Piercing the Fog - Air Force Historical Studies Office

Planning the Defeat of Japan
By early 1945, the Soviet Union’s role in the defeat of Germany was
abundantly clear to senior officers in Washington. Although a difficult and at
times perverse and puzzling ally, the USSR had been recognized by the
Americans as crucial to the war effort against the European Axis. Clayton
Bissell assessed the Soviets’ important role in the summer of 1944 when he told
General Marshall, “The defeat of Germany this year is dependent primarily on
Russian military action and secondarily upon the effectiveness of Anglo-
American military operations.”8y
As far back as February 1943, Arnold had harbored ambivalent feelings
about the Soviet Union when he advised General Marshall not to give heavy
bombers to the Russians. Arnold’s primary reason for the recommendation was
that he had too few of the aircraft to outfit his own service, the Navy, and the
Marine Corps, let alone another country that might not employ them effectively.
Arnold told Marshall in this case that he fully supported the policy of helping
Stalin so as to hurt Germany. He added that “There is, moreover, a growing
uncertainty as to where Russian successes will lead. I for one am willing to
accept the risk to us created by possible Russian misuse of aid or abuse of
successes, so long as her successes are necessary for our success.”Nevertheless,
when in May 1945 Arnold turned down a request for P-59 and P-80 jet aircraft
from Maj. Gen. S. A. Piskounov, Chief of the Aviation Department, Soviet
Government Purchasing Commission, his refusal was not overtly based on
distrust of Soviet intentions. He justified the refusal on lack of Munitions Board
approval and on the need for British consent, which he did not have.”
At a lower level in the AAF, an assessment of Soviet intentions of early
1945 that circulated among the A-2 staff contained doubts about what the Red
Army planned in the immediate future vis-h-vis the Wehrmachf. The basic
thrust of the paper was that nobody understood what to expect from the Soviets,
either in Europe or in Asia. It was this uncertainty more than anything else that
shaped the AAF’s assessment of her enigmatic ally. A minor A-2 staff
reorganization proposed for early 1944, for instance, included an officer
position to assess events in the Soviet Union, a position separate from the
foreign liaison and air OB functions. Perhaps one reason for this action was the
need to keep tabs on the huge Allied nation to which America committed large
numbers of aircraft and other air warfare-related matkriel under Lend-Lease.
This could not have been an overriding factor, however, as the A-2 office had
little to do with Lend-Lease. The most pressing reason had to have been the
uncertainty with which some on the Air Staff viewed the Soviet Union, the
difficulties experienced in dealing with her, and the need to know more about
the country. Not until Japan had been defeated did the staff have time to assess
the state of relations with the Soviet Union, but very quickly questions arose.”
Colonel Grinnell Martin, chief of the new Offensive Air Branch of A-2,
prepared a short memorandum discussing the strategic vulnerability of the
United States in September 1945. That memo noted that, for the foreseeable
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