| Present | ||
|---|---|---|
| United States | United Kingdom | |
| President Roosevelt | Prime Minister Churchill | |
| Mr. Hopkins | Mr. Martin | |
| Mr. Harriman | Mr. Rowan |
The meeting was given over to the final revision of the joint messages from Roosevelt and Churchill to Stalin and Chiang.
Sunday, 24 January
General Henri Giraud called at 11:05 and had an audience with the President until 11:40. Major General Charles de Gaulle had arrived while General Giraud was in conference with the President, and following General Giraud’s departure, went in to talk to the President, Mr. Hopkins, Mr. Murphy, and Mr. Macmillan.
While General de Gaulle was with the President, General Giraud returned, and a few minutes later the Prime Minister appeared.
These four, the President, the Prime Minister, General Giraud, and General de Gaulle then repaired to the lawn in the rear of the President’s villa where they posed for moving and still pictures. While the cameras “turned over”, the two generals shook hands.
Then Generals Giraud and de Gaulle bade farewell to the President and the Prime Minister and withdrew.
A few minutes after twelve, the President, with the Prime Minister seated at his left, invited the assembled newspapermen to sit down on the lawn and make themselves comfortable for the discussion which was to follow. It was a beautiful day, brilliant with sunshine, and with these two great men seated before them, the assembled correspondents heard a complete description of the purpose of bringing the British and American Chiefs of Staff together here in North Africa, together with the heads of their respective governments, and a general description of what had been accomplished.
Both the President and the Prime Minister reaffirmed the decision that no effort would be spared until the unconditional surrender of the Axis powers had been accomplished (The notes of this press conference have been recorded separately). When the discussion ended, the Prime Minister and the President asked the newspapermen to come up to shake hands, the President remarking that they should consider themselves an “elite group”, inasmuch as the great number of correspondents habitually attending routine press conferences in Washington precludes any thought of shaking hands.
Following the press conference, the President received General Charles A. Noguès, Resident General at Rabat, who had hurried down to Casablanca to say “au revoir” to the President upon being informed by telephone at 10:30 that the President’s departure was imminent.
At this time, the President also received Vice Admiral Michelier, the Commander-in-Chief of the French North African Fleet, who had called to pay his respects.
Heavy baggage, collected the night before, had been stowed in the planes and flown to Marrakech. The motorcade was waiting when the President departed from his villa at a few minutes past one o’clock in the afternoon, and at 1:25, the party was on its way to Marrakech, 150 miles almost due south of Casablanca, but well inland.
Besides his own immediate group, the President was accompanied by the Prime Minister, his son, Captain Randolph Churchill, Sir Charles Wilson, the Prime Minister’s aide, Commander Thompson, and his two private secretaries, Mr. Rowan and Mr. Martin.
At three o’clock, the cars were halted at the roadside for a basket lunch packed by the British consisting of several kinds of sandwiches, hard boiled eggs, and mincemeat tarts.
At 5:45, the party arrived at Marrakech, a very old Berber and Arab town, going directly to a large villa now occupied by the U.S. Vice Consul at Marrakech, Mr. Kenneth Pendar. This villa was placed at his disposal by the wife of the American millionaire, Moses Taylor. It was most beautiful, set in the midst of an olive grove. Its courtyards were filled with orange trees, flowers, and shrubs. There was a fountain or pool and inlaid marble floors all furnished in splendor befitting a Sultan.
The President and the Prime Minister, together with Admiral McIntire, Captain McCrea, and several others, ascended to the top of a 60-foot tower which crowned the villa, to view the sunset and the towering Atlas Mountains, many miles away, as the bells tolled from Mosque towers summoning the faithful to evening prayer.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The President and the Prime Minister were dinner guests of Mr. Pendar this evening, as were the following:
U.S. State Department (January 25, 1943)
Marrakech, January 25, 1943.
Most secret
1. We have been in conference with our military advisers and have decided the operations which are to be undertaken by American and British forces in the first nine months of 1943. We wish to inform you of our intentions at once. We believe these operations, together with your powerful offensive, may well bring Germany to her knees in 1943. Every effort must be made to accomplish this purpose.
2. We are in no doubt that our correct strategy is to concentrate on the defeat of Germany, with a view to achieving early and decisive victory in the European theatre. At the same time, we must maintain sufficient pressure on Japan to retain the initiative in the Pacific and Far East, sustain China, and prevent the Japanese from extending their aggression to other theatres such as your Maritime Provinces.
3. Our main desire has been to divert strong German land and air forces from the Russian front and to send to Russia the maximum flow of supplies. We shall spare no exertion to send you material assistance by every available route.
4. Our immediate intention is to clear the Axis out of North Africa and set up the naval and air installations to open:
a) An effective passage through the Mediterranean for military traffic; and
b) An intensive bombardment of important Axis targets in Southern Europe.
5. We have made the decision to launch large-scale amphibious operations in the Mediterranean at the earliest possible moment. The preparation for these operations is now under way and will involve a considerable concentration of forces, including landing craft and shipping in Egyptian and North African ports. In addition we shall concentrate hi the United Kingdom a strong American land and air force. These, combined with the British forces in the United Kingdom, will prepare themselves to re-enter the Continent of Europe as soon as practicable. These concentrations will certainly be known to our enemies, but they will not know where or when, or on what scale we propose to strike. They will therefore be compelled to divert both land and air forces to all the shores of France, the Low Countries, Corsica, Sardinia, Sicily, the heel of Italy, Yugoslavia, Greece, Crete and the Dodecanese.
6. In Europe we shall increase the Allied Bomber offensive from the U.K. against Germany at a rapid rate and, by midsummer, it should be more than double its present strength. Our experiences to date have shown that the day bombing attacks result in destruction and damage to large numbers of German Fighter Aircraft. We believe that an increased tempo and weight of daylight and night attacks will lead to greatly increased material and morale damage in Germany and rapidly deplete German fighter strength. As you are aware, we are already containing more than half the German Air Force in Western Europe and the Mediterranean. We have no doubt that our intensified and diversified bombing offensive, together with the other operations which we are undertaking, will compel further withdrawals of German air and other forces from the Russian front.
7. In the Pacific it is our intention to eject the Japanese from Rabaul within the next few months and thereafter to exploit success in the general direction of Japan. We also intend to increase the scale of our operations in Burma in order to reopen our channel of supply to China. We intend to increase our air force in China at once. We shall not, however, allow our operations against Japan to jeopardize our capacity to take advantage of every opportunity that may present itself for the decisive defeat of Germany in 1943.
8. Our ruling purpose is to bring to bear upon Germany and Italy the maximum forces by land, sea and air which can be physically applied.
25. 1. 43
Marrakech, January 25, 1943.
Most secret
We have been meeting in North Africa with our Chiefs of Staff, to plan our offensives and strategy for 1943. The vital importance of aiding China has filled our minds. General Arnold, the Commander of the U.S. Air Force, is already on his way to see you. We have decided that Chennault should be reinforced at once in order that you may strike not only at vital shipping routes but at Japan herself. Arnold carries to you our best judgment as to Burma. He will also advise you about our expanding operations in the South West Pacific and our developing offensive against Germany and Italy which will follow promptly after the destruction of the Axis forces in Tunisia.
We have great confidence in the 1943 offensives of the United Nations and want to assure you that we intend with your co-operation to keep the pressure on Japan at an ever-increasing tempo.
25. 1. 43.
Marrakech, January 25, 1943.
In cordially approving the Report of the Combined Chiefs of Staff drawn up after thorough examination of the problems, the President and the Prime Minister wish to emphasize the following points which should be steadily pressed in all preparations:
The desirability of finding means of running the W.J. [JW?] Russian convoys even through the Husky period.
The urgency of sending the air reinforcements to General Chennault’s force in China and of finding means to make them fully operative.
The importance of achieving the favourable June moon for Husky and the grave detriment to our interests which will be incurred by an apparent suspension of activity during the summer months.
The need to build up more quickly the United States striking force in the United Kingdom so as to be able to profit by favourable August weather for some form of Sledgehammer. For this purpose, not only the scales of initial equipment and monthly maintenance should be searchingly re-examined but the priorities of material and manpower shipments from the United States to Great Britain should be adjusted to the tactical situation likely to be presented at the target date.
F.D.R.
W.S.C.
25.1. 43.
U.S. Navy Department (January 25, 1943)
South Pacific.
On January 22, during the morning, U.S. ground forces on Guadalcanal Island attacked Japanese positions west of the airfield. In spite of strenuous enemy opposition, 6 important elevations were captured and 110 Japanese were killed.
On January 23:
Continued aggressive tactics enabled our forces to capture Kokumbona and seize quantities of stores and equipment.
U.S. troops continued mopping up pockets of enemy resistance. Ninety-one Japanese were killed and 40 prisoners were taken.
U.S. aircraft bombed and damaged a large Japanese destroyer and a cargo ship in the Shortland Island area.
During the night of January 23-24, enemy planes raided U.S. positions on Guadalcanal.
On January 23 and January 24, U.S. air and surface forces bombarded enemy positions on Kolombangara Island in the New Georgia group. The operations were successfully completed and fires from explosions of fuel and ammunition dumps indicated that the enemy-held area was completely burned out.
Brooklyn Eagle (January 25, 1943)
U.S. raiders within 33 miles of Tunisian coast
…
Leading powers said to have cleared way to end African tension, form war council
…
MacArthur says tactics eliminate island-by-island fight
…
Formation of war unit spurs hope for lasting world peace, he says
…
‘Just fighters commuting by plane’ – and first jump’s not always the hardest
…
The Pittsburgh Press (January 25, 1943)
By Ernie Pyle
A forward airdrome in French North Africa – (Jan. 24)
The 10 men who brought their Flying Fortress home from a raid on Tripoli, after they had been given up for lost, will undoubtedly get decorations. Nothing quite like it has happened before in this war. Here is the full story.
The Tripoli Airdrome was heavily defended, by both fighter planes and anti-aircraft guns. Flying into that hailstorm, as one pilot said, was like a mouse attacking a dozen cats.
The Thunderbird – for that was the name of this Fortress – was first hit just as it dropped its bombload. One engine went out. Then a few moments later, the other engine on the same side went. When both engines go out on the same side, it is usually fatal. And therein lies the difference of this feat from other instances of bringing damaged bombers home.
The Thunderbird was forced to drop below the other Fortresses. And the moment a Fortress drops down or lags behind, German fighters are on it like vultures. The boys don’t know how many Germans were in the air, but they think there must have been 30.
Our Lightning fighters, escorting the Fortresses, stuck by the Thunderbird and fought as long as they could, but finally they had to leave or they wouldn’t have had enough fuel to make it home.
The last fighter left the crippled Fortress about 40 miles from Tripoli. Fortunately, the swarm of German fighters started home at the same time, for their gas was low too.
The Thunderbird flew on another 20 miles. Then a single German fighter appeared, and dived at them. Its guns did great damage to the already-crippled plane, but simply couldn’t knock it out of the air.
Finally, the fighter ran out of ammunition, and left. Our boys were alone now with their grave troubles. Two engines were gone, most of the guns were out of commission, and they were still more than 400 miles from home. The radio was out. They were losing altitude, 500 feet a minute, and now they were down to 2,000.
The pilot called up his crew and held a consultation. Did they want to jump? They all said they would ride the plane as long as it was in the air. He decided to keep going.
The ship was completely out of trim, cocked over at a terrible angle. But they gradually got it trimmed so that it stopped losing altitude.
By now, they were down to 900 feet, and a solid wall of mountains ahead barred the way homeward. They flew along parallel to those mountains for a long time, but they were now miraculously gaining some altitude. Finally, they got the thing to 1,500 feet.
The lowest pass is 1,600 feet, but they came across at 1,500. Explain that if you can! Maybe it’s as the pilot said:
We didn’t come over the mountains, we came through them.
The copilot said:
I was blowing on the windshield trying to push her along. Once I almost wanted to reach a foot down and sort of walk us along over the pass.
And the navigator said:
If I had been on the wingtip, I could have touched the ground with my hand when we went through the pass.
The air currents were bad. One wing was cocked way down. It was hard to hold. The pilots had a horrible fear that the low wing would drop clear down and they roll over and go into a spin. But they didn’t.
The navigator came into the cockpit, and he and the pilots navigated the plane home. Never for a second could they feel any real assurance of making it. They were practically rigid, but they talked a blue streak all the time, and cussed, as airmen do.
Everything seemed against them. The gas consumption doubled, squandering their precious supply. To top off their misery, they had a bad headwind. The gas gauge went down and down.
At last, the navigator said they were only 40 miles from home, but those 40 miles passed as though they were driving a horse and buggy. Dusk, coming down on the sandy haze, made the vast flat desert an indefinite thing. One oasis looks exactly like another. But they knew when they were near home. Then they shot their red flare and waited for the green flare from our control tower. A minute later, it came – the most beautiful sight that crew has ever seen.
When the plane touched the ground, they cut the switches and let it roll. For it had no brakes. At the end of the roll, the big Fortress veered off the side of the runway. And then it climaxed its historic homecoming by spinning madly around five times and then running backwards for 50 yards before it stopped. When they checked the gas gauges, they found one tank dry and the other down to 20 gallons.
Deep dusk enveloped the field. Five more minutes and they never would have found it. This weary, crippled Fortress had flown for the incredible time of four and a half hours on one pair of motors. Any pilot will tell you it’s impossible.
That night, I was with the pilot and some of the crew and we drank a toast. One visitor raised his glass and said:
Here’s to your safe return.
But the pilot raised his own glass and said instead:
Here’s to a goddamned good airplane!
And the others of the crew raised their glasses and repeated:
Here’s to a goddamned good airplane!
And here is the climax. During the agonizing homeward crawl, this one crippled plane shot down the fantastic total of six German fighters. These were officially confirmed.