Washington (UP) –
The Navy Department is considering establishment of a women’s auxiliary to the U.S. Marine Corps, it was learned today.
Under questioning by Rep. Clare Boothe Luce (R-CT), Cdr. J. C. Webb, an official of the Navy Personnel Bureau, told the House Military Affairs Committee that a Marine auxiliary was “under discussion.” He said no name for the proposed auxiliary had yet been selected.
Asserts he’s satisfied – House to investigate blast at Army and Navy
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Vice President tells radio listeners plain people must be heard
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Farley in line for job – Senators to vote on appointment tomorrow
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The Pittsburgh Press (January 26, 1943)
By Ernie Pyle
A forward airdrome in French North Africa – (Jan. 26, by wireless)
The Flying Fortress crew that made air history this month by flying 500 miles from Tripoli with its left engines out, after shooting down six enemy planes, was composed of men who were already veterans of the war in the air. They had been decorated for missions over Europe. They already had two official kills and several probables to their credit. The Tripoli mission, which only by a miracle was not their last, was their 22nd.
The skipper of the prize crew is Lt. John L. Cronkhite, of St. Petersburg, Florida. They called him Cronk. He is short, with a faint blond mustache and a very wide mouth, from which the words came in a slow drawl. His shoulders are broad, his arms husky. Usually, he doesn’t wear a tie. He says he isn’t married because nobody would have him. He’s 23.
Cronk’s father is a St. Petersburg florist. He has three pictures of his mother and father in his room. I spent the evening with Cronk and his co-pilot and navigator after their return from the dead. When he walked into the room, Cronk picked up something from the bed.
He said:
Hell, I can’t be dead. Here’s my dog tag. I forgot to take it with me. I can’t be dead, for they wouldn’t know who I was.
He and his co-pilot are bound by an unbreakable tie now, for together they pulled themselves away from death.
The co-pilot is Lt. Dana F. Dudley, of Mapleton, Maine. That is a little town of 800, and Dud says he is the only pilot who ever came from there. He is a tall and friendly fellow, who got married just before coming overseas. His wife is in Sarasota, Florida. Dud says one of the German fighters dived toward his side of the plane, and came on with bullets streaming until it was only 100 feet away. At that moment, what might have been his last thought passed through Dud’s head:
Gee, I’m glad I sent my wife that $225 this morning.
The navigator is Lt. Davey Williams, 3305 Miller St., Fort Worth, Texas. He too was recently married. The pilots give Davey all the credit for getting them home. He was about the busiest man on the trip, navigating with one hand and managing two machine guns with the other. When they thought they were done for, Davey said to the pilots:
I’ll bet those guys back home have got our stuff divided up already.
He said he mainly thought about how he was going to get word to his family that he was a German prisoner, and he felt sore that friends of his would soon get to go home to America while he’d have to spend the rest of the war in a prison camp.
I didn’t get to talk to the other members of the crew, but their stories are just the same. They all played their parts in coaxing the broken Fortress home.
They are Lt. Joe Dodson (bombardier) of Houston, Texas, and Sgts. Carl Olson of Chicago; John King of Hartford City, Indiana; Thomas Klimaszewski of Alpena, Michigan; Robert Jackman of Cleveland; Fred Littlewolf, a Chippewa Indian from Bagley, Minnesota, and Ted Nastel of Detroit.
One of those freakish little things happened to Lt. Dodson. He had hung his sunglasses on a hook in the nose compartment. A machine-gun bullet knocked out both lenses, but he didn’t touch the frame. If he hadn’t moved just a second before, the bullet, which grazed him, would have killed him.
When the Fortress finally reached home, Cronkhite decided to go through the co-pilot’s window onto the wing. As he stepped onto the wing his feet hit some oil and flew out from under him, and he went plummeting off the high wing onto the hard ground. The doctors thought he had been wounded, and picked him up and put him into an ambulance.
It sounds funny now, but as Cronkhite says:
I wouldn’t have given a damn if I had broken a leg when I fell off the wing, I was so glad to be on the ground again. I just felt like lying there forever.
Völkischer Beobachter (January 27, 1943)
dnb. Stockholm, 26. Jänner –
Der Londoner Korrespondent von Dagens Nyheter stellt fest, daß nach Auffassung der Mehrheit der englischen Sachverständigen die U-Boote die gefährlichste Waffe Deutschlands im augenblicklichen Kriegsabschnitt seien. Die Bekämpfung der Unterseeboote sei daher das Hauptproblem der Achsengegner. Die immer ernster werdende U-Boot-Gefahr hat nach Londoner Eigenberichten zu erneuten lebhaften englischen Presseertörterungen geführt.
Der Manchester Guardian erhebt die Forderung nach einem Ausschuß für die Bekämpfung der Unterseeboote mit Churchill als Vorsitzenden. Die Daily Mail erinnert daran, daß bei Beginn des jetzigen Krieges in England vielfach die Meinung vertreten worden sei, daß Unterseeboote im Zusammenhang mit den vorhandenen Abwehrmitteln nicht mehr die Schiffahrt bedrohen könnten. Jetzt seien die Engländer eines Besseren belehrt worden. „Der gegenwärtige U-Boot-Krieg nimmt einen für die Demokratien völlig neuen Verlauf", stellt Daily Mail in einem Leitartikel fest. Früher seien nämlich die Schiffsversenkungsziffern von Monat zu Monat zurückgegangen, während sie jetzt immer weiter anstiegen. Dieser „Rhythmus“ habe etwas äußerst Gefährliches an sich. Er drohe in eine Katastrophe für die Verbündeten auszuarten. Mit den größten Befürchtungen müsse man dem U-Boot-Krieg in den Frühjahr- und Sommermonaten entgegensehen, wenn schon in den Wintermonaten so viele Schiffe den U-Booten zum Opfer fielen. Das Beunruhigendste am gegenwärtigen Verlauf des U-Boot-Krieges aber sei die Erkenntnis, daß Deutschland offenbar in der taktischen und technischen Entwicklung der U-Boot-Waffe der von den Verbündeten angewandten Methode der U-Boot-Abwehr weit vorauseile.
Auch die USA. stark beunruhigt
Die Schlacht auf den sieben Weltmeeren stehe wieder im Mittelpunkt der USA.-Presse, schreibt der Neuyorker Korrespondent des Daily Sketch. Das hätten die Achsenmächte ihren Unterseebooten und deren gewaltigen Erfolgen zu verdanken. Man müsse daran denken, daß der Gegner seine U-Boot-Kampagne bei ungünstigen Witterungsverhältnissen durchführe. Aus dieser Erwägung heraus zeige man sich in den USA. stark beunruhigt.
Der bekannte Leitartikler Raymond Clapper gebe dem auch in der Zeitung New York World Telegram Ausdruck. Er bemerkt unter anderem, den Demokratien ständen auf See schwerste Zeiten bevor. Andere USA.-Biätter dringen, wie der Washingtoner Korrespondent des Daily Herald meldet, in die Regierung, endlich genauere Angaben über die Schiffsverluste zu machen. Es sei lächerlich, schreibt die New York Times, wenn das Marineministerium der Öffentlichkeit Tatsachen verheimliche, von denen man vernünftigerweise annehmen müsse, daß sie dem Gegner nicht unbekannt geblieben seien. Man prahle, wenn einmal ein Geleitzug seinen Bestimmungshafen erreiche, doch werde gründlich geschwiegen, wenn nur Bruchstücke von ihm eintrafen.
Hore-Belisha gegen die Verheimlichungstaktik
Die argentinische Zeitung La Razon veröffentlicht einen Aufsatz des ehemaligen britischen Kriegsministers Hore-Belisha. Dieser kritisiert darin die britische Verheimlichungspolitik bezüglich der Schiffsverluste.
„Der Seekrieg geht unter größtem Geheimnis vor sich", schreibt er unter anderem.
Unser Kampf hängt von unserer Überlegenheit zur See ab und von der Möglichkeit, Truppen, Lebensmittel und Munition zu verschiffen und die notwendigen Rohstoffe einzuführen, über seinen Verlauf sind keine Informationen von zuständiger Stelle ausgegeben worden. Im vergangenen Kriege sowie im gegenwärtigen bis zum Juni 1941 sind regelmäßig die Flottenverluste bekanntgegeben worden. Seit diesem Datum aber sind keine Nachrichten mehr ausgegeben worden. Es liegt kein Beweis dafür vor, daß der Feind durch diesen Wechsel in der Nachrichtenpolitik gelitten hätte. Im Gegenteil, es besteht der unangenehme Eindruck, daß unser Stillschweigen auf die Unmöglichkeit zurückzuführen ist, all unsere Anstrengungen gegen die schreckliche Gefahr des Unterseebootkrieges zu konzentrieren. Es ist notwendig, das Publikum über die Tatsachen zu unterrichten, so wie sie sind, um zu vermeiden, daß sich mit Recht Furcht der Gemüter bemächtige, wenn ein so großes Stillschweigen bewahrt wird.
dnb. Stockholm, 26. Jänner –
Die New York Times veröffentlicht soeben eine Weltkarte, auf der alle diejenigen Stellen besonders hervorgehoben werden, an denen sich zur Zeit amerikanische Truppen befinden. Die 50 bezeichneten Orte sind:
Nordirland, England, Französisch-Marokko, Algerien, Liberia, Anglo-Ägypt Sudan, Eritrea, Ägypten, Palästina, Irak, Iran, Indien, China, Australien, Neuguinea, Salomoninseln, Neue Hebriden, Neukaledonien, Neuseeland, Fidschiinseln, Samoa, Hawai, Midway, Alëuten, Guatemala, Nikaragua, Costarica, Natal, Galapagosinseln, Santa Elena (Ekuador), Aruba, Curacao, Kanada, Island, Trinidad, Britisch-Guayana, Surinam, Brasilien, Santa Lucia, Antigua, Jungferninseln, Puerto Rico, Haiti, Jamaika, Kuba, Bahamainseln, Bermudas, Grönland, Neufundland und Labrador.
Die genannte Karte entlarvt aber zugleich auch den Präsidenten der USA. als einen infamen Betrüger an der Bevölkerung seines Landes, die ihn im Vertrauen auf seine ausdrückliche Versicherung wiederwählte, er werde dafür Sorge tragen, daß die Vereinigten Staaten von diesem Kriege ferngehalten werden, so daß auch in Zukunft keiner ihrer Söhne außerhalb der westlichen Hemisphäre zu kämpfen brauche.
dnb. Vigo, 26. Jänner –
Wie aus Blida bei Algier bekannt wird, kam es dort zwischen einer USA.-Patrouille und einer Gruppe von Mohammedanern zu einem schweren Zusammenstoß. Die nordamerikanischen Soldaten gingen mit Kolbenstoßen gegen die Eingeborenen vor. Die Angegriffenen setzten sich darauf zur Wehr und verletzten zwei USA.-Soldaten so schwer, daß sie im Lazarett starben. Die Militärbehörde nahm darauf Massenverhaftungen vor.
Von unserer Stockholmer Schriftleitung
Stockholm, 26. Jänner –
Die Beratungen in Washington, an denen, wie bekannt wurde, auch Churchill beteiligt ist, obwohl darüber keine amtliche Mitteilung vorliegt, die auch erst nach seiner Rückkehr erfolgen würde, dauern weiter an und scheinen gerade in bezug auf die Lage in Nordafrika auf neue Schwierigkeiten gestoßen zu sein. Diese Schwierigkeiten beruhen einmal auf dem Scheitern der Pläne, die mit dem Vorstoß der 8. britischen Armee verbunden waren, und zweitens auf dem dauernden Gegensatz der britisch-amerikanischen Interessen.
In Londoner Kreisen neigt man der Auffassung zu, daß es sich um einp ausschließlich englisch-amerikanische Aussprache handelt, der es an Gesprächsstoff nicht fehle. Den Hoffnungen, die man in England daran knüpft, durch Schaffung eines gemeinsamen Oberbefehls den militärischen Teil der nordafrikanischen Frage einer Lösung zuzuführen, fehlt aber noch eine wichtige Voraussetzung: die Vereinigung der auf die tunesische Grenze vorrückenden 8. britischen Armee mit den unter dem Oberbefehl des Generals Eisenhower stehenden Truppen.
Selbst wenn die Truppen des Generals Montgomery im gleichen Tempo vorrückten wie bisher, so meldet Svenska Dagbladet aus London, so brauchten sie mindestens noch 25 Tage, um sich mit den Vorhuten des Generals Anderson zu vereinigen, das sei aber nur möglich, wenn sie auf keinen ernsten Widerstand auf seiten der Achsentruppen stießen. Dassei aber mehr, als man hoffen könne.
Der Versuch französischer Truppen, in erster Linie von Fremdenlegionären, in westlicher Richtung vorzustoßen, sei gescheitert. Statt dessen seien die Achsentruppen nach Süden und Westen vorgestoßen und bedrohen jetzt die 1. britische Armee in der Flanke.
Schließlich beschäftigt die militärischen Beobachter von London immer wieder die Frage: Was wird Rommel tun? Er hat, so stellt man resignierend fest, seine Panzerarmee gerettet. Der Plan also, diese zu vernichten, wird offen als gescheitert zugegeben. Wird sich Rommel nun mit den Achsentruppen in Tunesien vereinigen oder wird er selbständig in Mitteltunesien operieren und die offene Flanke der 1. Armee bedrohen oder wird er in der sogenannten Mareth-Linie haltmachen? Das alles sind Fragen, die bei den Beratungen in Washington eine große Rolle spielen.
Eigener Bericht des „VB.“
Rom, 26. Jänner –
Eine wichtige innerpolitische Entscheidung für Tunesien fällte der Bey von Tunis, Sidi Mohammed el Mousef, anläßlich eines Empfangs des Führers der nationalarabischen Destur-Partei in Tunesien, Dr. Habib Thamer. Der Bey erklärte, daß sich die nationale Destur-Partei fortan unbehindert im ganzen Gebiet der Regentschaft betätigen könne. Der Entschluß bietet der Destur zum erstenmal im Laufe ihrer wechselvollen Geschichte der letzten drei Jahrzehnte die Möglichkeit, die gesamte nationalgesinnte arabische Bevölkerung Tunesiens legal unter ihre Fahne zu sammeln.
Während die Achse in Tunesien der arabischen Nationalpartei freie Hand gibt, wurde von alliierter Seite mit Peyrouton ein Mann zum Gouverneur in Algerien bestimmt, der sich schon in seiner früheren Tätigkeit den Namen des „Henkers“ der Destur in Tunesien erworben hatte. Peyrouton hat jetzt auch Nieder die ersten Tage seiner neuen Tätigkeit in Algier zur Erklärung seiner Gewaltpolitik gegen die einheimische Bevölkerung benutzt. Auf einer Versammlung der mohammedanischen Notabeln von Algier erklärte er am Montag, daß er nicht vor Verhängung schwerer Geld- und Freiheitsstrafen für solche mohammedanischen Würdenträger in Nordafrika zurückschrecken werde, die nicht ihren ganzen Einfluß in der Bevölkerung aufbieten, um sie der Sache der Achsengegner zu gewinnen.
So erklärte Peyrouton:
Die Zwietracht die heute in der Bevölkerung herrscht, ist schwerwiegend. Ich bin gewiß, daß auf wirtschaftlichem Gebiet, zumal hinsichtlich der Lebensmittelversorgung, sich die Schwierigkeiten noch verstärken werden. Sollten jedoch die Mohammedaner das zum Anlaß zu Beschwerden nehmen, so würde ich mich gezwungen sehen, mit scharfen Mitteln durchzugreifen, um das notwendige Zusammenwirken durchzusetzen.
U.S. Navy Department (January 27, 1943)
Pacific.
On January 25, U.S. aircraft were attacked by eight Japanese Zeros during a reconnaissance mission over Wake Island. Two Zeros are believed to have been destroyed. All U.S. planes returned.
South Pacific.
On January 26: At dusk, a formation of Flying Fortress heavy bombers (Boeing B-17), heavily bombed the Japanese airfield on Ballale Island in the Shortland Island area and started fires in the revetments. Weak anti-aircraft fire was encountered.
Brooklyn Eagle (January 27, 1943)
By C. R. Cunningham
Algiers, Algeria (UP) –
Conviction grew today that the “unconditional surrender” pronouncement of President Roosevelt and Winston Churchill tells only a part – possibly not the most exciting part – of the story of their 10-day meeting at Casablanca.
Correspondents who attended the historic Roosevelt-Churchill press conference, which concluded the deliberations in the white-walled city on Africa’s west coast, believe that the official communiqué did not cover all the activity of those 10 days in the sun-drenched Moroccan port.
Rumors of what occurred at Casablanca have run a gamut to end all gamuts and none, thus far, has taken any form of authoritativeness. These rumors had it that Italian, Spanish and even Finnish and Turkish delegates had representatives at the meeting.
The rumors were that these representatives were invited not necessarily to join the United Nations but to become convinced of the might of the Allies. Then they could make their own choice.
Walter Logan, United Press staff correspondent also present at Casablanca during the meeting, reported having seen "consular baggage bearing Finnish labels.” G. Ward Price, London Daily Mail correspondent at Casablanca, reported:
It may be said that the statements made here are only a partial revelation. It is obvious there may be additional activities which are unrevealable and may even be denied in the interests of the common cause.
A welter of rumors
There was a welter of rumors regarding those who participated at one time or another in the meeting. The fact that correspondents were not permitted to go into any great deal of speculation as to the conferees aroused their suspicion.
First of all, it is not believed that President Roosevelt would have cared to take the risk of a 6,000-mlle airplane ride for nothing more than a “heart to heart” talk with Prime Minister Churchill.
Nor was it thought likely that he would embark on such a venture simply to review the events of 1942 or even to plan the events of 1943.
It was noted that the combined Allied chiefs of staff could have undertaken these tasks without the presence of either the President or the Prime Minister.
Air of mystery
What particularly aroused the interest of the correspondents was the complete air of mystery which surrounded the entire proceeding.
The records of the correspondents accredited to the North African field have been scrupulously studied and a considerable amount of confidence has been placed in them. However, in the Casablanca instance, they were given not the slightest inkling of what was taking place until after they arrived on the scene.
Casablanca was literally saturated with rumors. Crowded as it was with special anti-aircraft emplacements, special guards, Secret Service men and troops, almost any kind of report was passed avidly from person to person.
One of many reports
One of the most frequent of these reports was that the anti-aircraft batteries had orders not to fire on any planes – whether enemy or not – which might appear at certain hours of the day. The inference, of course, was that some sort of emissary from some belligerent state was expected.
The President and the Prime Minister met correspondents in the rear garden of a beautiful white villa – the North African “White House” – marked simply “Villa No 2.”
With Churchill sitting at his left, Mr. Roosevelt explained to war correspondents hastily flown in from the Tunisian front that he and Churchill had pledged themselves that peace would return to the world and that this peace could not come unless it was accompanied by the total destruction of the power of Germany and Japan to make war.
Demand foe surrender
The President told correspondents gathered at his feet in the velvety grass of the Villa’s rear garden that the keynote of the meeting had been taken from Gen. Ulysses S. Grant.
Gen. Grant, he said, was known as “unconditional surrender” and that was the purpose and purport of the present deliberations. He said that the meeting would be known as the “unconditional surrender” conference.
The Prime Minister, speaking a few minutes later, echoed Mr. Roosevelt’s statement and said that with unconquerable will America and Britain would pursue their purpose to its logical conclusion.
The correspondent listened as Mr. Roosevelt told of the plans of the United Nations to utilize every last resource of the world – if necessary – in order to carry out the extermination of Axis warpower as quickly as possible.
Stalin was invited
Joseph Stalin, the President revealed, had been invited to attend but replied that he was unable to leave Russia because he was directing the Soviet winter offensive.
Although the Russian leader was not able to be present, Mr. Roosevelt said, he and Churchill kept him fully informed of their discussions.
While he and Mr. Churchill were in almost constant conference, said Mr. Roosevelt, the British and American combined staffs proceeded on the principles and methods of pooling all the resources of the Allied nations.
Mr. Roosevelt said that all those participating in the discussions reaffirmed their determination to destroy the military power of the Axis while proceeding with their discussion of the Allies’ military operations for 1943.
The President said that all possible material would be sent to aid the Russian offensive, thereby cutting down German manpower as well as wearing out German material.
The United Nations, he said, would give all possible aid in the heroic struggle of China now in its sixth year and thereby end for all time the attempts of the Japanese to dominate the Far East.
He said that de Gaulle and Giraud had been in conference for a couple of days and that both were wholeheartedly bent on achieving the liberation of France. He said they were both in accord on that.
He said:
I saw a lot of American troops, the greater part of two divisions. I saw combat teams and had lunch with them in the field – and it was a darned good lunch. Then we drove to Port Lyautey where American and French troops were killed. I placed wreaths on the graves of the soldiers of both nations.
I saw the equipment our boys are using over here. They are the most modern weapons we can produce and our men are adequately equipped. They are healthy and efficient and eager to fight again. I think they will. I saw with my own eyes the actual condition of our men and I would like to have their families back home know of the support they are getting.
Mr. Churchill said the discussions were the most successful war conference he had ever participated in or had ever seen.
He expressed regret that Stalin and Gen. Chiang Kai-shek had not been able to be present but said they had both been kept fully informed on the discussions.
Mr. Churchill concluded that he and Mr. Roosevelt were more than determined that their designed purpose was the unconditional surrender of the criminal forces which have plunged the world into sorrow and ruin.
Those who took part
President Roosevelt then gave the correspondents the name, of those who participated in the discussions.
They were: Gen. Harold Alexander, British Middle Eastern commander; Adm. Sir Andrew Brown Cunningham, Lt. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, Air Mshl. Arthur Tedder, Lt. Gen. Mark W. Clark, Maj. Gen. Carl Spaatz and others.
He said that he and Churchill felt that the occasion was an excellent opportunity for Gens. Charles de Gaulle and Henri Honoré Giraud to meet.
A complete agreement between de Gaulle and Giraud was reached during their conference, it was learned, and only a few small details need to be worked out before full collaboration is effected.
Late Sunday afternoon, de Gaulle and Giraud issued a communiqué saying “at the conclusion of their first conversation in North Africa, Gen. de Gaulle and Gen. Giraud have made the following joint statement:
We have met. We have talked. We have registered our entire agreement on the end to be achieved, which is the liberation of France and the triumph of human liberties by the total defeat of the enemy. This end will be attained by a union in war of all Frenchmen fighting side by side with all their allies.
London, England (UP) –
Prime Minister Winston Churchill had lunch with King George at Buckingham Palace just before he left for Africa and the King shook his hand, wished him good luck and gave him a personal message for President Roosevelt.
He flew to Casablanca in the same converted Liberator bomber of the Ferry Command and with the same pilot and crew that took him to Cairo and Moscow last August.
Washington (UP) –
There was no “acting President” while President Roosevelt was in Africa.
The Constitution provides only that the powers and duties of the Presidency shall devolve on the Vice President in case of removal, death, resignation or the inability of the President to perform his duties and powers. Absence from the country has never been held legally to constitute an “inability,” so there was no necessity for delegation of powers to Vice President Henry A. Wallace.
Casablanca, Morocco (UP) – (Jan. 24, delayed)
President Roosevelt, who has probably broken more precedents than any other U.S. Chief Executive, added these to his record in connection with his North African meeting with Winston Churchill:
By Walter Logan
Casablanca, Morocco – (Jan. 20, delayed)
G-2 (Military Intelligence) called me to headquarters and told me I would be shot if I tried to go near a certain villa.
Later Logan found out why. The villa was the meeting place of President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill.
That was how thorough were the precautions taken to protect the President, Prime Minister and other dignitaries during their conference.
Planes of all types crowded the airports, guards were increased, new anti-aircraft batteries dotted the landscape and at night officers went on guard duty with Tommy guns.
Casablanca was a fountain of rumors. One of the most recurrent was that anti-aircraft gunners at the airports had been instructed not to fire on any planes under any circumstances at certain hours.
The meeting place itself was protected by armed guards patrolling a barbed-wire obstruction and the President was protected by his own bodyguard, armed with Tommy guns and two companies of troops.
Includes diplomatic pressure on neutrals – hint at efforts to reach Finland and Italy
By Joe Alex Morris, United Press Foreign Editor
London, England (UP) –
The ten-day meeting of President Roosevelt and Winston Churchill at Casablanca was believed today to have laid the basis of a master war plan for 1943 designed to bring about the “unconditional surrender” of Axis forces in Europe.
Despite huge obstacles – particularly the constantly intensifying Nazi submarine warfare – it appeared obvious today that Allied plans were blueprinted at Casablanca for the purpose of bringing offensive operations against Adolf Hitler and his allies to a climax within ten months.
It seemed equally obvious that official communiqués and reports have told only a small fraction of the decisions and events at Casablanca which some quarters believed may produce “tremendous events” in the near future.
In the Führer’s face
The Casablanca news broke on the Axis with the suddenness of a bombshell, exploding at the darkest moment of the war thus far for Germany and Italy.
There was confidence in Allied quarters here that Casablanca was only the beginning of an ever-accelerating series of surprises for the Axis.
Behind the generalities of the communiqués, Allied quarters saw these developments:
Full decision on an overall plan of offensive action against the Axis in 1943.
Presumable agreement upon a unified command in Africa with a view to quick liquidation of Axis forces in Tunisia and early attacks, aerially or otherwise, against Italy.
Diplomatic maneuvers
Initial steps toward a solution of the French North African political troubles.
Hints of possible diplomatic maneuvers of a magnitude yet unrevealed. North African dispatches mentioned rumors involving Finland, Sweden, Turkey, Spain and even Italy.
Obliteration of any Axis feelers for a "negotiated’’ peace through the forthright declaration of Mr. Roosevelt and Churchill that the only terms acceptable to them were those of “unconditional surrender.”
Complete strategic decisions designed not only to bring greatest possible pressure to bear upon the Axis in Europe but to enhance cooperation with Russia and China and maintain utmost pressure upon Japan in the Pacific.
Decision to strike
There was no doubt that decisions were made on where and how Hitler is to be hit during the coming months.
It was believed the first result of the meeting would be the early establishment of a new African command.
The names of Gen. Sir Archibald Wavell, Gen. George C. Marshall, Gen. Sir Harold R. L. G. Alexander (the British Middle East commander), and Lt. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower were mentioned most frequently.
Rumor about Finland
There was little but hints and rumors on the possibility that diplomatic negotiations of some nature occurred at Casablanca. However, dispatches from North Africa mentioned labels on the luggage of travelers indicating they had come from Finland and rumors spread that there might have been Swedish, Turkish and even Italian participants.
Some credence was lent to the Finnish rumors by signs that some Finnish diplomatic activity might be underway.
There have been recurrent indications of Allied efforts to take Finland out of the war – long stalemated on the virtually inactive Finnish-Russian front – and within the past week, a German propaganda broadcast alleged that Russia had made another peace offer to Finland which had been turned down.
Casablanca, Morocco (UP) – (Jan. 24, delayed)
President Roosevelt made the trip to his historic conference with Prime Minister Churchill entirely by air. He flew by Clipper to a point in North Africa where he transferred to a four-motored bomber that had been especially outfitted for his comfort.
Washington (UP) –
The President’s flying trip to Africa breached the Secret Service’s longstanding policy of objection to air travel by the nation’s chief executives. Mr. Roosevelt’s last previous plane trip was in 1932, when he flew from Albany to Chicago to accept the Democratic Presidential nomination.
Casablanca, Morocco (UP) – (Jan. 24, delayed)
Although President Roosevelt was on the other side of the Atlantic from Washington for his conference with Mr. Churchill, he was still in a white house.
“Villa No. 2,” as the residence in which he stayed is known, is entirely white. The word Casablanca itself means “white house.”
Casablanca. Morocco (UP) – (Jan. 24, delayed)
Eddie Baudry of Montréal, a reporter for the Canadian Broadcasting Company, was wounded fatally while flying to Casablanca, and when he was buried at Port Lyautey with full military honors, a wreath was placed on his grave at the personal direction of President Roosevelt.
Baudry, married and father of a small son, was the first correspondent killed in North Africa. He was wounded while aboard an Army transport plane carrying war correspondents to Casablanca.
Denver, Colorado (UP) – (Jan. 26)
Blonde Louise Anderson, the only woman at the conferences between President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill, must know by now the location of the North African front.
Miss Anderson, a first officer in the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps, asked when she arrived in Africa:
Where is the front, please, to the east or west?
As stenographer at the historic meeting, she has recorded the discussions. En route to Africa, her ship was torpedoed but remained afloat.
London, England (UP) –
The secret of the conference between President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill was kept so well that some of the highest British military and political men did not learn where it was being held until it almost ended, it was revealed today.
Denounces as vicious the attacks made as parley was going on
Washington (UP) –
Secretary of State Hull today denounced critics of the administration foreign policy who, he said, poured out vicious and venomous comments while President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill were working on Allied war problems.
White House Secretary Stephen T. Early agreed during his morning press conference today that “subsequent chapters undoubtedly will be written” to the story of the Casablanca meeting. But he added that the story is complete “so far as it can be told at the present time.”
Hull’s remarks were made at a press conference in response to requests for comment on the fact that criticism of the State Department’s handling of North African affairs coincided with the Roosevelt-Churchill meeting in Casablanca.
Hull said that the people who believed the government to be in error should wait until they were in possession of the facts before making their attacks. He said he personally was content with the policies of the government.
Hull excoriates critics
Hull pointed out that the Roosevelt-Churchill meetings began on Jan. 14 and continued for some ten days.
The abuse that was poured out on the State Department became mast violent during the latter stages of that period, he said.
Hull said that the President was included in the attacks by implication, even if not actually mentioned by name.
We were told, Hull continued, by some persons up on Mount Olympus that we didn’t have people of sufficient stature in North Africa.
Actually, Hull said, there were two people of some stature there – Mr. Roosevelt and Churchill – and they were laboring day in and day out.
He said he believed that some of the critics did not want accurate Information on the situation.
Questioned about Peyrouton
He told reporters that he did not mean to speak in a carping spirit but that obviously some persons had not sought facts.
Hull was asked if it could be assumed that, since Marcel B. Peyrouton arrived in Algeria on Jan. 16, that his appointment as Governor had been approved by the group meeting in Casablanca. The Secretary replied that he thought the correspondents could form a very intelligent conclusion on that matter from the situation as it has been revealed.
Rapidly developing evidence that the full story of the Casablanca conference is far from completely told is catching the sensitive interest of this wartime capital.
There was quick enthusiasm here for the fact that President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill had met in North Africa. There was more than a touch of disappointment that Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek and Premier Joseph Stalin had not been there, too.
Leaders plan to exchange military and economic missions shortly
London, England (UP) –
British and American leaders will make another attempt to bring together Gen. Charles de Gaulle, Fighting French leader, and Gen. Henri Honoré Giraud, chief of the French North African regime, who failed to agree on major political issues at Casablanca, well-informed sources said today.
A Fighting French spokesman disclosed, however, that military and economic missions would be exchanged soon between de Gaulle and Giraud. It was understood that in their talks during the Roosevelt-Churchill conference, the estranged French leaders had agreed upon economic and military coordination and other minor problems.
It was understood that de Gaulle’s French National Committee would select the personnel for the missions, probably on Friday. The de Gaullists will then leave for Algiers to work out military and economic problems. The committee was reported reliably to be in session today to discuss the missions.
No fusion of forces
The spokesman said de Gaulle and Giraud each would be informed of the other’s military maneuvers, although there would be no fusion of their forces. The economic consultations would include trading between North Africa and those parts of the French Empire held by the Fighting French.
The political problems were the chief snag in de Gaulle-Giraud relations. The Fighting French maintain that continuation of the present political confusion in Africa will lay a foundation for civil war in France after the country is liberated from the Axis.
The de Gaullists also believe that a fascist nucleus and supporters of Pierre Laval’s Vichy regime are in the North African administration and insist that these factions constitute danger to the Allied cause.
Competent quarters close to de Gaulle said that at Casablanca, he refused to recognize anybody in the North African regime except Giraud, whom he considered reliable.
Informants said de Gaulle and Giraud were unable to agree on basic issues such as refutation of the Vichy regime of Marshal Henri Philippe Pétain and Pierre Laval, restoration of the laws of the French Republic which Pétain wrote off the statute books, and creation of a single French authority in exile to represent France.
Statement by de Gaulle
De Gaulle, back in London, issued the following statement:
I was very honored to meet President Roosevelt in Africa.
His friendship for France is a particularly comforting factor in the struggle which the French people are waging against the enemy within and without its own territory.
It was an equal satisfaction to me to be able to renew conversations on this occasion with British Prime Minister Churchill.
De Gaulle conspicuously did not mention Giraud or express satisfaction at having met him.
Cites the absence of Chiang Kai-shek and Joseph Stalin
Wendell Willkie maintained today, in commenting on the conference between President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill, that first reports as to decisions reached at the meeting were disappointing.
It had been hoped, the Republican leader said in a radio address, that Joseph Stalin and Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek would attend the conference and that a board for grand military strategy, in which Russia and China would have an equal voice, would be created.
Willkie said:
Perhaps we will learn later that some of the matters not mentioned in the communiqué were discussed and clarified between Mr. Roosevelt and Mr. Churchill.
He deplored the fact the communiqué made no specific reference to a solution of “the tangled and ugly problems of North African politics,” but added that:
Perhaps the French collaborators were reduced in status and the men who have risked their lives for freedom have at last come into their own in North Africa.
Report fliers batter ports in the north; naval installations blasted – our losses are believed small
Deadly Flying Fortresses, built by Americans, flown by Americans, made their first raid over Nazi Germany today, bombing objectives.
London, England (UP) –
American bombs from American planes crashed on German soil today for the first time in this war, carrying into action the promise of President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill to batter the Axis into unconditional surrender.
The raid was made against German naval installations and was presumably a continuation of the ‘round-the-clock assault of the Royal Air Force and the U.S. Army Air Force against German submarine bases and repair depots.
Flying Fortresses and Liberator bombers – big four-motored planes bristling with .50-callber machine guns – made the attack.
The target was still a secret, although most speculation here centered on one of Germany’s northwestern ports – Hamburg, Kiel, Bremen, Flensburg, Rostock and Lübeck.
Great day for fliers
It was a great day for U.S. bomber crews who have waited impatiently for weeks to drop bomb on German soil. Fortresses and Liberators have been over occupied France several times, but heretofore their deepest penetration into enemy territory was a raid on Dec. 20 against Romilly-sur-Seine, 70 miles east of Paris.
Details are lacking
The authoritative statement merely said:
U.S. Army Air Force Flying Fortresses and Liberators attacked naval installations in Germany today.
Today’s attack is apparently another step in the assault of the Royal Air Force and the United States Army Air Force on German submarine bases. There has been much emphasis on the anti-submarine bombing since the first of the year because of the growing Allied concern about the U-boat campaign against United Nations supply lines.
Losses believed light
If the attack was actually made on Baltic ports, the big bombers flew a roundtrip of close to 1,000 miles from their British bases.
No figures were available immediately on the losses, if any, suffered by the Americans, but it was believed to be low.
Earlier British heavy bombers and Coastal Command planes, extending the Allied aerial offensive to the southwest coast of France, bombed targets in the German-held port of Bordeaux.
Another force of Bomber Command planes attacked the battered German submarine base of Lorient on the French coast and left fires burning in the dock area. Two planes were missing.
Rome, Italy (UP) – (Italian broadcast recorded in New York)
A High Command communiqué said today that an Allied plane had bombed the outskirts of Naples, wounding two civilians, and that other planes “attempted” to bomb Messina, Sicily.
