Evening star., 1948-02-18
CHAPTER XXI.

Was Ill dt !lOulC WHICH, WU10 III
Hitler,s invasion of Russia on June
%, 1941, reached me. Immediately
I telephoned the President and
then Undersecretary Welles. To
each said, in effect:
I'VE must give Russia all aid to
the hilt. We have repeatedly said
we will give all the help we can
to any nation resisting the Axis.
There can be no doubt for a mo-
ment that Russia comes within that
category"
knew that some military ex-
perts, both here and abroad, were
predicting that Hitler would elm
mate Russia from the war in a
matter of few weeks. But I could
not believe it any more than had
believed the statements of so many
that with the fall of France the
collapse of Britain would be mat
ter of a few weeks.
had felt that in rushing vast
quantities Of weapons to Britain in
the summer of 1910 we were taking
no real risk that they would fall
into German hands. And similarly
I believed we could send Russia
all weapons and supplies possible
without real risk that the Germans
would overrun and capture them.
If the President and I had
doubted Russia's ability to resist
Germany it would have been fool
hardy to have sent her arms that
would only have fallen into Hitler's
hands.
Invasion no Surprise.
For half a year we had had excel
lent reason to believe Hitler would
attack Russia, hence the event of
June % did not surprise us. In
January, 1941, there came to me a
confidential report from Sam E.
Woods, our commercial attache in
Berlin.
Woods had a German friend who,
though an enemy of the Nazis, was
closely connected with the Reich's
ministries, the Reichsbank and high
party members AS early as Au-
gust, 194o, this friend informed
Woods chat conferences were then
taking place at Hitler's headquar-
ters concerning preparations for war
against Russia. This information
became more concrete after some
weeks, when Hitler repeatedly said
he intended to have "only my SOL
diers from Vladivostok to Gibraltar. :"
Woods used to meet this friend
in Berlin motion picture house.
BY buying reserved seats from an
agency and sending two tickets to
Woods, the friend managed to sit
alongside him and in the semidark-
ness slipped notes into Woods coat
pocket.
The information from Woods was
in marked contrast to the consid-
cradle evidence that Hitler was
planning an invasion of Britain, but
the contacts of Woods friend said
that the air raids against England
served as a blind for Hitler's real
and well-calculated plans and prep
Earations for a sudden, devastating
attack on Russia. .
Later Woods friend informed him
that an organization of the Wehr-
macht for the old 81 Russian Czarist
regional governments had been
formed, and. that the economic staffs
for these territories had been ap-
pointed. Bales of banknotes In
rubles had been printed.
Learned Chief Points of Plan.
Finally, through a contact this
friend had on the German general
staff, Woods learned the chief points
Of Hitler's strategic plan-the three
wedges, those of the north and the
south and the decisive third one in
the center, direct against MoscoW
All preparations had to be conf
pleted in the spring of 1941.
When Woods report embracing
all this information came to me it
was so circumstantial that, at first
T believed it German plant" !
bul1lCO ~ ONCl W EdSoA 44OoSS4i
chief of the Federal Bureau of In
vestigation, for his comment. Hoover
thought it authentic.
Woods having told us of method
of confirming the standing and con-
facts of the source by checking with
a prominent German exile in the
United States, I asked Assistant
Secretary of State Breckenridge Long
to see him and obtain this con-
frmation, which he did. I also
talked over the report with the
President.
T then decided that the contents
of the report should be communi-
Gated to Soviet Ambassador Ouman-
sky. Such a step, believed, was
in keeping with the proper attitude
this country should take toward
Russia. I requested Welles, who al
my suggestion had been holding a
series of conversations with Ouman-
sky to straighten out the differences
between our two countries, to cal