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In June, Yamamoto and the fleet, including four carriers, sailed to take Midway Island, on the way to Hawaii, but instead the Americans, aided by breaking Japanese codes, sank all four, losing only one of their own. In April 1943, the Americans decrypted Yamamoto’s flight plan and shot down his plane. Now the initiative passed to the Americans, who launched their first offensive across the vast Pacific distances far to the south at Guadalcanal and the Solomon Islands, where at 2.27 a.m. on 2 August a patrol torpedo boat, PT-109, commanded by Lieutenant Jack Kennedy, twenty-six-year-old son of the ambassador, was rammed by a Japanese destroyer. PT-109 exploded and sank, and two of his crew were killed instantly. Ten men survived, three badly burned. ‘Fight or surrender?’ he asked them. ‘You men have families … I’ve nothing to lose.’ They chose to fight. Kennedy had already endured much ill health, including Addison’s Disease (diagnosed after the war), and the incident damaged his back. He nonetheless rescued two others, towing them to the nearest island, then several times swimming miles until Polynesian scouts finally arrived to rescue and feed the starving crew. Ambassador Kennedy made sure Jack’s heroism was celebrated. ‘kennedy’s son’, the New York Times announced, ‘is hero in pacific’.^*

At the Wolf’s Lair, Hitler declared that Stalingrad’s fall ‘was only a matter of time’, boasting privately that he would advance into Iraq – ‘thoroughly within the realms of possibility’ – but his eagerness blinded him to a growing vulnerability. In Moscow, Stalin and Zhukov, looking at the map, saw an opportunity and, unusually, the ice-cold dictator shook hands with the harsh general. As the cauldron battle raged in Stalingrad, throughout October and November, General Montgomery mustered superior forces and defeated Rommel at El Alamein; on 8 November 107,000 Anglo-American troops landed in Morocco and Algeria, rolling up German, Vichy and Italian forces.

On 19 November, Zhukov sprang Operation Uranus, a million Russians in two pincers smashing through the weaker Romanians to surround Hitler’s Sixth Army around Stalingrad. ‘No matter what,’ shouted Hitler, ‘we’ll hold out at all costs.’ On 2 February 1943, the Sixth Army surrendered. The myth of Hitler’s invincibility was shattered. While Hitler believed he was a military genius, Stalin learned the art of command: find talented generals and work with them. He promoted himself and Zhukov to marshal. Ten million Soviet soldiers started their two-year multi-fronted, thousand-mile-long counter-offensive that, against stubborn resistance and at unspeakable cost, drove the Nazis out of the devastated motherland.^* On 9 July, Anglo-American troops landed in Sicily. After losing tens of thousands of men in Russia and Africa, Mussolini was crippled with stomach cramps. On 25 July, Victor Emmanuel dismissed and arrested Mussolini. Hitler immediately occupied Italy, and had the Duce rescued by commandos.

The road to victory had to be agreed in person. FDR, Stalin and Churchill travelled to Teheran – Stalin had never flown before. On 28 November FDR met Stalin for the first time, the two striking up an affinity, personal and strategic, at the cost of Churchill, the weaker player whose Indian empire seemed old-fashioned to the progressive American. Stalin persuaded FDR, who was staying at the US legation, that a Nazi assassination plot meant he must be protected in the more secure Soviet legation; keen to build on his relationship with Stalin, FDR agreed. Stalin naturally bugged FDR’s room.

‘In our hands, we have the future of mankind,’ said Churchill, opening their summit, ‘the greatest concentration of world power that has ever been seen in the history of mankind.’

‘History has spoiled us,’ Stalin acknowledged. ‘Let’s begin our work.’ They agreed that the Anglo-Americans would invade France in May 1944 (later delayed by a month) and that Stalin could keep the three Baltic states, given to him by Hitler. At dinner Stalin suggested that 50,000 German officers be executed. FDR agreed. When Churchill walked out, Stalin insisted he was joking.

The least important leader in Teheran was the young shah of Iran. Churchill did not bother to visit him; Stalin visited. The shah already craved Iranian power and asked for tanks; Stalin agreed, provided Russian troops operated them. The king collected cars, learned to fly and chased girls. Unhappy with his Egyptian wife, Fawzia, he depended on his mystical-poetical Swiss adviser, Perron, now promoted from gardener to royal secretary. But he had learned the meaning of power.