Now the Battle Really Begins** As the second invasion of Europe was being put in motion, Churchill was making his own plans. In July 1942, he had set up a small unit called SOE (Special Operations Executive) as a means of conducting sabotage behind enemy lines. This plan had come to fruition in the form of Jedburghs, small teams of Allied military personnel and a few French civilians—some were already being parachuted into France. Other Jedburghs would soon be launched into North Africa and the Soviet Union. But by mid-July, the first SOE "agent" was already "sleeping" on the beach in Bordeaux with plans to infiltrate Vichy France, just as John had envisioned, the same plan John had helped hatch a few years before. This could not have escaped the attention of any senior Allied officer, no matter how much he disliked Decca's politics. In New York, the couple's financial backers, the Harrimans, had already agreed to take on Decca's legal expenses as part of the campaign. And within a week of Churchill's announcement that Allied troops were landing in force in Sicily, the American publisher Boni & Liveright announced it would offer Decca's new book to publishers around the world. The contract was immediately snapped up by Knopf in New York. But the Harrimans were determined to move with speed on publication. In the meantime, the couple were staying in London, staying in touch with Churchill (who was on his way to meet Hitler in Tehran to work out the next move in the war). Decca sent Churchill a memo, reminding him of what it meant to all women to have landed troops: _I hope this won't worry you too much but I believe my Dearest Uncle Winston has been rather busy the last few weeks without bothering to come out and see us._ Churchill had made it abundantly clear on many occasions that he hated "female trouble," but for Decca, Churchill's visit to the United States in the early 1940s was clearly an event that still rankled: _Do you realise that it was only a year ago that I met you here in London for the first time and we came up here to see you at Chartwell that weekend? . . . How could you possibly go home without coming to see me here!_ Decca had already started to make it clear that they had been "rather worried" about her husband's safety in London: _But you must remember that it isn't usual for a British General to be sent to Greece because he happens to be the husband of the daughter of [Winston] Churchill—and this man is supposed to be quite near the Russian border._ By August, Decca was back in Hyde Park, where she was again working for the British War Refugee Board. Then on September 12, 1942, a few months after Winston Churchill had visited President Roosevelt and the President had responded to a speech in Congress with the president's first-ever reference to a Soviet offensive, he sent a message to Stalin outlining a Soviet offensive that included the deployment of "tens of thousands of American and British air forces under General Strong." It has been said that the Allied bombing of Europe had begun. ## CHAPTER FOUR ## STALIN _We have all decided that if the Germans advance any further this side of the Don they must be hit a good whack._ —Winston Churchill, October 1942 _Vast masses of Soviet troops were thrown into the attack on the Eastern front as Soviet leader Stalin put his faith in "the mass superiority of our armies" to crush Hitler._ —Peter Kurth, _Erich Koch and the SS_ For Churchill, the Soviet Union was a place of both fascination and fear. Churchill longed to see what the Red Army might accomplish if it ever managed to enter Europe. But he was also fearful that the Red Army might get in Churchill's way. Like Stalin, who had once remarked that Churchill "was not so much a leader as a teacher of revolution," Churchill could never understand why people would want a change of government and a change of leader. He feared the effects of a popular revolution, which would bring a Communist regime into power. He also worried about the spread of Communism. Churchill was a die-hard imperialist, who believed that every man had a right to his own homeland and to develop his own culture. But he recognized that the British Empire was in decline, and he longed for a great "British bulwark in Asia." He believed, too, that Great Britain would be even more exposed to foreign domination if Communists were to gain control of the British Empire in India. And so he feared the advance of Communism in any form, anywhere in the world. He even feared the advance of Communism in his own country—Britain. But it was the fear of Communism spreading in Russia and Eastern Europe, where Churchill had seen firsthand the destruction wrought by the Germans during World War I, that turned Churchill's fear into hatred. The most important person in the entire world at this time, to Churchill, was Joseph Stalin. He was a powerful, determined, brilliant and highly dangerous leader—a man Churchill feared because he feared him. _Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin. The meeting between the two leaders would have repercussions of world-historical proportions._ Churchill was determined to hold the line against the Communists in both Europe and America. He believed that the only way to win the war against Hitler was to prevent any political instability in Western Europe or in the Americas. When the news of the German invasion of Russia broke, Churchill made it clear to his cabinet colleagues that he had spent years building up diplomatic relationships with the Soviets and warned them that he expected the Soviet Union to fight Hitler to the end. They were not to be distracted from their task at home by events in Moscow. But even before the onset of World War II, Churchill had been the target of a Soviet espionage operation. The Soviets had even sent agents into Churchill's British political heartland of Yorkshire, where they "bugged" his own London headquarters and infiltrated his political party, the Labor Party, which Churchill had led for the previous twelve years. That's right—Churchill had been, and would continue to be, a target of American intelligence, specifically the FBI's investigation of Soviet espionage in the United States during World War II. As much as Churchill feared Communists and the spread of Communism, he also feared Hitler, and he had been warning about Hitler for many years. As early as July of 1932, the date Decca met him, Churchill was calling Hitler an "unrepentant, unashamed, unregenerate brute" who "lacked nothing in courage, determination, and ruthless selfishness." As Decca herself might say, this was a man Churchill didn't get to know very well, but from the beginning of his political career, he had been fearlessly speaking out against Hitler's actions. The "unrepentant, unashamed, unregenerate brute" would prove to be Decca's worst nightmare. _Betsy: The American Years_ For the time being, the Harrimans were keeping tabs on the American situation from their offices in New York. It was an odd situation for them. Peter, the Harrimans' son, was about to be married to Decca's niece, Betsy Cadogan. While the world was at war, so was the Churchill family. In February 1943, Betsy's daughter Deborah and Peter's son David were born. In early January 1943, Betsy was in London, spending some time with her family. As she and Peter's wife, Pamela, were driving down Park Lane, a group of black-uniformed soldiers passed by, heading in the same direction. As they made their way through a narrow lane, their taxi was suddenly blocked by a motorcycle policeman. _Betsy Harriman's wedding to her brother-in-law, Peter. Betsy, Decca, Pamela, and Peter with Mary at the wedding._ _Betsy as a young girl in England._ _Betsy standing next to Peter in India._ "Where is your passport?" the policeman demanded. He looked closely at the four women in the front seat of the taxi. The two young people had to turn their heads away and hold hands for a moment before they could look at each other and share a smile. After all, the two couples had been together in more than one war, but never in one like this. Betsy and her brother-in-law were about to be married. "And who is in the back?" Peter was in the back with his son David. He said, "I am." "And who else is in there?" "My wife, Pamela." The policeman then looked at Decca and said, "And she is?" Decca was also in the back of the car. "Yes." "I would like to see your papers, please." Betsy spoke for her family: "We are coming from a wedding that is being held for us right now. You know, we are actually married to two other people today." Betsy paused a moment, and then added, "And my brother-in-law here is just one of them." "What! You mean to say that all these people