Eighty years ago Stalin confronts Eden with his war aims
Despite attrocious weather Soviet forces landed and established secure lodgements on the Kerch Peninsula, the eastern extremity of Crimea that divides the Black Sea from the Sea of Azov. The operation was intended to break the siege of Sebastopol by threatening the flank of German forces in Crimea. It was the Red Army's first major amphibious operation and was largely extemporised. Coming soon after the counter-offensive on the Moscow front it proved that the German invaders no longer held complete initiative. Stalin claimed personal credit for the attack. The landings failed, though, in their larger military purpose. The Germans rapidly contained the bridgeheads and Sebastopol remained tightly invested. Antony Eden the British Foreign Secretary visited Moscow to discuss how Britain and the Soviet Union might collaborate. He was speedily confronted with Stalin's underlying war aims. As a preliminary to any substantial conversation, he was invited to accept the Soviet Union