Must clarify war aims to East, says Willkie
…
U.S. transports reported in big battle fleet
Mediterranean convoy led by great force, Spain dispatches say
London, England (UP) –
Axis dispatches said today that American and British troop transports were among a great convoy reported to have steamed out of Gibraltar into the Mediterranean late yesterday.
Dispatches from La Línea, Spain, said the convoy was led by a battle fleet, including the battleship Rodney, the aircraft carrier Argus, 26 destroyers and several corvettes.
A Radio Berlin broadcast said today that the Rodney left Gibraltar under an umbrella of fighter planes. It was escorting both American and British troop carriers, the broadcast said.
See important development
Spanish and Axis reports emphasized more and more that a development of importance was occurring at Gibraltar. Reports said 125 ships, including three carriers, seven cruisers and 34 destroyers, had been concentrated at the rock.
Radio Paris said Royal Air Force reinforcements arrived at the fortress yesterday. A La Línea dispatch said 26 planes, including six American Flying Fortresses, flew in from the direction of the Atlantic yesterday afternoon and then took off toward the Mediterranean.
A dispatch from the official Spanish news agency said Gibraltar authorities had confiscated all barges, lighters, dredges and scows and ordered them prepared for immediate use. It implied that they would be used for transporting troops, saying disembarkation exercises were being held on the beach at Gibraltar.
Second front mentioned
A Stockholm dispatch asserted that vast quantities of tanks and planes were stored at Gibraltar:
…and it is believed they are intended for the opening of a second front with Gibraltar as a base.
Axis radios put out almost hourly warnings. They emphasized that Casablanca, the chief port of French Morocco, was in immediate danger, and suggested that the Allies were planning to attack Dakar, the great French West African base.
The Axis propagandists evidently feared a “squeeze play” would be carried out against their harried desert troops, with Allied forces striking against them from the west as well as the east.
WLB clamps down hard on $5,000 salary ceilings
It will be ‘pretty damn tough’ to get approval for raise, says Davis
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Editorial: 800,000 U.S. troops abroad precursors of Axis disaster
An announcement by Gen. Marshall that American Army forces overseas now number 800,000 stimulates speculation as to military developments in 1943, which now lies only two months in the distance, and which, there is increasing reason to believe, will be the climactic year of the war. This confident expectation has its source principally in developments of the year now drawing to a close – a year which, while marked by Japan’s formal appearance as one of the working partners of the Axis alliance, has nevertheless produced evidence that Germany, the keystone of Axis strength, has lost that irresistible quality so tragically apparent in her earlier military endeavors, and from this point on will be hard-pressed to hold her gains.
This closing year, accordingly, has been one of great achievement made possible by the heroic and resourceful resistance of the Russians, by the initiative taken by the British in North Africa and by American production, which, in spite of shortcomings, has been a factor of incalculable value in sustaining military operations on all fronts. But in the coming year, Gen. Marshall’s report indicates, the role of the United States will be of an altered character, one which will involve not only the further development of the nation’s status as the arsenal of democracy but also the participation in what will probably be the final phase of the war.
The presence of 800,000 American soldiers at overseas stations cannot in itself be accepted as a sign that this country is at this hour prepared for its part in a great offensive. When the front covers a great stretch of the globe, the concentration of troops at any one point cannot be of the proportions required for decisive action. But the number is growing swiftly and within a few more months, there will be available the forces required to strike effectively in Europe and in the Pacific.
For the present, it is heartening to know that enemies, rampant when in the full flush of their power, have been stopped that they are being drained of a material measure of their strength and that their spirit, once so confident, is suffering from the deliberating effects of doubts and misgivings.
Now that three years of war have passed without the attainment of the promised victory, it seems reasonable to assume that the German mind should recall with increasing fear the many and ominous parallels between the situation today and that of 24 years ago, when, just when Hindenburg and Ludendorff seemed on the threshold of conquest, fresh young troops began to appear upon the scene as precursors of disasters.
President Roosevelt’s radio address to the French people
November 7, 1942
Broadcast audio:
My friends, who suffer day and night, under the crushing yoke of the Nazis, I speak to you as one who was with your Army and Navy in France in 1918. I have held all my life the deepest friendship for the French people – for the entire French people. I retain and cherish the friendship of hundreds of French people in France and outside of France. I know your farms, your villages, and your cities. I know your soldiers, professors, and workmen. I know what a precious heritage of the French people are your homes, your culture, and the principles of democracy in France. I salute again and reiterate my faith in liberty, equality, and fraternity. No two nations exist which are more united by historic and mutually friendly ties than the people of France and the United States.
Americans, with the assistance of the United Nations, are striving for their own safe future as well as the restoration of the ideals, the liberties, and the democracy of all those who have lived under the Tricolor.
We come among you to repulse the cruel invaders who would remove forever your rights of self-government, your rights to religious freedom, and your rights to live your own lives in peace and security.
We come among you solely to defeat and rout your enemies. Have faith in our words. We do not want to cause you any harm.
We assure you that once the menace of Germany and Italy is removed from you, we shall quit your territory at once.
I am appealing to your realism, to your self-interest and national ideals.
Do not obstruct, I beg of you, this great purpose.
Help us where you are able, my friends, and we shall see again the glorious day when liberty and peace shall reign again on earth.
Vive la France éternelle!
U.S. War Department (November 7, 1942)
Communiqué No. 232
North Africa.
U.S. Army, Navy and Air Forces started landing operations during the hours of darkness tonight at numerous points on the shores of French North Africa. The operation was made necessary by the increasing Axis menace to this territory. Steps have been taken to give the French people, by radio and leaflets, early information of the landings. These combined operations of United States were supported by units of the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force.
Lt. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower of the U.S. Army is Commander-in-Chief of the Allied force.
U.S. State Department (November 7, 1942)
740.0011 European War 1939/25297a: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Chargé in France
Washington, November 7, 1942 — 11 p.m.
685.
Personal for the Chargé d’Affaires.
Report to the Department immediately upon delivery to Marshal Pétain of the unenciphered message which you have received for him from the President.
HULL
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Völkischer Beobachter (November 8, 1942)
Zivilinternierte zu Zwangsarbeit verurteilt –
Scharfer Protest an die USA.
dnb. Tokio‚ 7. November –
Der Regierungserklärung von Freitag über die Haltung Japans in der Frage der Kriegsgefangenenbehandlung folgte am Samstag ein gegen die Vereinigten Staaten gerichteter scharfer Protest der japanischen Regierung wegen der Behandlung der japanischen Zivilinternierten, die inzwischen mit den Austauschschiffen in die Heimat zurückgekehrt sind. Unter Aufzählung von Einzelfällen gemäß der Berichte von Heimkehrern forderte die Protestnote die sofortige Abschaffung der Zwangsarbeit der Internierten, die von den USA.-Behörden Japanern gegenüber angeordnet wurden. Weiter richtet sich der Protest gegen die ungesetzliche Zurückhaltung des Eigentums der Evakuierten ohne Erteilung von Quittungen. Die japanische Regierung fordert Erklärungen für diese Vorfälle und die Rückgabe des bei Abreise der Heimkehrer beschlagnahmten Eigentums.
Japans entschiedene Proteste gegen die unmenschliche Behandlung der Japaner in den USA. und in Kanada sowie die Stellungnahme der Regierung zur Behandlung der Kriegsgefangenen lösten in der gesamten Presse lebhaften Widerhall und Genugtuung aus. Nitchi Nitchi schreibt:
Haben die USA. und England in ihrer blinden Selbstüberhebung bereits vergessen, daß sich viele ihrer Landsleute in den Händen Deutschlands, Italiens und Japans befinden und macht es ihnen gar nichts aus, was mit ihren Staatsangehörigen möglicherweise geschehen könnte? Wir stellen derartige Fragen nicht gern, doch die Umstände zwingen uns dazu.
Ebenso meint Tokio Asahi Schimbun, den Amerikanern und Engländern müßte doch ihr Verstand sagen, daß die große Zahl von Engländern und Amerikanern in japanischer Gefangenschaft von Gegenmaßnahmen betroffen würde. Diese würden selbstverständlich folgen müssen, wenn Japans mehrfache Proteste nichts helfen. Diesbezüglich sei Japan – so schließt das Blatt – solidarisch mit seinen Verbündeten Deutschland und Italien und werde auf eine schlechte Behandlung deutscher und italienischer Kriegsgefangener sowie japanischer Zivilisten gleicherweise reagieren.
Ministerpräsident Tojo –
Alles für Japans Kampfkraft
dnb. Tokio‚ 7. November –
Ministerpräsident Tojo gab anläßlich des Beginns der Amtstätigkeit des neuen Ostasienministeriums einen Überblick über die Aufgaben dieses Ministeriums und über die Absicht der japanischen Regierung, das Verwaltungswesen zu vereinfachen.
Tojo wies einleitend darauf hin, daß verschiedene der bereits beschlossenen Maßnahmen jetzt in Kraft getreten sind. Nach den glänzenden militärischen Erfolgen im gegenwärtigen Krieg, der das Schicksal Asiens für die nächsten tausend Jahre entscheiden werde, sei das japanische Kaiserreich sofort an die Aufgabe herangetreten, die Aufbauarbeit in den eroberten Gebieten in großem Ausmaß zu beginnen. Die japanische Regierung als Führergruppe eines Hundertmillionenvolkes habe alle Anstrengungen darauf konzentriert‚ die Kampfkraft der japanischen Nation zu stärken.
Mit der Errichtung des neuen Ministeriums werde aber auch erhofft, die Beziehungen zu den befreundeten Ländern Ostasiens noch freundschaftlicher und enger zu gestalten und einen Beitrag für das gemeinsame Wohl zu leisten. Japan erwarte gleichzeitig, daß auch die Zusammenarbeit mit den verbündeten Mächten Deutschland und Italien noch enger werde.
Großoperationen der Luftwaffe
dnb. Tokio, 7. November –
Am 5. und 6. November erzielte die japanische Marineluftwaffe bei zahlreichen Einsätzen gegen die australischen und amerikanischen Stützpunkte im Südwestpazifik besondere Erfolge.
Insgesamt waren mehr als 300 japanische Bomber- und Jagdflugzeuge am 5. und 6. November über Nordaustralien und den feindlichen Inselstützpunkten im Südwestpazifik. 40 amerikanische und australische Flugzeuge wurden an diesen beiden Tagen in Luftkämpfen abgeschossen und am Boden zerstört. Von diesen ausgedehnten Operationen, die über Flugstrecken von mehr als 6000 Kilometer führten, kehrten nur sechs japanischer Flugzeuge nicht zu ihren Absprunghäfen zurück.
Japans erfolgreicher Tonnagekrieg –
Bisher 2.2 Millionen BRT. versenkt
Eigener Bericht des „VB.“
rd. Bern‚ 7. November –
Die Japaner haben seit Kriegsbeginn 391 feindliche Handelsschiffe mit 2,2 Millionen BRT. versenkt, wie amtlich in Tokio bekannt wird. Im gleichen Zeitraum wurden 89 feindliche U-Boote vernichtet, und zwar vorwiegend nordamerikanische. Die U-Boot-Waffe der USA. ist nach japanischer Ansicht durch diese Verluste stark beeinträchtigt worden, daher haben sich auch die Angriffe gegen die japanischer Handelsschiffahrt erheblich vermindert.
U.S. State Department (November 8, 1942)
740.0011 European War 1939/25296: Telegram
The Chargé in France to the Secretary of State
Vichy, November 8, 1942.
[Received November 8 — 6:35 a.m.]
1646.
Your 685, November 7, 11 p.m.
The unenciphered message, received 7:20 a.m. from the President was delivered by me to Marshal Pétain at 9:10 a.m. this morning.
I am cabling a translation of M. Pétain’s reply immediately.
TUCK
740.0011 European War 1939/25312: Telegram
The Chargé at Tangier to the Secretary of State
Tangier, November 8, 1942 — 6 a.m.
[Received 6:45 a.m.]
559.
News of American landings in French North Africa was received in Tangier in the early hours of the morning. Up until this hour the situation is entirely normal with no more than normal circulation on the streets.
Telegraph communications continue uninterruptedly, a telegram having been received from the Legation in Lisbon at 4:33 a.m.
Repeated to Madrid.
CHILDS
740.0011 European War 1939/25319: Telegram
The Chargé in France to the Secretary of State
Vichy, November 8, 1942 — 10 a.m.
[Received November 8 — 8:04 a.m.]
1648.
Reference your [our] en clair message 1647, 8th.
The Marshal received me at 9:10 this morning. Jardel and Dr. Menetrel both members of his entourage were present. I handed the Marshal the text of the President’s unenciphered message which he already had in translation before him on his desk. He read the French translation of the message which I had prepared and then signed and handed me his already-prepared reply to the President of the United States of which the following is a close translation:
Message from Marshal Pétain to President Roosevelt.
Vichy, November 8, 1942It is with stupor and grief that I learned during the night of the aggression of your troops against North Africa.
I have read your message. You invoke pretexts which nothing justifies. You attribute to your enemies’ intentions which have never been manifested in acts. I have always declared that we would defend our Empire if it were attacked; you knew that we would defend it against any aggressor whoever he might be. You knew that I would keep my word.
In our misfortune I had when requesting the Armistice protected our Empire and it is you who acting in the name of a country to which so many memories and ties bind us have taken such a cruel initiative.
France and her honor are at stake.
We are attacked.
We shall defend ourselves. This is the order I am giving.
PHILIPPE PÉTAIN
The Marshal said that he had told Admiral Leahy that France would resist any attack on her Empire by whomsoever and that there was no other course of action left open to him than to order measures of defense. He then showed me the text of the order which he had sent early this morning to the chief military authorities in Morocco, Algeria, Tunis and Dakar. The text of the messages to the first three places mentioned reads in translation as follows:
Am sending you under the following number the telegram from the Marshal, Chief of State, to President Roosevelt.
Your duty is clear. The Government counts on you. You should quell any tentatives of dissidence which have taken place or which may take place.
A translation of the text of the message to Governor Boisson at Dakar is as follows:
Am sending you under the following number the telegram from the Marshal, Chief of State, to President Roosevelt.
The attack on North Africa has taken place. Be ready for all emergencies. The Marshal and the Government count on you.
I informed the Marshal that I would immediately transmit the text of his reply to my Government.
As I rose to take my leave, he took both my hands in his looking at me steadfastly and smiling. He accompanied me to the antechamber and turned briskly back to his office humming a little tune.
TUCK
U.S. Navy Department (November 8, 1942)
Communiqué No. 186
South Pacific.
On November 6:
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U.S. forces advanced eastward to the Metapono River, 4 miles east of Koli Point on Guadalcanal Island. No contact with the enemy main body in this area was made. There was no other troop activity on Guadalcanal during the day.
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Army dive bombers made several attacks on enemy positions during the day. A large ammunition dump and a gasoline stowage were destroyed.
On November 7:
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During the early morning our motor torpedo boats attacked two enemy destroyers off Lunga Point, north of our position on Guadalcanal. One of the destroyers is believed to have been sunk.
-
During the forenoon a small U.S. auxiliary, engaged in transporting supplies to Guadalcanal was damaged by an enemy torpedo.
-
During the morning our troops continued to advance to the eastward in the vicinity of the Metapono River.
-
During the afternoon of November 7, U.S. aircraft attacked an enemy surface force about 150 miles north of Guadalcanal. Enemy planes attempted to protect the formation which consisted of 1 light cruiser and 10 destroyers. The enemy cruiser was badly damaged and possibly sunk and 1 destroyer was badly damaged. Five float-type “Zeros” and 7 float-type biplanes were destroyed. Four of our planes failed to return.
The Pittsburgh Press (November 8, 1942)
U.S. INVADES FRENCH AFRICA; TROOPS LAND ON 2 COASTS
Powerful forces strike to spike threat by Axis
Land, sea and air units sent against colonies, Vichy government informed
By Lyle C. Wilson, United Press staff writer
The greatest offensive in U.S. history was taking place today on the shores of Africa. Along the Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts of French colonies, thousands of Americans were pouring ashore. The exact points of the invasion were not disclosed but it is certain that it is the general area of the arrows on this map.
Washington – (Nov. 7)
A powerful American Expeditionary Force, composed of Army, Navy and air elements, tonight began landing on the Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts of French African colonies to prevent Axis invasion and to give Russia effective second-front assistance.
The first dispatch from U.S. Headquarters in Africa said that the invasion was led by the world’s greatest naval armada and that the offensive was the greatest single military operation in American history. The dispatch said that no resistance had been encountered by the thousands of U.S. soldiers who were pouring ashore.
The White House and War Department announced the invasion in force 11 months to the day after Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor.
U.S. Army authorities in London immediately flashed word that this is:
…the start of the real American war in the European Theater of Operations.
Lt. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, for some months commander of U.S. forces in the European Theater, commands the African expeditionary force. The White House announcement explained that the blow would deny the Axis a starting place for any invasion of the Americas across the South Atlantic.
A War Department communiqué, issued simultaneously, said landing operations were started “during the hours of darkness tonight at numerous points on the shores of French North Africa.” The White House said the landings were on both the Atlantic and Mediterranean coasts of French African colonies.
The widest possible interpretation of those statements would cover a stretch of coastline from Dakar northward to the Straits of Gibraltar and thence east to a point approximately south of Italy and near German Marshal Erwin Rommel.
This first great effort of an American fighting force in the Old World theater may quickly develop into a western arm of a movement designed to pinch Rommel’s Afrika Korps in a grip of death.
Both President Roosevelt and Gen. Eisenhower broadcast reassuring messages to the French people and the Vichy government. They said we sought no spoils or territory but sought only to defeat the Axis and go home.
Gen. Eisenhower’s appeal advised French garrisons that he had:
…given orders that no offensive action be undertaken against you on condition that for your part, you take the same attitude.
Joseph Stalin told the Russian people Friday that United Nations failure to open a second front would mean catastrophe for them, but he also expresses confidence that such a front would be opened sooner or later.
A high official here has been informing other officials and the press that the Russians would not regard even a smashing United Nations victory in North Africa as adequate second-front assistance. But that was before our invasion of French African colonies became known.
The White House said the invasion was undertaken to:
- Prevent Axis military occupation of any part of North or West Africa.
- To deny the Axis any African springboard from which to launch an attack against the Americas.
- To provide second-front assistance to “our heroic allies in Russia.”
The White House announcement said:
The landing of this American Army is being assisted by the British Navy and Air Forces and it will, I the immediate future, be reinforced by a considerable number of divisions of the British Army.
This expedition will develop into a major effort by the Allied nations and there is every expectation that it will be successful in repelling the planned German and Italian invasion of Africa and prove the first historic step in the liberation and restoration of France.
The statement emphasized that the French government as well as the French people had been informed of the United Nations’ intention to move into French colonial Africa, but there was no intimation that Vichy had agreed to the high strategy.
This story of an American invasion of Africa from the Mediterranean is being pounded at a jittery Europe tonight as a foretaste of what is to come as the United Nations’ offensive gained momentum and the Axis begins to bend and break.
Europe has been nervous for days. Even from Berlin, there have been reports of the movement of tremendous convoys into the Mediterranean and this good news for the United Nations is accompanied by uninterrupted successes of the British 8th Army in Libya where Rommel seems to be on the run, and fast.
Vichy has consistently opposed the use of its territory, colonial or otherwise, as bases against the Axis. If the Vichy government has not agreed to this invasion, it would appear that the thin strand of formal relations existing between the United States and the government of unoccupied France is finally about to break.
White House Secretary Stephen T. Early refused to amplify the White House announcement reference to a second front. The White House said that the invasion:
…provides an effective second-front assistance to our heroic allies in Russia.
Mr. Roosevelt’s appeal in French to the French people was recorded and is being broadcast from British stations. He explained what the U.S. forces were undertaking and why. He said:
We come among you to repulse the cruel invaders who would remove forever your rights of self-government, your rights to religious freedom, and your rights to live your own lives in peace and security.
We come among you solely to defeat and rout your enemies. Have faith in our words. We do not want to cause you any harm.
We assure you that once the menace of Germany and Italy is removed from you, we shall quit your territory at once.
The White House announcement, which read as though it might have been dictated by Mr. Roosevelt himself, put extraordinary emphasis upon the necessity of American occupation of the French colonies to prevent an Axis invasion of those areas.
The announcement said in its opening paragraph:
In order to forestall an invasion of Africa by Germany and Italy, which, if successful, would constitute a direct threat to America across the comparatively narrow sea from Western Africa, a powerful American force equipped with adequate weapons of modern warfare and under American command is today landing on the Mediterranean and Atlantic coasts of the French colonies in Africa.
Implicit in that language is heartwarming assurance that this United Nations thrust is neither too little nor too late. It is evidently a mighty and well-armed force that Lt. Gen. “Ike” is leading tonight south and eastward into the colonies so long controlled by France.
Daylong in the capital, the word was that something big was coming – “maybe bigger than Pearl Harbor” – and certainly better. The advance notices appear to have been pretty well-founded in fact.
The White House executive offices and press room did not close as usual toward 6 p.m., and shortly after 8 p.m., newspapermen were notified that something was coming from the War Department too.
It did not take that Department many words to say what was up War Department Communiqué No. 232 said it in two tense paragraphs, describing the landing operations as being directed against “French North Africa.” That communiqué likewise emphasized the imminence of Axis movement in that region, explaining that:
The operation was made necessary by the increasing Axis menace in this territory. It said the French people were being given early advice of the landing by radio and leaflets.
There seems to have been some news leak. Press reports have indicated that Gen. Eisenhower was not in London or would soon be landing. A New York columnist this week teased his readers with a gossipy line to the effect that everybody would be surprised at the place from which the general would next appear in the news.
London reported the Axis radio sputtering with rumors of an imminent blow by the United Nations in the Mediterranean or Africa. And there have been rumors current along the Atlantic Seaboard of an enormous convoy which cleared our ports a good many days ago, a convoy so large as to be almost unbelievable.
The President’s statement followed close on reports that powerful British and American naval units had streamed through the narrow Mediterranean passage at Gibraltar en route for a destination to support the smashing drive against the German forces of Marshal Rommel, this drive spearheaded by the British 8th Army.
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World’s greatest armada backs landing in Africa
By Chris Cunningham, United Press staff writer
AFHQ, North Africa –
U.S. troops by the scores of thousands opened their African offensive today with the world’s greatest naval armada in the vanguard.
The Americans and British have landed in great force on the coast of North Africa.
It is the opening of offensive action in the European Theater by Yankee doughboys who are slogging into action on this side of the Atlantic for the first time since 1917-18.
The operation, which was launched under the cover of huge fleets of naval warships and airplanes, was described as the largest single American offensive action in history.
U.S. land, air and sea forces, with the cooperation of British naval and air forces and a small number of British infantry, are carrying out landings in French West and North Africa.
The operation is under the command of Lt. Gen. Dwight Eisenhower, U.S. Commander-in-Chief in the European Theater.
U.S. troops have landed simultaneously in numerous areas of Africa.
However, beyond the tense communiqué issued by Gen. Eisenhower, there was no news up to 2:30 a.m. (9:30 p.m. ET) as to how the operation was actually proceeding.
There was nothing to indicate at the moment that any factor was holding up the Americans in their move to take control of vital areas.