New York Times
used Churchill's words to describe post-Soviet Russia. Russia, like Poland, often behaves with hostility toward others, yet evinces no awareness of who its real enemies, and who its true friends, are. It remains today.