The Pittsburgh Press (December 3, 1943)
‘BIG THREE’ MAP ULTIMATUM TO NAZIS
‘Surrender or die’ note being drawn
Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin draft warning in Iran talks
By Robert Dowson, United Press staff writer
London, England –
An Istanbul dispatch passed by the British censorship said today that President Roosevelt, Prime Minister Churchill and Premier Stalin, in conference in Iran, were drafting an ultimatum to Germany to surrender unconditionally or suffer total destruction by bombing.
The dispatch, bearing the censorship notation, “passed for publication,” was carried by the British Exchange Telegraph Agency and said that, accor4ding to news from Ankara, the “Big Three” had begun their historic conference at Tabriz, 350 miles northwest of Tehran and only 60 miles south of the Russian Caucasian border.
The German DNB News Agency broadcast a report attributed to Lisbon that the conference opened on Nov. 28 and was ending today. DNB said:
The main point is to appeal to the German people to surrender unconditionally and remove the Nazi leadership.
Montgomery mentioned
A broadcast by the Nazi Vichy radio also said the meeting had begun at Tabriz and asserted that Messrs. Roosevelt and Churchill were accompanied by Gen. Sir Bernard L. Montgomery, commander of the British 8th Army now in Italy.
There has been widespread speculation that the three heads of state would discuss details of an Allied squeeze on the Balkans with British and possibly U.S. troops hopping off from Italy, the Levant or Africa and the Red Army thrusting from the east.
Gen. Montgomery’s troops now hold Bari and Brindisi, the two main ports in southeastern Italy from which Italy began her invasions of Yugoslavia, Albania and Greece.
Eisenhower confers
Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, Supreme Allied Commander in the Mediterranean, presided over a meeting of some of his Mediterranean staff in Egypt immediately following the Roosevelt-Churchill-Chiang conference, but there has been no confirmation that Gen. Montgomery was present.
A United Press dispatch from Ankara said the newspaper Ulus, organ of the Republican People’s Party, was speculating that the Anglo-American-Russian conference would have “even greater echoes” than the Roosevelt-Churchill meetings in Casablanca and Québec.
May ask Turkish bases
Neutral Turkey may be drawn into the war by an Allied request for the use of bases from which to bomb and perhaps invade Greece or Bulgaria.
There were reports that the American and British leaders may ask Stalin for the use of Russian bases for their steady blasting of Nazi targets.
Nazis expect demand
The Germans, anticipating a possible tri-power demand for their surrender, were already warning that they would never give in to the Allies.
Propaganda Minister Paul Joseph Goebbels set the pace by asserting in his publication Das Reich that “one may have to suffer blows, but one must never give in.”
He said:
That nation will be victorious which does not carry the white flag of surrender in its baggage.
The newspaper Zwölf Uhr Blatt, in a similar vein, declared:
One hundred million Germans are welded through life and death in unity and would rather be torn to pieces for the Führer than to make the tiniest concessions to the enemy.
Connally ‘explains’ conference site
Fort Worth, Texas (UP) –
President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill carried the tripartite conference to Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin “because he is actively directing his armies in the field,” Senator Tom Connally (D-TX) said last night.
The Senator said:
They carried the conference to Stalin because he is actively directing his armies and it was necessary to make it as handy as possible to his headquarters.
Draft of declaration written by Churchill
Cairo, Egypt – (Dec. 1, delayed)
Prime Minister Churchill is believed to have prepared the first rough draft of the declaration of the Sino-American-British conference here between midnight and 2:00 a.m. EET. After discussions with President Roosevelt and Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, Mme. Chiang acted as interpreter during the talks.
The following day, Mr. Churchill took his draft of the declaration to President Roosevelt who congratulated the Prime Minister and dictated slight changes and additions in accord with his views.
Then Mme. Chiang, on behalf of China, requested its amplification of the original terms.
The completed declaration was in the hands of the Big Three for final initialing only a few hours before they left for secret destinations.