Das Empire am Rande des Abgrundes –
‚Denke nach, junger Mann!‘ sagt Statist
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U.S. State Department (August 13, 1943)
65566/COS.
The Commander-in-Chief, India to the British Chiefs of Staff
New Delhi, 13th August 1943.
Most secret
Most immediate
Following from General Auchinleck for Chiefs of Staff:
Program of planning for operations from India:
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On receipt of decisions of Washington Conference a first appreciation of the possibility of carrying out the tasks allotted to this Command was produced.
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Salient point in this was that while requirements were in the neighborhood of 4,300 tons a day, theoretical maximum we could hope for was a lift into Assam of 3,400 tons a day. It seemed at the time that requirements for the operations could probably be reduced to this figure.
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The two months which have followed have revealed in the first place increased requirements. This is mainly due to the continuance into October, November and December of engineer stores for Airfield Program which has first priority and must be met in full. Airfield Program and connected activities have resulted in an increase of personnel in Assam for which no allowance had been made. Further, we had reckoned on using some of the oil production for our own requirements, but the Americans now ask for the total output which means we must import more petrol and lubricants into Assam than we had anticipated.
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While requirements have increased lift which we can count on getting has been reduced. In the first place the figure of 3,400 included no margin for contingencies which must be reckoned at absolute minimum of 15 per cent. Secondly, the stepping up of the previous lift which was only about 1700-1800 does not take effect until mid-September and in the meantime arrears are accumulating of essential stores which must be lifted. Shortage of locomotives will not be made good until October. Greatest factor, however, in reducing figure has been breaches near Burdwan owing to floods on the Damodar River subsequent breach at Ghatsila and floods at Parhatipur.
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Result of factors in Paras. 3 and 4 above is that we are faced with a total deficiency of lift into Assam of about 128,000 tons by 1st March. If reductions are made to the limit which we consider possible in tonnages allotted for our own purposes and to the Americans this deficiency can be reduced but not by more than 20,000 tons in total which leaves a daily deficiency of about 600 tons for six months.
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Problem is thus in first place whether L of C can be stepped up still further and secondly if no increase possible in L of C how reduction in requirements can be effected.
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Whole question discussed today with Benthall, Member in Chargé War Transport Department and with American Generals Ferris and Bissell.
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Majority of improvements to L of C into Assam are long term projects which cannot help our immediate problem such as doubling railway lines, building increased River Fleet, and increasing capacity of River Ports. Much of this is already in hand but will not be effective before October 1944. Proposals for short term improvement are as follows:
(i) Increasing number of train paths by improving the operation of the railway system through supervision by Military personnel, and by relaxing certain precautions thus taking risks which would not be acceptable in normal times. War Transport Department is immediately starting inquiry into possibility of this. Representative of Wheeler will be associated with inquiry and also Representative of Transportation Directorate.
(ii) Immediate increase in locomotive and rolling stock on Bengal and Assam Railway from other parts of India to be replaced by fresh stock from U.S.A. on arrival. War Transportation Department is inquiring into possibility.
(iii) Quickening of turn round on river by installation of navigational lights and of night running. We are inquiring into this.
(iv) Flying Stores for China from Calcutta into Assam Airfields. This can only be done with help of additional aircraft from U.S.A.
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While we may be able to achieve some improvement by these methods or by a combination of them and are doing all we can to do so, I feel it is probable that an over-all deficiency will remain. The L of C into Assam has never fulfilled expectations and this must be borne in mind. Possibility must, therefore, be faced of having to call off either the advance from Ledo or the advance from Imphal or both.
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If we call off the former, and the Road Construction project, troops required for defensive would probably be not more than one infantry brigade which was all we had there before the Americans took over this area. This would effect a saving of between four and five hundred tons a day. If we call off the latter we should still need two divisions forward for defensive purposes, with one division in reserve. This would mean a saving of only about two hundred tons a day. Thus if we remain on the defensive on both fronts saving effected would be six or seven hundred tons a day against anticipated deficiency of about six hundred tons a day. We should then be able to meet fully demands of air ferry route and later in the season when construction of airfields is reduced, while capacity of L of C is increased by fresh stock from U.S.A. and completion of pipelines, we should have a growing capacity to spare for increased lift to China.
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Question now arises whether the land operation in Arakan, Cudgel and the assault on Akyab should be carried out without operations in North at the same time. We should carry out raids and simulate activity by all means in our power in order to induce Japanese to believe that we were contemplating an offensive in the North. I consider therefore that it is unlikely that they would appreciate that we had abandoned the Imphal advance in time to enable them to alter the dispositions of their land forces substantially before the monsoon. As far as land forces are concerned, therefore, containing effect would be approximately the same as that of the Imphal advance. Unlikely however that a similar containing effect would be exerted in case of Air Forces. On balance I do not think abandonment of the land and air operations in Northern Burma should rule [out] Arakan operations and Akyab.
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I do however consider that Akyab should not be attempted without the land operations in Arakan. Examination of the L of C required for the latter reveals that this also is insufficient for full requirements. Bottleneck is Chittagong. Everything possible is being done to increase capacity here by extension of wharfage use of country craft at improvised jetties etc. but it appears unlikely that it will ever be possible to carry out both the raising to heavy bomber standard of the Eastern Bengal Group of airfields before next monsoon and the Arakan operation.
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The A.O.C.-in-C. points out that if these airfields are not completed to heavy bomber standard in the winter of 1943-44 they will not be ready for operations either this year or in 1944-45. They are needed at once for deeper penetration in Burma. They would be essential for increased air offensive over Burma and particularly were it decided to carry out at a later date an airborne attack on Mandalay or Rangoon and they may also be required for supplying Allied Air Forces in China. I am not in a position to assess the relative probabilities of these operations.
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I am in doubt as to whether priority given at Trident to air operations means that preparations for air operations mentioned above should take absolute precedence over land operations which I have been instructed to carry out this winter. But if Akyab is to take place this winter I consider that Arakan operations must have precedence over raising the standard of these airfields.
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It remains to consider whether, if Akyab is unavoidably delayed, the Arakan operations should be given priority over the raising of the standard of Eastern Bengal airfields. I think that the Arakan operations might be successful by themselves and that we should have a fair chance of capturing Akyab overland. Setting aside any nonmilitary reasons for its capture main military reasons are:
(i.) containing effect on Japanese forces in Burma and particularly Air Forces.
(ii.) possession of a more advanced airfield. These must be weighed against completion of airfields in Eastern Bengal.
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We should maintain continuous air offensive against Burma and in particular Akyab whether amphibious operations were postponed or not. Japanese would remain in uncertainty until weather had deteriorated to such an extent as to make it difficult for them to move large forces. Consider therefore containing effect is likely to be the same in either case.
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Regarding airfields A.O.C.-in-C. would prefer raising Eastern Bengal airfield to heavy bomber standard to acquiring new airfields at Akyab.
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In these circumstances therefore there would be little military advantage in taking Akyab beyond raising morale and killing Japanese. Do not consider this would justify failure to raise standard of airfields. If therefore Akyab were abandoned I should recommend that the Arakan operations also should be abandoned and priority given to airfields.
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Fully appreciate anxiety which exists to start large-scale offensive operations against Burma this coming winter. The course of planning for even the limited operations intended in Northern Burma has brought me to the conclusion that best military course would be to avoid such operations and to concentrate on supply to China by air, at the same time increasing and conserving strength of India and preparing resources for large scale amphibious operations against Malaya next winter. Preparation for these would enable us to bring training of troops to high standard. If they were definitely decided on for 1944-45 it would be desirable to divert resources earmarked for Akyab to taking Andamans in the late spring of 1944. We are urgently examining the possibility of this and will signal results to you.
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Americans are examining effect of changed situation on their plans in more detail and I cannot send final recommendations until results of War Transport Departments inquiry regarding railways is known but it seems desirable to let you know probabilities at once.
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This signal has been discussed with and agreed to by C.-in-C. Eastern Fleet who is in Delhi and A.O.C.-in-C.
President Roosevelt’s address to the people of the Philippines
August 12, 1943
Broadcast audio:
To the people of the Philippines:
On December 28, 1941, three weeks after the armies of the Japanese launched their attack on Philippine soil, I sent a proclamation to you, the gallant people of the Philippines. I said then:
I give to the people of the Philippines my solemn pledge that their freedom will be redeemed and their independence established and protected. The entire resources, in men and in material, of the United States stand behind that pledge.
We shall keep this promise, just as we have kept every promise which America has made to the Filipino people.
The story of the fighting on Bataan and Corregidor – and, indeed, everywhere in the Philippines – will be remembered so long as men continue to respect bravery, and devotion, and determination. When the Filipino people resisted the Japanese invaders with their very lives, they gave final proof that here was a Nation fit to be respected as the equal to any on earth, not in size or wealth, but in the stout heart and national dignity which are the true measures of a people.
That is why the United States, in practice, regards your lawful Government as having the same status as the governments of other independent nations. That is why I have looked upon President Quezon and Vice President Osmeña, not only as old friends, but also as trusted collaborators in our united task of destroying our common enemies in the East as well as in the West.
The Philippine Government is a signatory of the Declaration by the United Nations, along with 31 other nations. President Quezon and Vice President Osmeña attend the meetings of the Pacific War Council, where the war in the Pacific is charted and planned. Your government has participated fully and equally in the United Nations Conference on Food and Agriculture, and a Philippine representative is a member of the Interim Commission created by that conference. And, of course, the Philippine government will have its rightful place in the conferences which will follow the defeat of Japan.
These are the attributes of complete and respected nationhood for the Philippines, not a promise but a fact.
As President Quezon himself has told you:
The only thing lacking is the formal establishment of the Philippine Republic.
These words of your President were uttered to you with my prior knowledge and approval. I now repeat them to you myself. I give the Filipino people my word that the Republic of the Philippines will be established the moment the power of our Japanese enemies is destroyed. The Congress of the United States has acted to set up the independence of the Philippines. The time will come quickly when that goes into full effect. You will soon be redeemed from the Japanese yoke and you will be assisted in the full repair of the ravages caused by the war.
We shall fight with ever-increasing strength and vigor until that end is achieved. Already Japan is tasting defeat in the islands of the Southwest Pacific. But that is only the beginning.
I call upon you, the heroic people of the Philippines to stand firm in your faith- to stand firm against the false promises of the Japanese, just as your fighting men and our fighting men stood firm together against their barbaric attacks.
The great day of your liberation will come, as surely as there is a God in Heaven.
The United States and the Philippines have learned the principles of honest cooperation, of mutual respect, in peace and in war.
For those principles we have fought – and by those principles we shall live.
The Pittsburgh Press (August 13, 1943)
Yanks bomb Rome; RAF raids Berlin
Allied fliers hit Holland, France, Belgium
By Walter Cronkite, United Press staff writer
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Americans surge through broken Sicilian defenses
Two more towns seized on north coast of Sicily; Germans evacuating troops to mainland
By Reynolds Packard, United Press staff writer
Smashing toward Messina, U.S. troops have captured Naso and Brolo, on the north coast of Sicily 38 miles west of the Axis escape port. The British 8th Army was approaching Giarre, 37 miles south of Messina, while Allied forces in the center of the line were within four miles of Randazzo, key road junction. The north coast drive was speeded by the U.S. landing behind the German lines yesterday (arrow).
Allied HQ, North Africa –
U.S. troops plunged ahead eight miles on the north coast of Sicily, capturing Capo d’Orlando and two towns beyond it, in general Allied advances against fierce rearguard action covering a “quickening” German evacuation of the island, it was announced today.
As the campaign went into its final phase with tacit Axis acknowledgement that the Battle for Sicily was lost, the Allied bag of prisoners rose to 130,000, including another Italian general, this one named Fiumara, believed to be the commander of the Naples Division.
Capitalizing on the second landing behind the German lines, the U.S. 7th Army drove eastward behind a shattering sea and air bombardment. The united landing force and the main army swarmed through Capo d’Orlando, anchor of the Axis defenses, and forward to occupy the towns of Naso and Brolo.
8th Army advances
On the east coast, the British 8th Army moved up four miles to occupy the village of Torre Archirafi and threaten the neighboring towns of Giarre and Riposto.
While the wings of the Allied push reached within 35 miles of Messina, U.S. and British forces thrusting through the center at the key junction of Randazzo gained about four miles in the rugged mountain pass west of the town, which was already under light artillery fire.
Dispatches from the Sicilian front said the evacuation of Sicily by the main body of German troops was in full swing. Confirming the reports, authorities here said the rearguard fighting by the Axis forces was still bitter on both coasts and in the Randazzo sector.
A headquarters communiqué said the German resistance along the east coast “continued to stiffen,” apparently in a desperate bid to evacuate as many troops as possible across the narrow Strait of Messina to Italy before the Allies foreclose their narrowing northeastern Sicily bridgehead.
The reports made clear that the amphibious operation which landed U.S. troops around the Naso River behind the German lines Wednesday had been a complete success and had been backed up by the U.S. 7th Army in the Capo d’Orlando sector.
Blast bridges
Occupying Naso, three miles inland, the troops hammered eastward to take Brolo. Ahead of them, the warships, which had asserted in the landing, bombarded roads, railways and highway bridges from Piraino to Marina di Patti, probably destroying one highway tunnel.
British naval units, ranging to the edge of the Strait of Messina despite shore guns, aided the British push up the east coast road which had reached Torre Archirafi, three miles south of Riposto.
While light naval units were into the straits and operated off Capo dell’Armi, on the toe of the Italian boot, without meeting enemy ships, larger ships bombarded Taormina and Cape Ali, 22 miles northward, and the Riposto area Tuesday. Shore guns blazed away at the light craft.
The bitterest land fighting continued in the sector slightly south and west and Randazzo. The British forces, cooperating with the Americans, pushed through the mountainous terrain toward Maletto, four miles southwest of the road junction, and U.S. mobile troops on the Cesarò road above them made additional progress.
U.S. PT boats were working through waters off northeastern Sicily, aiding the aerial forces in stabbing at the shipping lanes across the straits through which the Axis is trying to take out its troops.
Roosevelt-Churchill talks may turn to Pacific plans
Disclosure Russia was not invited sets off new speculation on Anglo-U.S. conference
Washington (UP) –
Speculation that the Roosevelt-Churchill conference in Québec will concern the next Allied step after the fall of Sicily was being discounted here today on the theory that it, and possibly the next series of blows in Europe, have already been planned.
However, the official Soviet TASS News Agency’s statement last night that the Soviet Union was not invited to the Québec meeting “because of the nature of the conference” sent the guessers off on another whole series of speculations about what President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill will discuss.
Factors cited
The most logical guess, in view of the Soviet statement, was that the Canadian conference would deal with the Pacific situation. These factors are cited to support that theory:
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The Soviet Union is not at war with Japan and thus, as TASS said, could not expect to participate in such a conference.
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Canada, the locale of the latest Churchill-Roosevelt meeting, is as vitally interested as the United States and Great Britain in the outcome of the Pacific War. It has a long Pacific coastline.
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Earlier this week, President Roosevelt met with the Pacific War Council. The time of the Roosevelt-Churchill meeting has not been announced, but he presumably discussed the forthcoming conference in general terms with the council members, especially if it is to deal with the Japanese war.
Would welcome aid
Logical as that speculation seemed to be, one major flaw in it was President Roosevelt’s press and radio conference remarks of last Tuesday, he admitted then that no Soviet representative would attend the conference, but that that did not mean he wouldn’t be awfully glad to have them present.
Those who argue that the conference will deal with the Pacific War, contend that the President’s remake is not inconsistent with their speculation. They say that it has been no secret that Great Britain and the United States would welcome the assistance of Soviet Siberian air bases to the Jap homeland. Thus, they say, Mr. Roosevelt would be awfully glad if the Russians attended the conference, especially if it is to plan offensives against Japan.
The discounting of reports that the conference in Québec was for the purpose of planning something new and big in the way of an Allied offensive in Europe this year – maybe a knockout punch – was based on the fact that such offensives are not planned or prepared on such short notice.
There is always the possibility that an internal collapse in Germany might hurry things along, but in general there was little basis for belief that the conference would be planning operations for the immediate future, although plans previously formulated would be reviewed.
Canada may request French recognition
Québec, Canada (UP) –
Canadian observers predicted today that Canada might take advantage of the coming Roosevelt-Churchill meeting to urge the U.S. President and British Prime Minister to give early recognition to the French Committee of National Liberation.
All preparations for the conference of President Roosevelt and Mr. Churchill were completed and all that remained was the arrival of the participants. Mr. Churchill, accompanied by his daughter Mary, visited Niagara Falls yesterday. They left Niagara Falls, New York, shortly after noon yesterday for an undisclosed destination.
While Washington has been reluctant to rush recognition, Canada, with her large French-speaking population centering around this conference city, is believed eager to have it done. Some reports say that her wishes in the matter have already been put before the other two powers.
Britain has been withholding recognition presumably so it will have a united front in the political field with the United States, thus avoiding the confusion that resulted when London was backing Gen. Charles de Gaulle’s Fighting French movement and Washington was dealing with Vichy.
Truman predicts era of comfort if task is met
Unprecedented prosperity and happiness to hinge on Americans’ ability to carry through technological developments
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Still on sideline –
Willkie calls for strong GOP post-war plans
Party can win only if liberal program is advanced
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Roosevelt pledges rescue of Filipinos and free republic
Equality with other United Nations stressed as reality – Quezon’s words reaffirmed
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Three airlines want U.S. rule after the war
Unity needed to combat crowded global lanes, they contend
By Jay G. Hayden, North American Newspaper Alliance
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Kirkpatrick: Maine Senator stumbles in tale of African wheat
Purchase of grain at higher price helps to save important shipping space
By Helen Kirkpatrick
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State of anarchy imminent throughout Italy
Allied raids to aid disintegration of regime
By Victor Gordon Lennox
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Kuril raiders battle swarm of Jap planes
Liberators drop 38,000 pounds of explosives on Jap bases
By Russell Annabel, United Press staff writer
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