Eighty years ago this week Churchill stores trouble for his historical reputation

 

The meeting between Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin at Yalta agreed to split Germany into zones occupied by each power and to recognise the Communist puppet government of Poland. Stalin promised democratic elections in eastern Europe after the war which provided a pretext for accepting the latter. When he briefed the Cabinet Churchill claimed that he could trust Stalin, "Poor Neville Chamberlain believed he could trust Hitler. He was wrong. But I don't think I'm wrong about Stalin."  In today's parlour game of comparing Neville Chamberlain's performance at Munich in 1938 with Churchill's at Yalta, this counts against Churchill,  although he was doing little more than accepting a military fait accompli. Moreover Stalin had respected his side of their private deal assigning Greece to the British sphere of influence.

RAF Bomber Command attacked Dresden with the aim of disrupting military communications with the eastern front. This was an extension of the Air Staff's Trenchardian attack on civilian morale. The raids caused a firestorm and some 25,000 civilians died. The ethical outcry that the bombing provoked in Britain was strong enough to make Churchill obfuscate his own responsibility.

The Anglo-Canadian 21st Army Group launched Operation Veritable, the northern hook of a joint operation with the US Army to clear the left bank of the Rhine. The thick Reichswald Forest and muddy terrain left by an early thaw made for hard going.