/View.info/ 80 years have passed since the Tehran conference on December 1, 1943, which decided the outcome of the Second World War and changed the world for many decades. The three most influential politicians of the time: the head of the USSR Joseph Stalin, the President of the USA Franklin Roosevelt and the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill met in person in the capital of Iran for the first time.
Officially – to discuss the opening of a second front. This is what official reports say, although today historians have found that behind the scenes the leaders were already discussing the future of the world after the end of the war. At the same time, many legends, myths and simple omissions still revolve around Tehran-43. Indeed, this event contained many such plots, which can hardly be described due to the lack of discovered historical material. In addition, the perception of the event is still influenced by the hypnosis of the film “Tehran-43”, talentedly staged by directors Alov and Naumov.
One of these topics, on which the author is still working, is to understand how and by what paths the leaders of the USSR, England and the USA reached Tehran. In this case, there is only some clarity as to why Tehran was chosen as the venue for the Troika meeting. Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt exchanged 32 messages before deciding on the date and place of the meeting.
Stalin proposed that the conference be held on the territory of the USSR – in the south, in Astrakhan, or in the north, in Arkhangelsk. Roosevelt believed that the territory of the USSR was not suitable for negotiations and suggested that they meet in Alaska. Options for Baghdad, Cairo and even Istanbul were also rejected.
Churchill spoke of Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands in England. There was a proposal to hold a meeting in London, where at that time the governments-in-exile of at least half of the European countries were based. However, the road there is not safe for Roosevelt and Stalin.
The reason for choosing Tehran is also well-founded. Stalin proceeds from the fact that it is necessary to hold the meeting in a country where “there are representations of all three countries, for example Iran”. The territory of this country was controlled by Soviet, British and partially American troops. The southwestern provinces of Iran are occupied by British troops. Soviet units joined them in the area of the village of Kazvin. American troops entered Iran in late 1942.
This military action was carried out to ensure the safety of the delivery of military cargo to the USSR. A road passes through the territory of Iran, along which American military goods begin to be delivered to the USSR under Lend-Lease. In the northern regions of the country, the security of Soviet borders and transported military cargo was provided by a strike force that included the 44th and 47th armies. The Soviet 182nd Mountain Rifle Regiment is stationed in Tehran, whose soldiers guard the most important facilities.
Soviet military intelligence stations were established in Tabriz, Ahwaz, Mashhad, Kirmanshah, Isfahan, and Rezais. At the end of 1942, they received information from 28 sources working in the Iranian Ministry of War and Ministry of Interior, as well as in a number of major military units. In this way, it was possible to block in Iran the activities of German agents, secret fascist organizations and groups based in Rasht, Pahlavi, Qazvin and other cities of northern Iran.
How Roosevelt and Churchill reached Tehran has been described by historians. Roosevelt crossed the Atlantic on the battleship Iowa and arrived at Cairo Airport on November 27. At 7:00 a.m., the presidential plane “Sacred Cow” took off and after a non-stop flight of almost seven hours landed at Tehran airport.
The American security service ensured the strictest secrecy – almost no one met the president, there was no honor guard. Without an escort of armored vehicles, Roosevelt headed to the American mission in Iran, becoming the guest of American envoy Louis Dreyfuss. Churchill left Cairo for Tehran also at dawn on November 27, but by his own route. In Tehran, he was greeted with more fanfare and fewer guards.
But there is still no clarity about Stalin’s route to Tehran. And here’s why. The fact is that historians have documents according to which, since the 1930s, a decree of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of the Bolsheviks banned the main political, military and economic leaders, including members of the Politburo, people’s commissars and chiefs of the main administrations, direct travel by plane, if it is possible to use ground modes of transport. The ban was a consequence of aviation accidents, such as the famous 1932 crash of the eight-engined giant Maxim Gorky.
An exception to the rule was made only when there was no other way to get there. In May-June 1942, People’s Commissar of Foreign Affairs Molotov on a four-engine TB-7 (Pe-8) bomber made a long, even by today’s standards (about 20 thousand km) and extremely risky flight to the British Isles, and then to the USA .
Based on this, it is assumed that Stalin’s route to Tehran was thought out based on all the above considerations: to Baku by train and from Baku to Tehran by air. But the description of this route, which is very controversial, is contained only in numerous memoirs of real or alleged participants in the events. An official document – report on this matter has not yet been published.
However, the reconstruction of events is as follows. At the end of November 1943, Stalin left Moscow. The final station at which his special train No. 501 was to arrive was known to few. The departure of the Soviet leader from Moscow took place in conditions of deep secrecy. The train was traveling on the route Moscow – Stalingrad – Baku. Stalin was in a separate armored car. Beria also traveled in a separate carriage. He was responsible for the security of the delegation, which included Molotov, Voroshilov, Shtemenko, senior officials of the People’s Commissariat of Foreign Affairs and the General Staff. Stalin traveled from Baku to Tehran by plane.
Now we present the information contained in the memoirs of Alexander Evgenievich Golovanov, commander of the Long-range Aviation. “It was four o’clock in the morning in Baku when Sergey Kruglov, the head of the NKVD’s operations department, called me and said I should be at the station at five o’clock,” writes Golovanov. “Before the train even stopped, I heard my name and headed to the carriage where I was called. I entered the salon where, in addition to Stalin, there were Voroshilov, Molotov and Beria.
After a greeting, Stalin asked if everything was alright. Answering in the affirmative, I reported that the weather, as they say, is like to order. It’s quiet all around, cloudless along the entire route, no bumps. After listening to me, Stalin said he had one day left. I have to be in Tehran tomorrow and so he suggests that I fly there and come back in the evening, and tomorrow we will fly together to Tehran. The decision was made and some time later everyone went to the airport where the planes were already waiting. The machines took off, I think, about eight o’clock in the morning. The planes reached Tehran perfectly.
But at the time these memoirs were published, similar memoirs had already been published by Marshal S.M. Shtemenko. In this regard, Alexander Golovanov considered it necessary to make the following remark:
„Some authors of memoirs try to describe Stalin’s flight to Tehran in their own way, as if they were present at it or at least knew how the preparations for the flight and its organization were going. So, S.M. Shtemenko in his first book “The General Staff during the war” wrote:
„…We arrived in Baku in the evening. Here everyone except me got into their cars and drove off somewhere. I spent the night on the train. At 7 am they picked me up and we went to the airport. There were several C-47s at the airport. Air Force Commander A.A. was walking near one of them. Novikov and the commander of long-range aviation A.E. Golovanov. In another plane I noticed a pilot I knew, V.G. Grachev.
At 8 o’clock I.V. arrived at the airport. Stalin. Novikov reported to him that two planes were prepared for immediate takeoff: one would be piloted by Colonel-General Golovanov, and the other by Colonel Grachev. In half an hour, two more cars will arrive with a group of employees of the People’s Commissariat of Foreign Affairs. A.A. Novikov invited the commander-in-chief to Golovanov’s plane. At first he seemed to accept this invitation, but after taking a few steps he suddenly stopped.
„“Colonel generals rarely fly airplanes.” Stalin said “we prefer to fly with a colonel.” And turned to Grachev. Molotov and Voroshilov followed him. “Stemenko will also fly with us and report on the situation on the way”, Stalin said, walking up the ramp. “It must be said that what was written by S.M. Shtemenko does not correspond to reality,” clarifies Golovanov. — First, the train arrived in Baku early in the morning, not the night before; secondly, A.A. Novikov could not have walked with AE Golovanov near the plane, simply because Novikov was not there and he knew nothing about Stalin’s flight to Tehran.
But before us lie other “Memoirs” written by the State Security officer Alexander Yashin: “Stalin and his entourage immediately went to the airport, where six American Douglas C-47 planes were already waiting for them. The whole delegation flew to Tehran and back in one plane, which I think was very dangerous.
At the head of the first was the commander of long-range aviation, Marshal Alexander Golovanov, and at the head of the second was Stalin’s personal pilot, Colonel Valentin Grachev. As the leaders of the USSR approached the first plane, its engine sneezed. And this, as you know, is a bad omen. Stalin turned around and everyone went to the second plane – to Grachev.
The flight from Baku to Tehran lasted 50 minutes. Around noon on November 26, “Douglas” with Stalin on board safely landed in Tehran. By the way, there are quite a few such memoirs describing “details”, which confuses the situation. “Stalin arrived in Tehran the day before the opening of the conference”, says someone Sviridov. — Of course, at one time it was a state secret. Stalin flew to Tehran in an ordinary plane – a “corner” together with General Shtemenko. I, due to my official duty, also knew that from Moscow Stalin had traveled by medical plane to Krasnovodsk, then by tug across the Caspian Sea to the Iranian port and from there to Tehran.
That is, according to this version, Stalin was not in Baku at all, since Krasnovodsk can be reached by plane from Stalingrad, then fly to the Iranian port city of Anzeli, from where it is 100-150 kilometers by car to Tehran. Comparing the above facts, we do not question the testimony of the authoritative participants in the events. But they often have serious fundamental differences that make it almost impossible for a historian to connect the two.
For example, how to evaluate the memoirs of Stalin’s personal translator Valentin Berezhkov, which almost the whole country read: “In Moscow, everything was already ready for the departure to Tehran for the conference of the three powers. The delegation was led by Stalin, Molotov, Voroshilov (later, in Tehran, Beria joined them). They traveled by armored train through Baku to Iran, but according to the conditions I had to fly by plane.
But anyway, on December 7, 1943, an announcement was published in the Soviet press about the meeting of the leaders of the USSR, USA and Great Britain in Teheran, and the texts of the Declaration and other documents adopted during the conference were printed. On that day, it became known for the first time in the USSR that Stalin had left Moscow and for four days had participated in negotiations in Tehran with the leaders of the United States and Great Britain.
Translation: ES
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