He passed each a copy of the London newspaper.
“Dreadful business, Sirs… dreadful.”
The headline screamed at both men.
‘BALTIC DISASTER – THOUSANDS DEAD’
They quickly consumed the bare facts, grimacing at the numbers involved.
“I say, poor sods.”
“Quite, Percy. Squires, two more scotches please, there’s a good chap.”
The clubman nodded and hobbled away to distribute more of the freshly printed newspapers on his way back to the bar.
The murmurs grew in the smoking room, as more eyes acquainted themselves with the disaster.
Percy’s eyes clouded over with painful memories as he read one word.
“Mine, so they say… nasty bloody things. Brother Clarence was lost to the nasty bloody things… on the Irresistible, off Gallipoli in ’15. Nasty blighters.”
“I remember, Percy. Johnny Turk used a lot of the horrible things off the peninsular. Did for a few of our matelots. So damned impersonal.”
Callard-Smith dropped his gaze again and immediately took a sharp intake of breath.
“I say…101st… those boys saw an awful lot of fighting… an awful lot of fighting.”
Both men dropped their newspapers down so they could look at each other.
“The God of Battle, eh, Percy?
Hollander snorted. A confirmed atheist, he believed in no such thing, but he understood what Callard-Smith meant.
‘All that fighting… from D-Day to Poland… and killed by one of those nasty bloody impersonal things when out of the front line.’
“Tragic way for a soldier to go, Fabian. Bloody tragic.”
“Quite. Still… over two thousand American dead in one foul swoop… that’s certainly not going to go down well on the other side of the pond, is it?”
“Most certainly not. The common American will either want the boys home yesterday, or will be baying for Uncle Joe’s blood like a hound on the scent.”
When the news reached the states, and families from Oregon to Maine became aware that one of their most prestigious units, the 101st US Airborne, had suffered grievous casualties in such a random manner, the result was very much the latter.
President Truman’s constant failure to employ the full range of weapons from the armoury of liberty cannot be underestimated. He has cited, on numerous occasions, the need to ensure that the coalition of Allied forces remains cohesive, and names the opposition to further use of certain weapons, prevalent amongst those Allies, as the chief reason for staying his hand.
This publication accepts that the use of those weapons, and we must be clear that we are speaking of the new atomic bombs so recently deployed against the Empire of Japan, will bring about horrendous loss of life and suffering, both at the time of deployment and, it has been suggested, long into the futures of those subjected to its use.
Whether or not the President is correct about the Allies’ discontent, and the threat it poses to our coalition of freedom, we must consider the situation in its fullest context.
We, America and our Allies, have been subjected to the vilest form of attack; an unprovoked aggression and betrayal of our nations by one country, supposedly friendly, and one so recently allied with us in that great crusade against the armies of oppression and aggression.
The peoples of the Soviet Union and its allies have, by their act of unparalleled perfidy, laid themselves open to our wrath, and we should not feel shackled by the undoubted superiority of our technology, not feel shackled by its totally destructive nature, and certainly not feel shackled that it would visit hell on earth upon the enemy. Whilst we can only accept that there will be casualties amongst the innocent, with whom the guilty will inevitably surround themselves, we have to understand that this nation, this alliance, has at its disposal the means to end this war, and possibly all wars to come
What appears to be lacking is the will to use it, a stance excused by the interpretation of how others might react; how others may ‘view’ such a use.
This publication offers the following clarifications to assist the President in deciding on the right way forward.
This great nation of ours has made prodigious sacrifices on the altar of freedom, and none more so than in this latest and most costly of wars. Our casualties, counted since Pearl Harbor to the fall of Berlin, numbered roughly two million, dead, wounded and missing. That number has recently risen to over two and a half million.
That means that many hundreds of thousands of Americans have succumbed to injury or death, or are missing, since the enemy rolled across the divide last August.
Recent events in the Baltic have claimed the lives of two and a half thousands of our youngest and finest, men from the Screaming Eagles Airborne, men who had experienced countless battles from the Normandy shores to the green fields of Poland.
This single incident represents one of the greatest losses of life in the history of the United States military, and to what end?
In just under a year of the new war, combined with the bloody echoes of the now concluded war against the Empire of Japan, this nation has sustained these unprecedented levels of loss, knowing that freedom is never free, and that we must fight to preserve it from tyranny, wherever it is to be encountered. We, as a people, have come together in support of our soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines. We have provided the weapons and fuels of war, and answered every weighty call that government and honour have placed upon our shoulders. Our armed forces have an expectation; we, here at home, have an expectation, that our administration will do everything within its power to end the war as soon as is possible, and for the minimum loss of life and limb amongst our sons, husbands, fathers and brothers. Actually more than that. Our armed forces and public alike have the absolute right to demand that our administration will do everything in its power to end the bloodshed, and ensure that as many brave American boys as possible return from the combat zone.
Our valiant Allies will unquestionably understand and embrace that demand, for it is also their sons, their husbands, their fathers and their brothers that will profit from a speedy conclusion to this conflict.
We have the means to end this war, and set in place a peace that could last for a thousand years.
There is no satisfactory argument against it; against the inevitable saving of American and Allied lives, so this publication demands that President Truman employ the new atomic devices, and that he bring our loved ones safely back home.
“And there are no more… definitely no more?”
“No, Mister President. We believe that there were upwards of two and a half thousand soldiers on that ship, plus the crew of five hundred and one… from which we have confirmed seventy US Navy survivors, and one hundred and thirty-seven paratroopers.”
“Two hundred and seven men… that’s all?”
“Yes, Sir, but I urge caution. Some of those boys won’t make it.”
“Good God. I’ve a recommendation on my desk for another presidential citation for those airborne boys. Now I’m going to have to write a tribute to their lives, and try and convince folks that these brave boys gave their all in the service of our nation… how in the name of God do I do that? Eh?”
“The British fouled up, Mister President. Their minesweepers didn’t do their job.”
Truman gripped the desk so hard his fingers went white.
“You can make that the last time you say that, George.”
George Marshall relaxed his posture in acknowledgement of the rebuke.