Bombers hit Jap warship a day; Navy makes carrier capital ship
‘Fantastic’ 7–1 victory air ratio almost embarrasses Navy as task forces smash at Rabaul and Bougainville
…
Background of news –
Why more men are needed
By Col. Frederick Palmer, North American Newspaper Alliance
…
In Washington –
Pennsylvanian is called down on Japs’ ‘rights’
Eberharter’s mention of constitutional privileges of internees attacked in Tule Lake hearing
…
Völkischer Beobachter (December 2, 1943)
Unter dem Druck ihrer militärischen Sorgen –
Der Nervenkrieg soll die Entscheidung bringen
Konferenz der Bluffstrategen in Teheran
vb. Wien, 1. Dezember –
Da die militärische Lage der Raubkoalition an der Ostfront, in Italien und in Ostasien keineswegs den Erwartungen entspricht, die aus den großmäuligen Erklärungen Churchills, Roosevelts und Stalins zur Zeit der Konferenzen von Quebec und Moskau herauszulesen waren, haben sich diese drei Betrüger zu einem neuen Kunstgriff entschlossen: sie nehmen ihre Zuflucht wieder einmal zum Nervenkrieg. Nach Meldungen aus Kairo haben dort Roosevelt und Churchill Besprechungen abgehalten, zu denen auch Tschiangkaischek hinzugezogen wurde. Wie es weiter heißt, werden sie sich nunmehr nach Teheran begeben, um dort oder anderswo mit Stalin zusammenzutreffen.
Die feindliche Agitation bemüht sich schon jetzt, diese Besprechungen als Zeichen der Einigkeit über alle Streitfragen, als Ausgangspunkt neuer militärischer Unternehmungen und nicht zuletzt als Steigerung der Nervenoffensive hinzustellen.
In dieser Hinsicht ist eine Meldung des Stockholmer Svenska Dagbladet bemerkenswert, derzufolge Churchill, Roosevelt und Stalin allen Ernstes einen Aufruf an das deutsche Volk und seine Verbündeten richten wollen, in dem sie naiverweise zum Selbstmord auffordern würden. Dieser Aufruf würde nämlich die „unbedingte Übergabe“ Deutschlands verlangen. Man würde sich also tatsächlich von einer Wiederholung des italienischen Experiments am denkbar untauglichsten Objekt etwas versprechen!
Das deutsche Volk, das sich durch keine Wechselfälle dieses Krieges jemals in seinem Siegesbewußtsein beirren ließ, kann nur darüber lachen, wenn man sich draußen einbildet, sein starkes Herz mit papierenen Kugeln treffen zu können. Wenn der Führer in seiner Münchener Rede versicherte, er werde niemals die Nerven verlieren, so gilt das auch von unserem ganzen Volk, das sich durch den Kriegsverlauf niemals aus der Fassung bringen ließ und erst recht bei den schweren Luftangriffen im letzten Kriegsabschnitt Kaltblütigkeit, Ruhe und nüchternen Verstand behielt und damit auch diese Schrecken zu besiegen wußte.
Daß es dafür um die Nerven auf der Gegenseite um so schlechter steht, dafür ist gerade diese Konferenz ein beredter Beweis. Sie verrät einmal, daß die Moskauer Konferenz keineswegs alle Streitpunkte zwischen diesen drei Partnern ausgeräumt hat und daß sie auf einen Sieg mit den Waffen nicht mehr zu hoffen wagen.
Ihre ganze Hoffnung richtet sich daher auf die Zersetzung des deutschen Kampfwillens, auf eine Generaloffensive gegen die Nerven unseres Volkes, was ein Neuyorker Bericht von Svenska Dagbladet dahin überschreibt, man wolle „psychologische Riesenbomben auf Deutschland werfen.“
Einig und entschlossen im Kampf um unser Leben, unsere Ehre und unsere Zukunft werden wir schon dafür sorgen, daß auch diesmal der feindliche Nervenkrieg nur die ohnehin schon überreizten Nerven ihrer Urheber belastet und zum Zerreißen bringt. Im übrigen werden auch hier Roosevelt und Churchill nur Handlanger Stalins sein, dem sie schon auf der Moskauer Konferenz Europa, das ihnen gar nicht gehört, zu Füßen, legten. Es ist bezeichnend, daß gerade jetzt der Bankrotteur Benesch in Moskau einen Vertrag unterschreiben will, durch den er sich und seinesgleichen dem absoluten Gebot Moskaus unterwirft, daß also Stalin bereits dazu übergeht, Vasallen heranzukommandieren, die als erste bolschewisiert werden sollen.
Stalin weiß wohl ganz genau, daß seine ganzen Bemühungen, die englisch-amerikanische Beihilfe zu seinen Plänen zu erhalten, praktisch überhaupt nichts bedeuten, da ihnen die Ostfront den Weg nach Europa versperrt und die deutsche Wehrmacht auch Briten und Amerikaner energisch in Schach hält. Auch er hat daher das größte Interesse daran, durch einen Nervenkrieg zu versuchen, was auf dem Schlachtfeld nicht gelingt, zumal er aus zwingenden Gründen immer wieder sehr dringlich betont hat, daß die Sowjets unbedingt den Krieg schnell zu Ende bringen müßten. Die Nervenoffensive richtet sich also keineswegs nur gegen Deutschland, sondern sie zielt darüber hinaus darauf ab, Europa dem bolschewistischen Einbruch zu ebnen und damit den Sieg der bolschewistischen Weltrevolution auch über die drei Bundesgenossen zu entscheiden, mit denen sich Stalin jetzt trifft.
U.S. State Department (December 2, 1943)
The Prime Minister’s assistant private secretary to the President’s special assistant
Cairo, December 2, 1943
Most secret
Most immediate
Mr. Hopkins.
The Prime Minister has instructed me to send down to you immediately, for the President’s information, the attached copy of telegram No. 365 from Angora to the Minister of State, Cairo, which was repeated to Tehran and which the Prime Minister saw last night, and of telegram No. 394 from Angora to the Embassy at Cairo which has just been received.
F. D. W. Brown
2.12.43
[Attachment 1]
The British Ambassador in Turkey to the British Minister of State Resident in the Middle East
Ankara, December 1, 1943 Most immediateAddressed Minister of State telegram 365 and repeated to Tehran and Foreign Office. Most secret.
Minister for Foreign Affairs spontaneously mentioned to U.S. Ambassador this morning the possibility of meeting President of the Republic with President Roosevelt and the Prime Minister. He said that there would be serious difficulties about Cairo and that in any case the party would not agree to the President of the Republic flying. Adana would present security difficulties, but speaking purely personally and without commitment, he suggested Aleppo might be possible.
I give this for information only. U.S. Ambassador is repeating it.
[Attachment 2]
The British Ambassador in Turkey to the British Embassy in Egypt
Ankara, December 2, 1943 Most immediateAddressed to Cairo Embassy telegram No. 394 repeated to the Foreign Office, Tehran. Most Secret. Foreign Office telegram No. 1644 to me (repeating Tehran telegram No. 33 to me).
Pending the receipt of instructions by my Soviet and United States Colleagues I have informed the Minister for Foreign Affairs of your proposal that the President should go to Cairo.
Minister for Foreign Affairs has consulted the President and the Prime Minister and informs me as follows.
If the object of the visit is discussions on basis of decision[s] already taken in conversations with Stalin in Tehran the President would not be willing to come.
If however the object is to afford the opportunity of free equal and unprejudged discussion as to the best method by which Turkey can serve the common cause, the President would be willing to come accompanied by Minister for Foreign Affairs.
Minister for Foreign Affairs explained that the President’s position [vis-à-vis the?] national party and the country would be rendered impossible if he accepted the invitation on the basis of paragraph 3.
If the invitation is on basis of paragraph 4, he would be ready to leave on the morning of December 3 reaching Adana early December 4. His party would number 15. There would in addition be my Soviet and United States Colleagues and myself. I should propose to bring Counsellor and Air Attaché. Including the President’s party it would be necessary to count on total of 25 to 30.
I have been in touch with my Soviet and United States Colleagues and will inform them of the above as soon as possible.
KNATCHBULL-HUGESSEN
The President’s Secretary to the President’s special assistant
Washington, 2 December 1943
For Harry Hopkins from Mr. Early
Cairo communiqué enthusiastically received throughout country. Great praise jubilation prevails all quarters. This despite premature release by Reuters in dispatch under Lisbon dateline of virtually complete story of Cairo conferences almost twenty-four hours before official communiqué was released thus most unfortunately discounting communiqué and enabling German Japanese propagandists meanwhile to broadcast to world their versions of conference. Urge reduction of time interval between distribution and publication should other official communiqués be issued. Also suggest strict prohibition against export of contents of future communiqués prior to release date.
The President’s special assistant to the President’s Secretary
Tehran, 2 December 1943
For Mr. Early from Mr. Hopkins
Text of Tehran Communiqué will be released for publication 1300 hours Washington Time, 2000 hours Moscow Time, December 6. Details of release will be sent later. Please send report concerning treatment of Chinese communiqué including any violations release date or unauthorized premature publication facts concerning Cairo or Tehran Conferences and your suggestions.
The President’s Secretary to the President’s special assistant
Washington, 2 December 1943
From Mr. Early to Mr. Hopkins.
Supplementing White 74, also acknowledging your Black fifty. Reuters’ treatment Cairo story provoked bitter resentment by American newspapers. Protests have been sent to Bracken and according to press reports today Reuters premature release was subject of heated debate in House of Commons today. Bracken disclaimed responsibility. However, the Reuters story, circulated generally elsewhere some 33 hours ahead of official release, was not permitted by British censors to be published in England.
I am receiving protests, including one from Roy Roberts. Ever since your departure we have pleaded with British censorship and government for greater security. Reuters action seems most reprehensible to us. Their reports gave away practically the entire Cairo story except actual text of communiqué. The text was about all they did not publish in advance of communiqué. Washington correspondents are disposed to place the responsibility for Reuters’ actions on the British, not on us. They appreciate we did everything possible to protect story.
They are making on their own responsibility formal protest to Halifax here.
Our press, of course, published Reuters’ reports but carefully refrained from publishing anything else although they had received fullest advices from their own correspondents. None of the latter was published until the release hour fixed by Cairo. As Roy Roberts protests:
The release by Reuters destroyed much of the effect of what should have been one of the epochal highspots of the war.
Press here received today from London following, “Ankara reported Stalin Roosevelt arrived Tehran.” To date except for speculative pieces that Roosevelt moved from Cairo to meet Stalin presumably in Tehran, nothing important has been published yet about Tehran conference.
Only suggestions I have to make were included in previous dispatch. However, I urgently repeat that those suggestions be enforced. I repeat that despite Reuters’ actions, the Cairo conference reaction most favorably received by people of this country and the morale effect of the three power pledges is evident everywhere.
Regards to all.
EARLY
The Ambassador in Turkey to the President
Ankara, December 2, 1943 – 2 p.m.
Secret
The President of Turkey, Mr. Inonu, has agreed to go with the Foreign Minister to Cairo:
On condition that as between equals he is being invited to a free discussion and is not merely to be informed of decisions already arrived at in Tehran concerning Turkey.
The British Ambassador to Turkey, Knatchbull-Hugessen, has telegraphed for authority to give Inonu the assurance he desires. It will be possible if the necessary authority is received before the morning of Friday December 3 for us to arrive in Adana by train on the morning of December 4 and to be in Cairo about 1 p.m. on the same day by special planes sent for us. At the moment, as near as I can estimate, the entire party will consist of about thirty people.
All is going along well.
The President to the Ambassador in Turkey
Cairo, December 2, 1943
Secret
Will you tell Inonu at once that I am delighted that he can come to see me? Assure him that he is being invited to a “free discussion as between equals.” Please tell the President that I am especially happy to have the occasion to talk with him. Will you tell him that transport planes will be available Adana on the morning of December 4? For your information British are advising their Ambassador in similar sense. Will you be sure to have an adequate American Interpreter with you?
The President’s special assistant to the Ambassador to the Soviet Union, temporarily at Tehran
Cairo, December 2, 1943
Secret
Triple priority
President has wired Steinhardt today to the effect that he is delighted Inonu can come to Cairo and to assure Inonu that he is being invited to a “free discussion as between equals.” Steinhardt also directed inform Inonu that President especially happy to have the occasion to talk with him and that transport planes will be available Adana morning December fourth.
Will you see Molotov at once to make certain that Russian representatives are here morning December fourth? We understand that Soviet Ambassador Ankara is coming. Please advise.
HOPKINS
Roosevelt-Churchill dinner meeting, 8:30 p.m.
| Present | ||
|---|---|---|
| United States | United Kingdom | |
| President Roosevelt | Prime Minister Churchill | |
| Mr. Hopkins | Captain Randolph Churchill | |
| Admiral Leahy | Section Officer Oliver | |
| Major Boettiger |
Admiral Leahy’s summary:
During the dinner Roosevelt and Churchill compared their reactions to Stalin and reviewed the military and political discussion with our Russian ally that had just ended. The Prime Minister clearly indicated that he was inclined toward the American point of view on matters that up to then had produced much controversy between the U.S. and British staffs, particularly on the timing of the cross-Channel attack on Germany.
U.S. Navy Department (November 2, 1943)
Communiqué No. 487
Central Pacific.
The USS LISCOME BAY (CVE-56) was sunk as the result of being torpedoed by a submarine on November 24, 1943, in the Gilbert Islands area. This is the only ship lost in the Gilbert Islands operation.
The next of kin of casualties aboard the LISCOME BAY will be notified as soon as possible.
Communiqué No. 488
The U.S. submarine WAHOO (SS-238) is overdue and must be presumed to be lost.
The next of kin of personnel in the WAHOO have been so informed.
CINCPAC Press Release No. 181
For Immediate Release
December 2, 1943
Our aircraft continue raid and search operations in the Marshalls.
On the morning of November 30 (West Longitude Date), Seventh AAF Liberators which bombed the Taroa airdrome were intercepted by 35 Zeros. Seven or more Zeros were shot down, at least four others were damaged. All of our planes returned, but several were damaged. Two men were injured.
A Navy Liberator of Fleet Air Wing Two which was attacked by six Zeros near Mille on November 30 while on a search mission shot down one Zero, probably destroyed another and probably damaged two others.
On the evening of November 29, two of our destroyers in the Gilberts area repelled a prolonged attack by enemy torpedo planes. Three enemy planes were destroyed, two others were probably shot down. Neither destroyer was damaged.
The Pittsburgh Press (December 2, 1943)
BIG THREE MAP HITLER’S DOOM; JAPAN TO LOSE HER EMPIRE
Program to crush Tokyo’s power is drafted at parley in Africa
Joseph Stalin, President Roosevelt and Winston Churchill were reported drafting the obituary of Nazi Germany in Tehran today in a conference paralleling that in Cairo where plans were agreed upon for stripping Japan of her empire and forcing her unconditional surrender.
Unofficial reports circulated that the leaders of Russia, the United States and Great Britain were framing an ultimatum to Germany demanding immediate capitulation on pain of progressively severe terms.
Congressional quarters in Washington accepted as completely factual the reports that Mr. Roosevelt and Mr. Churchill had proceeded to Tehran to meet Stalin after their meeting in Cairo with Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek of China.
A subsidiary conference in Cairo on Mediterranean strategy under Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower gave rise to reports of plans for a new invasion of Southern Europe, perhaps in the Balkans.
Stalin attends new session
By Edward W. Beattie, United Press staff writer
London, England –
President Roosevelt, Prime Minister Churchill and Premier Stalin were reported conferring in Tehran today and observers believed they were mapping a post-war program to “quarantine” Germany and saddle her manpower, raw materials and production for rebuilding stricken Europe.
Through such a program, observers were convinced, the “Big Three” Allied Western powers plan to punish Germany and smash her ability to make future wars as completely as Mr. Roosevelt, Mr. Churchill and Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek plotted the crushing of Japan in Cairo.
No confirmation
There was no official confirmation of the whereabouts of Mr. Roosevelt and Mr. Churchill since their departure from Cairo for an “unknown destination” following the Anglo-American-Chinese Conference, but a dispatch in a Lisbon newspaper reported they had already begun conversations with Premier Stalin in Tehran, capital of Iran. The Ankara radio also said that Stalin and Mr. Roosevelt were in Tehran.
Laurence Steinhardt, U.S. Ambassador to Turkey, was also reported by Lisbon to have flown to Tehran. There has been widespread speculation that the Allies may prevail upon Turkey to grant them bases for an Anglo-American invasion to liberate the Balkans in conjunction with a Soviet drive from southern Ukraine.
If later developments confirm Stalin’s presence at a conference with Mr. Roosevelt and Mr. Churchill, it will be the first time in 31 years that the Soviet leader has left the borders of Russia.
Terms for Nazis
“Second-front” considerations were expected to play little part in any Roosevelt-Churchill-Stalin meeting, since it can be assumed that Anglo-American plans for an invasion of Western Europe at the earliest possible moment are already well advanced.
The three heads of state will probably fix the approximate terms for Germany’s unconditional surrender and post-war treatment so that the Allies will not be caught without adequate plans in the event of Germany’s sudden and unexpected collapse from within, as they were when Italy surrendered.
The conferees may frame an ultimatum demanding Germany’s immediate capitulation on pain of increasingly severe terms if the Germans persist in their policy of scorched-earth retreats.
Plans for new war?
The German plan appears to be to denude occupied Europe of all its able-bodied manpower by murder, maiming and sterilization to delay its recovery and give Germany a head start in preparations for a new world war 10-15 years hence.
To speed the rehabilitation of occupied countries and at the same time prevent Germany from preparing for another war, Mr. Roosevelt, Mr. Churchill and Premier Stalin were expected to seek to “quarantine” the Reich by a strict system of controls that will occupy all her manpower, materials and production in repairing the destruction the Germans have wrought.
Chiang meets with leaders
By Henry T. Gorrell, United Press staff writer
Allies to wrest spoils of war from Japan
Chiangs back home after long flight
Chungking, China –
Generalissimo and Mme. Chiang Kai-shek have returned from the Cairo Conference in a 42-hour flight of two long hops, it was announced officially today.The Chiangs flew from Cairo to Karachi in 18 hours and on to Chungking, stopping only an hour in Karachi for refueling.
Cairo, Egypt –
The broad outline of a program to strip Japan of the vast empire she has acquired since 1895 and force her unconditional surrender was believed today to have emerged from an historic conference among President Roosevelt, Prime Minister Churchill and Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek.
Though the full force of the multi-sided Allied offensive will probably not hit Japan until after the defeat of Germany, there was every indication that the signal has been given for the preliminary moves that will lead to the crushing for all time of Japanese military power.
Military moves mapped
The presence at the tri-power conference of Adm. Lord Louis Mountbatten, newly-appointed Supreme Commander for Southeast Asia, and Lt. Gen. Joseph W. Stilwell, American commander in the China-Burma-India Theater, along with the British and U.S. Chiefs of Staff and high Chinese officers, pointed to the mapping of strategy for future military moves.
The conclusion of the five-day meeting, at which the Pacific counterpart of the Atlantic Charter was drafted, was announced early today after the three principals had departed for parts unknown. The locale of the conference was given only as “somewhere in North Africa.”
A communiqué, heralding a future offensive to beat the Japs to their knees, said:
The three great Allies expressed their resolve to bring unrelenting pressure against their brutal enemies by sea, land and air.
Early drive foreseen
Observers believe the conference presaged imminent, closely-coordinated drives designed to divide the Jap fleet and shatter the shaky supply lines which maintain the outposts of the enemy empire.
In Washington, Secretary of War Stimson said at his press conference today that the news from the North African meeting was highly encouraging, and that military measures had been agreed upon which would be disclosed in future operations. He said, however, that present operations against the Japs disclose that the fight in the Pacific Theater will be long and costly, though victory is certain.
The President, Mr. Churchill and the Generalissimo opened their meeting Nov. 22. They were flanked by the top men of the U.S., British and Chinese Armed Forces.
Objectives outlined
For five days, the galaxy of Allied chieftains conferred and then an announcement set forth the objectives of the Allies:
It is their purpose that Japan shall be stripped of all the islands in the Pacific which she has seized or occupied since the beginning of the First World War in 1914, and that all the territories Japan has stolen from the Chinese, such as Manchuria, Formosa, and the Pescadores, shall be restored to the Republic of China.
Japan will also be expelled from all other territories which she has taken by violence and greed. The aforesaid three great powers, mindful of the enslavement of the people of Korea, are determined that in due course Korea shall become free and independent.
To achieve these ends, the A-B-C combination mapped the ways and means of defeating Japan.
Mme. Chiang present
Mr. Roosevelt and Mr. Churchill promised Chiang to throw into the war against Japan all their resources consistent with their determination to defeat Germany as soon as possible.
Though ill, Mme. Chiang flew thousands of miles to attend the conference with her husband.
The list of participants in the intense round of conferences, consultations, luncheons and dinners comprised a military who’s-who of the United States, Britain and China, with such notable exceptions as Gen. Douglas MacArthur and Adm. Chester W. Nimitz, who are already directing offensives against Japan.
Diplomats, too
Diplomatic as well as military talent was abundant. W. Averell Harriman and Sir Archibald Clark Kerr, U.S. and British Ambassadors to Russia, came to Africa for the meeting. So did U.S. Ambassador to Britain John G. Winant and British Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden.
After the three-power meeting, Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower presided over a lengthy conference confined to the Mediterranean Theater, where he is the Allied commander.
Concerning the North African conference, it was announced:
-
Allied military leaders decided on future military operations against Japan.
-
The United States, Britain and China will bring unrelenting pressure on their “brutal enemies” by land, sea and air.
-
The Allies, fighting to restrain and punish Jap aggression, will strip Japan of its conquests, not only those in this war, but those dating back to 1895 when Formosa was taken from China.
-
The Allies will persevere in the “serious and prolonged operations necessary to procure the unconditional surrender of Japan.”
The conference was attended by an amazing gathering of Allied leaders. These included:
MILITARY:
- Gen. George C. Marshall, Chief of Staff
- Adm. Ernest J. King, Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Fleet
- Gen. Henry H. Arnold, Commanding General, U.S. Air Forces
- Adm. William D. Leahy, Chief of Staff to the President as Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy
- Lt. Gen. Brehon Somervell, chief of the U.S. Army Service Forces
- Gen. Eisenhower
- Gen. Stilwell
- Gen. Chennault
- Maj. Gen. Edwin M. Watson, military aide to the President
- RAdm. Wilson Brown, the President’s naval aide
- RAdm. Ross T. McIntire, Surgeon General, USN, and personal physician to the President
- Adm. of the Fleet Sir Andrew Browne Cunningham, British First Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Staff
- Gen. Sir Alan Brooke, Chief of the Imperial General Staff
- Air Chief Marshal Sir Charles Portal, British Chief of Air Staff
- Gen. Sir Hastings Ismay, Chief of Staff to Mr. Churchill as Minister of Defense
- Lt. Gen. Sir Thomas S. R. Webster, quartermaster to the British Army Forces, a recognized authority on supply and quartering of troops
- Lord Louis Mountbatten
- Field Marshal Sir John Dill, head of the British Joint Staff Mission in Washington
- Gen. Shang Chen, commanding officer of Generalissimo Chiang’s headquarters and director of the General Office of the Chinese Military Council
- Lt. Gen. Chow-Ching-tou, Chinese Air Force, director of the National Aeronautical Affairs Commission
- VAdm. Yang Hsuanchen, director of the Second Department of the Military Operations Board of the Chinese National Military Council.
POLITICAL:
- Harry Hopkins
- W. Averell Harriman, U.S. Ambassador to Russia
- Laurence A. Steinhardt, U.S. Ambassador to Turkey
- John J. McCloy, U.S. Assistant Secretary of War
- Lewis W. Douglas, deputy administrator of the U.S. War Shipping Administration
- Mr. Eden
- Sir Archibald Clark Kerr, British Ambassador to Russia
- Lord Leathers, British Transport Minister
- Sir Alexander Cadogan, British Permanent Foreign Under Secretary
- Dr. Wang Chung-hui, Secretary General of the National Supreme Defense Council.
Began Nov. 22
The official revelation that the conference was held was made in a communiqué that said the meetings started Nov. 22. It foretold the doom of the sprawling, blood-soaked Jap Empire in a grim and almost contemptuous manner and contained a hint to Germany of what was coming next for her.
The announcement said:
The three Allies, in harmony with those of the United Nations at war with Japan, will continue to persevere in the serious and prolonged operations necessary to procure the unconditional surrender of Japan.
Thus, the nation that started on its career of conquest in 1895 with the seizure of Formosa and the Pescadores, seized vast Manchuria in 1931, attacked China in 1937 and in 1941 embarked on its seizure of the Philippines, Malaya, Burma, the Dutch East Indies and the Pacific Islands, is to be whittled down to size and left possessor only of its own islands.
It was deemed significant that Lord Mountbatten, aside from the three principals, seemed a dominant figure at the conference. It was believed that not only had the Allied leaders decided on imminent closely-coordinated drives to divide the Jap fleet and cut Japan’s supply lines, but that there might soon be a great thrust against the Malay Peninsula.
Italians ‘hopeful’ over conferences
Berne, Switzerland –
In those circles of northern Italy loyal to the government of Pietro Badoglio, hopeful eyes are turned today toward the reported Middle Eastern conference of Allied leaders.
These circles are hoping that the meetings will serve to alter radically the Italian situation and lead to Balkan operations which would relieve Italy of the horrors of war.
With a touch of wishful thinking, these Italians are convinced that Russia will now “authorize” Balkan operations, providing the Russian Army takes an active part in them. Such troops would pass through the Dardanelles – with the sanction of Turkey.
Drive into Burma believed drafted
London, England (UP) –
President Roosevelt, Prime Minister Churchill, Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek and their military advisers probably completed in North Africa broad plans for an Allied advance into Burma to reopen the best land route to China, well-informed military observers said today.
The presence at the conference of Adm. Lord Louis Mountbatten, Supreme Allied Commander for Southeast Asia, and Lt. Gen. Joseph W. Stilwell, American commander in China, Burma and India, was taken as an indication that the next step in the long-range campaign to smash Japan will be an offensive to reopen the Burma Road.
Only through opening that backdoor to China can sufficient men, armor and supplies be moved into the country to recapture the “Bomb Tokyo” airfields of eastern China and mount an all-out air and possibly an eventual land offensive against the Jap home islands.
Japs say parley linked to ‘defeats’
By the United Press
Enemy propaganda took the line today that the meetings of Allied leaders had a twofold purpose – to start a new offensive in the “nerve war” and to cover up alleged defeats in the Pacific.
The vague guesses broadcast by Berlin and Tokyo radios dwelt largely on the theme that the Allies now found it necessary to make other plans in view of setbacks.
Tokyo argued the meetings resulted from the big naval victories Japan claims to have won in the Pacific.