Down the Memory Hole: Truman's Hidden Role in the Soviet Invasion of Manchuria

In the spring of 1945, while the Manhattan Project was still in development, other highly secret — more tangible — initiatives continued apace as the tensions in the Pacific theater grew:

“Milepost” was the mammoth westward surge of US supplies to prepare Soviet Forces in the Far East for their coming war with Japan. Simultaneously, under “Project Hula”, Russian sailors by the tens of thousands passed in the opposite direction to Cold Bay, Alaska, where they were secretly trained to operate “made in the USA” warships when the Soviets declared war on Japan. Meanwhile, ongoing planning, codenamed “Keelblocks,” for the direct US support of Soviet combat operations against Japan was further refined by staffs in Washington.

Author D. M. Giangreco sheds light on Projects Milepost and Hula, as well as the Keelblocks planning, and discusses how it came to be that these secret US initiatives have remained off the radar screens of both historians and World War II history wonks.

Image of Truman and Stalin at the Potsdam Conference, 1945, Harry S. Truman Presidential Library

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• Next Thursday, 28th August, 07:00 pm, The History of Anheuser-Busch in Jefferson City
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