tening to him do it all over again is not really my idea of a productive business talk. I detest de Gaulle too, of course, because he is an arrogant, intolerable nuisance, and should not be taken seriously, but I don't go off my rocker about it to the extent of Stalin. Nobody I can think of would. Stalin and I then relocated to the palace ballroom, where we began the first formal session of the conference. Churchill and his staff were already there, seated at a circular table covered with green felt located under two crystal chandeliers. He had more than twenty staff members, more than Stalin and I combined, which didn't surprise me. Churchill is just that type of person. The discussions, if you can call them that, began promptly at 5:00, right on schedule. Marshal Stalin began the meeting by stating that he thought I should be the one to open the conference, because unlike him and Churchill, I was both head of government and chief of state. I, of course, appreciated this notably friendly gesture, and so started the discussion. I believed that the military situation on the eastern front should be discussed first. This was my belief, of course, because the advance of Russian armies into Germany had all but electrified the people on the USA and of Great Britain. At this point the Marshal called upon Colonel General Antonov, Deputy Chief of the Soviet General Staff, to read a prepared paper giving in great detail the background of the Soviet Winter Onslaught. When the paper, the purpose of which, I think, was to urge Churchill and I to speed up the advance of allies on the western front, was finished, I naturally had several questions for the General. One of these sparked a new discussion about German railroad gauges, and Stalin used unecessary, extremely forceful language in stating his opinions and at one point rose from his seat and emphasized his points with dramatic gestures. He declared that the Germans were about to continue la...
