Sixth meeting of Roosevelt, Churchill set
Prime Minister arrives in Canada for crucial strategy talks
By Robert W. Keyserlingk, United Press staff writer
Québec, Canada –
Strict military secrecy today surrounded plans for the sixth meeting of President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill and it could only be assumed that it would occur “somewhere in America” within the next few days.
Mr. Churchill arrived yesterday from an East Coast port where he reached Canadian soil after a journey from London. The General Staffs of Great Britain, the United States and Canada were engaged in strategy talks here designed for a quick knockout of the Axis.
The Roosevelt-Churchill meeting will be a British-American affair, it was revealed. Mr. Roosevelt said in Washington yesterday afternoon, soon after Prime Minister W. L. Mackenzie King announced that Mr. Churchill was in Canada, that no representative of Soviet Russia would be present. Mr. Roosevelt indicated his disappointment. Nor will there be a Chinese representative.
To discuss strategy
Observers here and in Washington and London agreed that the two leaders would discuss strategy on the worldwide war front and believed their discussions and decisions would be conveyed to the two other big members of the United Nations – Russia and China.
The fall of Benito Mussolini, the expected invasion of Italy after Sicily finally falls into Allied hands, the internal situation in Germany, the prospects of opening an offensive to retake Burma this fall – all these were subjects they were expected to discuss.
The result of their conference was expected to be demonstrated by action on one or more war fronts soon. It was recalled that the invasion of French North Africa followed one of their talks; that the invasion of Sicily was planned at their conference at Casablanca.
Meets War Cabinet
Mr. Churchill met with the Canadian War Cabinet today, and it was immediately assumed that their talks revolved around greater use of Canadian forces in England, perhaps in a direct thrust against the continent.
Accompanying the Prime Minister was the Lord President of the Council, Sir John Anderson.
Meanwhile, parallel talks were proceeding between the Canadian and British Chiefs of Staff and were scheduled to continue all day, according to official announcement.
Have big force
Since Dunkirk, the Canadians have been building up a huge force in England, the bulk of which has not yet seen action. Their commander, Lt. Gen. A. G. L. McNaughton, has referred to his forces as “a dagger pointed at the heart of Berlin,” and the unofficial speculation was that now, at last, plans were being completed to plunge the dagger home.
The War Cabinet meeting took place in the Château Frontenac Hotel which has been taken over by the military and naval staff of the United States, Great Britain and Canada.
Mr. Mackenzie King accompanied Mr. Churchill on the drive down from the ivy-covered citadel atop Cape Diamond to the Château, and also attended the War Council meeting.
As Mr. Churchill’s ear entered the courtyard, he was greeted by a crowd which shouted:
We want Churchill!
Mr. Churchill, in black suit and derby with the usual uptilted cigar, drew applause when he gave the “V-for-Victory” sign while posing for photographers.
Accompanying Mr. Churchill from Britain were chiefs of the General Staff Gen. Sir Alan Brooke, Admiral of the Fleet Sir Dudley Pound and Air Chf Mshl. Sir Charles Portal, and the chief of the Commandos, VAdm. Lord Louis Mountbatten.
Also with him were Mrs. Churchill and their daughter, Mary Churchill, who is a subaltern in the British Auxiliary Territorial Service, and Wg. Cdr. G. P. Gibson, who led the British bombers which wrecked the Möhne and Eder Dams in the Ruhr Valley.
Pacific War Council, Roosevelt convene
Washington (UP) –
President Roosevelt discussed future strategy with the Pacific War Council today in preparation for his new and important conference with Prime Minister Winston Churchill in the near future.
Dutch Ambassador A. Loudon, who acted as spokesman for members of the council, told reporters that future strategy was discussed.
Others who attended the conference were Sir Ronald I. Campbell, British Minister, representing Lord Halifax; Canadian Minister Leighton McCarthy, and Australian Minister Sir Roland Dixon.
The Chinese, who are represented on the council, did not have anybody at today’s meeting.
Names of high U.S. officers who are here were not revealed, although an official statement said the “General Staffs of Great Britain and the United States” met with the Canadian War Cabinet yesterday.
Chiefs of Staff of the three Canadian Armed Forces were here – RAdm. Percy W. Nelles, Lt. Gen. Kenneth Stuart, and Air Mshl. L. S. Breadner, as were most members of the Canadian War Cabinet Committee, Defense Minister J. L. Ralston, Munitions Minister C. D. Howe, Navy Minister Angus MacDonald and Air Minister C. G. Power.
Mr. Churchill’s arrival – announced with customary dramatic suddenness shortly after 4 p.m. yesterday – occasioned no real surprise. For days, the imminence of another Roosevelt-Churchill conference had been discussed not only in Allied capitals but by the Axis radios as well. Cause for the speculation was the series of United Nations victories which brought with them a number of pressing problems.
Problems listed
These included:
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The fall of the Mussolini government and the possibility of Italy seeking peace.
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The successful Russian summer offensive and continued Soviet dissatisfaction with the Allied failure to open a front on the continent of Europe.
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The reported widening breach in Germany between Nazi and military elements and sagging morale on the German home front.
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The necessity for drastically shortening the time between planning and operations.
Soviet plans cited
In addition were Russian post-war plans for Germany, Poland, Yugoslavia and possibly others whose unofficial committees in Moscow either rival national governments in London, or, like the German committee, have no counterpart or other recognition in other Allied capitals.
Mr. Churchill and his party arrived in six special railroad cars from the East Coast port, where they were met by high officials of both the United States and Canada. Mr. Mackenzie King boarded the train some distance from Québec City.
Later, Mr. Mackenzie King escorted the party to the famous Citadel, the summer home of the Canadian Governor General Lord Athlone, where the Churchills will stay.
Dines with Churchills
Mr. and Mrs. Churchill and Mr. Mackenzie King dined privately and during the evening, Messrs. Churchill and Mackenzie King discussed the international situation and plans for the conference.
A week ago, guests of the Chateau Frontenac were told their rooms would have to be vacated by Sunday night. Then large contingents of U.S. Signal Corps personnel, clerical staffs and WACs and WAVES began arriving. Them it became known that Mr. Roosevelt and his close advisers had been fishing in Canadian waters and shortly there were guarded references to “Mr. Bull Finch.”
As the preparations proceeded, rumors ran the gamut from an Anglo-American-Soviet meeting to the arrival of the Pope and even to an arraignment of Mussolini for his war crimes in the Château Frontenac.
