Wednesday, 25 August

In the afternoon, I visited the Canadian Minister. He said as follows.1) In the past two weeks the British and American relationships with the Soviet Union have deteriorated. Ambassador Kerr was worried about this. 2) Previously, the Soviet Union was unhappy with the United States but not too bad towards Britain. But now the Soviet Union is unhappy with Britain too. 3) If the Soviet Union thought that Britain and the United States procrastinated and didn’t open the second war zone, just hoping that the Germans and Soviet Union would erode each other so they can keep their own power intact so as to check the Soviet development after the war, the Soviet Union would have no choice but to stop pursuing the German army leaving their boundary, and let the German army fight with the British and American armies. Then the war would go on indefinitely. 4) Based on his research, Churchill has repeatedly criticised that in the previous war too many troops were used in France. If the invasion of Germany from various directions were prolonged and if these tactics worked, Germany would be further weakened, then they could launch a big attack from France, and the manpower waste would be reduced. According to Churchill’s persepective, it looks as if he has agreed that they should not land on the West coast of France, but instead concentrate on the Balkans. If this is true, it would incur discontent from the Soviet Union. 5) There are many people in the American Foreign Office who are anti-Soviet and old-fashioned. This is also true for the British Foreign Office. 6) He thought that we should not suspect the Soviet Union and be more cooperative. He is worried about the recent development.