America at war! (1941–) – Part 4

8518 
500.CC/2-1145: Telegram

The Secretary of State to the Acting Secretary of State

Yalta, 11 February 1945
Top secret
ARGONAUT 147

Top Secret. For Acting Secretary of State from Secretary Stettinius. To be delivered immediately.

  1. The conference has agreed upon our proposal on voting procedure and we are to consult China and France on behalf of the other two powers. The date of the United Nations Conference has been fixed for April 25, 1945, and the location at San Francisco. The substance of the foregoing will be announced in the communiqué to be issued Monday night for Tuesday morning’s papers although the communiqué will not itself state that the voting procedure agreed upon was proposed by the United States. It is however understood that we are at liberty, simultaneously with the release of the communiqué, to state that our proposal on voting procedure was the one that was adopted. Mr. Early is separately taking care of this latter statement but if there is any slip up in his communications you will wish to make that fact public at the time the communiqué is issued.

  2. It is of the utmost urgency that our consultations with China and France be as brief as possible because of the intense interest which will be aroused throughout the world as to the substance of the voting provisions which are not to be made public until the consultation is completed. Mr. Eden said at this afternoon’s final meeting that he hoped the consultation could be completed within forty-eight hours. This will give you an indication of the urgency with which this matter must be treated.

  3. The text of the invitation as agreed upon reads as follows:

The government of the United States of America, on behalf of itself and of the governments of the United Kingdom, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, and the Republic of China and of the Provisional Government of the French Republic, invites the Government of blank to send representatives to a conference of the United Nations to be held on April 25, 1945, or soon thereafter, at San Francisco in the United States of America to prepare a charter for a general international organization for the maintenance of international peace and security.

The above-named governments suggest that the conference consider as affording a basis for such a charter the proposals for the establishment of a general international organization, which were made public last October as a result of the Dumbarton Oaks Conference, and which have now been supplemented by the following provisions for Section C of Chapter VI:

C. Voting: 1. Each member of the Security Council should have one vote. 2. Decisions of the Security Council on procedural matters should be made by an affirmative vote of seven members. 3. Decisions of the Security Council on all other matters should be made by an affirmative vote of seven members including the concurring votes of the permanent members; provided that, in decisions under Chapter VIII, Section A and under the second sentence of Paragraph 1 of Chapter VIII, Section C, party to a dispute should abstain from voting.

Further information as to arrangements will be transmitted subsequently. In the event that the government of blank desires in advance of the conference to present views or comments concerning the proposals, the government of the United States of America will be pleased to transmit such views and comments to the other participating governments.

  1. It was also agreed that the nations to be invited to the United Nations Conference should be the United Nations as they existed on February 8, 1945, and such of the associated nations and Turkey as have declared war on the common enemy by March 1, 1945. This explains my recent urgent wire to you about the Latin American associated nations.

  2. It was also agreed that the five governments with permanent seats in the Security Council should consult each other prior to the United Nations Conference on providing machinery in the World Charter for dealing with territorial trusteeships which could apply only to (a) existing mandates of the League of Nations; (b) territory to be detached from the enemy as a result of this war; and (c) any other territory that may voluntarily be placed under trusteeship.

It was further agreed that no discussions of specific territories will take place during the preliminary consultations on trusteeships or at the United Nations Conference itself. Only machinery and principles of trusteeship will be formulated at the Conference for inclusion in the Charter and it will be a matter for subsequent agreement as to which territories within the categories specified above will actually be placed under trusteeship. I think that this subject should also be covered in your consultations with China and France.

The Secretary urged that immediate action be taken to have our Embassies inform the six Latin American “Associated Nations” of the possibility that they may be excluded from initial participation in the forthcoming United Nations Conference, unless they declare war on Germany or Japan, or both.

  1. We are relying on you to conduct the consultation with France and China in such manner as seems to you most effective and most expeditious and thereafter to publish the text of the voting provisions in concert with the other four powers.

  2. I am leaving tonight for Moscow for a visit of only one or two days and can be reached through the Embassy. Please cable me summary of press and other public reaction to the communiqué as soon as it is available.

  3. ALLSTATE HORSESHOE.

8519

U.S. Delegation Draft Memorandum Regarding Invitation to Saudi Arabia to Attend the United Nations Conference

Yalta, Feb. 11
(Copy)

R’s refused to agree

Mr. Early: Please inform the President on behalf of Mr. Stettinius that at today’s final meeting of the Foreign Ministers held shortly after the President left, Mr. Eden proposed and Mr. Molotov and Mr. Stettinius agreed that Saudi Arabia be added to the eight associated nations and Turkey as entitled to be invited to the United Nations Conference on April 25 at San Francisco if they declare war by March 1.

We consider this as a desirable move and suggest that the President should inform Ibn Saud of this when the two meet in the next few days.

In any event Colonel Eddy, our Minister who will accompany Ibn Saud to the Quincy, should be informed of this and should inform Ibn.

Will you please give the above information also to Admiral Leahy & to Admiral Brown

8520

The President’s Secretary to the President’s Administrative Assistant

Yalta, 11 February 1945
Top secret

From Secretary Early to Jonathan Daniels, White House. Communiqué text will be dispatched tonight. Sent you two declarations today, one on Poland and the second on liberated Europe. Disregard previous instructions and insert these texts where indicated in communiqué. Kill title “Declaration on Poland” and insert without title in text of communiqué according to instructions to come. About one hundred words from beginning make read “are authorized as a commission to consult” instead “are authorized to consult.” About fifty-four words from end make read “they recognized that Poland” instead “it is recognized.”

The following statement should be prepared for release simultaneous with communiqué but should be given out as a separate story, not even as an annex: A comprehensive agreement was reached at the Crimea Conference providing detailed arrangements for the protection, maintenance and repatriation of prisoners of war and civilians of the British Commonwealth, Soviet Union and United States liberated by the Allied forces now invading Germany.

Under these arrangements each ally will provide food, clothing, medical attention and other needs for the nationals of the others until transport is available for their repatriation. In caring for British subjects and American citizens the Soviet Government will be assisted by British and American officers. Soviet officers will assist British and American authorities in their task of caring for Soviet citizens liberated by the British and American forces during such time as they are on the continent of Europe or in the United Kingdom, awaiting transport to take them home.

We are pledged to give every assistance consistent with operational requirements to help to ensure that all these prisoners of war and civilians are speedily repatriated.

8521

U.S. Delegation List of Tripartite Decisions at Yalta

February 11, 1945, 4:20 p.m.

List of Decisions Arrived at by the Three Heads of Government at the Crimean Conference

  1. To include the word “dismemberment” in the German terms of surrender.

  2. To appoint a committee composed of Mr. Eden, Ambassador Winant and Ambassador Gousev to study the question of dismemberment.

  3. To adopt proposal of the United States with respect to the voting procedure in the Security Council of the proposed world organization.

  4. To hold a United Nations Conference on April 25, 1945, in the United States, to prepare the charter of the proposed world organization.

  5. To authorize the United States, on behalf of the three powers, to consult the Government of China and the Provisional Government of France, with respect to decisions 3 and 4.

  6. That the five Governments which will have permanent seats on the Security Council should consult each other prior to the United Nations Conference on providing machinery in the world charter for dealing with territorial trusteeships which would apply only to (a) existing mandates of the League of Nations; (b) territory to be detached from the enemy as a result of this war; (c) any other territory that may voluntarily be placed under trusteeship.

    It was agreed it would be a matter of subsequent agreement as to which territories within the preceding categories would actually be placed under trusteeship and that no discussions of specific territories are contemplated now or at the United Nations Conference.

  7. The United States and the United Kingdom to support at the United Nations Conference, the Soviet request that the Ukraine and White Russia be admitted as initial members of the world organization.

  8. To issue the statement on Poland agreed to at the Conference.

  9. That there should be immediately established in Moscow a Commission on German reparations composed of Mr. Molotov, Sir Archibald Clark Kerr and Mr. Harriman, which would be guided by the following agreed principles: (a) Germany must pay in kind for losses caused by it to the Allied Governments; (b) the amount of the reparations to be paid by Germany should be considered by the Moscow Reparations Commission and reported by it to the three Governments; (c) the three Governments will submit to the Commission their proposals and data relating to the question of German reparations.

  10. To issue the Declaration on Liberated Europe agreed to at the Conference.

  11. To accord to the Provisional Government of France a German zone of occupation, and representation on the German Control Commission.

  12. To send a joint telegram to Marshal Tito and Dr. Subasic, the text of which was agreed to at the Conference.

  13. To hold periodic meetings of the three Foreign Ministers, the first meeting to be held in London in June, 1945.

  14. That, at their first meeting, the three Foreign Ministers will consider revision of the Montreux Convention.

8522

The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in France

Top secret
ARGONAUT 149

Secret and personal for the Ambassador from Secretary of State Stettinius.

You should concert with your British and Soviet colleagues and arrange to deliver to General de Gaulle the following two telegrams from the three heads of Government as soon as possible after 8:30 p.m. Paris time, Monday, February 12.

  1. Quote: You will observe that the communiqué which we are issuing the end of this Conference contains a Declaration on Liberated Europe. You will also see that, in the last paragraph of the Declaration, we express the hope that your Government may be associated with us in the action and procedure suggested. Had circumstances permitted we should have greatly welcomed discussion with you of the terms of this Declaration. The terms are, however, less important than the joint obligation to take action in certain eventualities; and we feel that it is of the highest importance, in the interests of Europe, that the Provisional Government of the French Republic should agree, jointly with her three allies, to accept such an obligation. Signed Winston S. Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt and I. V. Stalin. Unquote and end of first telegram.

  2. Quote: We have been considering the question of the control of Germany after her defeat and have come to the conclusion that it will be highly desirable for the Provisional Government of the French Republic, if they will, to accept responsibility for a zone of occupation and to be represented on the Central Machinery of Control. We should be glad to learn that the French Government are prepared to accept those responsibilities. Signed Winston S. Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt and I. V. Stalin. Unquote and end of second telegram.

ARGONAUT, February 11, 1945
8523

Prime Minister Churchill to President Roosevelt

Yalta, February 11, 1945

My Dear Franklin, I have given consideration to your letter of February 10 about the political difficulties which might arise in the United States in connection with the ratification by the Senate of the Dumbarton Oaks Agreement because of the fact that the United States alone among the three Great Powers will have only one vote in the Assembly.

Our position is that we maintained the long-established representation of the British Empire and Commonwealth; that the Soviet Government are represented by its chief member, and the two republics of the Ukraine and White Russia; and that the United States should propose the form in which their undisputed equality with every other Member State should be expressed.

I need hardly assure you that I should do everything possible to assist you in this matter.

Yours very sincerely,
WINSTON CHURCHILL

8524 
760H.6315/2-1145

The British Foreign Secretary to the Soviet Foreign Commissar

Alupka, 11 February, 1945

Owing to lack of time there are a few questions on which we were not able to conclude our discussions during the Crimea Conference. These were
(a) the Austro-Yugoslav frontier,
(b) the Italo-Yugoslav frontier (Venezia Giulia)

You kindly undertook to study the suggestions on these questions contained in the papers which I circulated at the Foreign Secretaries meeting on February 10. With regard to (a) you will remember that the United States Delegation experienced certain doubts regarding the phraseology of our proposal. I therefore attach a redraft of my note which I would ask you to substitute for the one in your possession.

(c) At our meeting on February 10 I mentioned our attitude towards a pact between Yugoslavia and Bulgaria, and suggested that an indication of our views might be conveyed to the Bulgarian and Yugoslav Governments. You said that you would consider my suggestion.

I also circulated at our meeting on February 10 papers on the subject of
(d) Greek claims upon Bulgaria, more particularly in regard to reparations;
(e) the Allied (Soviet) Control Commission in Bulgaria;
(f) Oil equipment in Roumania.

I should be grateful if you would consider the points raised in the foregoing three papers.

May I also ask you to give favourable consideration to the proposals regarding
(g) Relief Supplies for Europe, contained in a paper which I enclosed in a separate letter today, and

(h) the despatch of personnel to the Soviet component of the Control Commission for Germany in London, in regard to which I attach a memorandum.

Monsieur V. M. MOLOTOV

8525

The Pittsburgh Press (February 11, 1945)

Yanks take Roer River dams

Canadians to north reach Rhine, close on West Wall anchor

…

8526

Cavalry flanks Japs in Manila

Drives five miles around edge of city

GEN. MACARTHUR’S LUZON HQ, Philippines (UP) – The U.S. 1st Cavalry Division, tightening the trap around Japs holding out in southern Manila, has crossed the Pasig River in a wide outflanking maneuver southeast of the capital and is within three miles of Manila Bay.

Troops of the 37th Infantry Division, widening their bridgehead across the Pasig in the center of the city, pushed ahead in house-to-house fighting on a front almost two miles long and within a mile and a half of the southern edge of Manila.

Battle in second week

As the Battle of Manila entered its second week, Gen. Douglas MacArthur’s daily war bulletin announced that the Japs had converted houses and public buildings into pillboxes and fortified strongpoints and were using artillery against the advancing Americans.

The bulletin disclosed that Maj. Gen. Verne D. Mudge’s 1st Cavalry Division, which made the first penetration of Manila last Saturday, had advanced five miles in its outflanking drive around the eastern side of the 14-square-mile city.

The cavalry struck eastward through New Manila, a northeastern suburb of the capital, and then plunged four miles southward to force the Pasig near the town of San Padro Makato, a mile southeast of the city’s lower boundary and five miles southeast of the river’s mouth at Manila Bay.

Striking to west

Gen. Mudge’s men were in position to strike westward to Manila Bay just below Manila and hopelessly trap the enemy still holding parts of the city south of the Pasig. The drive carried to within three miles of 11th Airborne Division troops fighting up from the south.

Inside Manila, Maj. Gen. Robert S. Beightler’s 37th Infantry Division systematically swept the city south of the river and at one point were about two miles northwest of the 1st Cavalry Division’s new bridgehead.

Dispatches said the Japs in Manila were fighting fiercely, holding out to the death in each strongpoint.

Great areas destroyed

It was said the Japs could not hold out much longer, but the destruction they are wreaking on the city is increasing steadily. By the time the last Japs are slain, great areas of Manila will be almost ashes.

Sixty miles north of Manila, around the upper Pampanga River, forward elements of Maj. Gen. Edwin Patrick’s 6th Infantry Division advanced four miles southeast into the town of Laur, 22 miles from the east coast of Luzon. That drive was threatening to split the entire island in two.

Along the Villa Verde trial, at the northern end of the American lines, elements of the 32nd Infantry Division continued advancing toward the Cagayan Valley which sweeps up to the northern Luzon coast.

Pounding Corregidor

Liberator bombers meanwhile continued pounding Corregidor Fortress at the mouth of Manila Bay and the Mariveles section of southern Bataan. They dropped more than 101 tons of bombs which set fires in both areas.

The Tokyo radio reported the Americans were concentrating vessels off the south of Manila Bay, possibly in preparation for an invasion of Corregidor.

8527

Tokyo shaken by Superfortresses, quake

B-29s give capital heaviest pounding

…

8528

Four go AWOL in England, ‘discharge’ solves in U.S.

Yanks will be shipped back overseas for court martial or other action

…

8529

After Mrs. Boettiger phoned –
Another colonel gave ‘A’ to Roosevelt’s dog blaze

Elliott’s promotion before Senate Monday

…

8530

Meat supplies to be scarcer

More ‘utility’ beef going to Army

…

8531

Carrier aircraft bag 2,472 planes

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8532

‘Still in 4-F,’ Sinatra quoted by close friend

NEW YORK (UP) – Actress Marilyn Maxwell disclosed today that crooner Frank Sinatra had confided to her that he was “definitely in 4-F.”

Miss Maxwell, a close friend of the 118-pound singer, said he told her that he “knew” because of a punctured eardrum.

A spokesman at his Jersey City draft board said, however, the board has not been notified of Sinatra’s classification. The crooner was taken to Governor’s Island for observation after Army doctors in Newark had examined him.

8533

Ernie Pyle V Norman

The Roving Reporter –
Ernie off to the wars once more – this time with Navy in the Pacific

By Ernie Pyle

Ernie Pyle is returning to the wars. This time he is with the Navy, and his field will be the Pacific. He has already left San Francisco.

After covering the American campaigns in Africa, Sicily, Italy and France, Ernie took a prolonged rest. Most of his war experiences have been with the infantry; and for a change he has been accredited to the Navy, which is now engaged in some of the war’s biggest operations in the Pacific. Ernie plans to continue with the Navy for several months and then go ashore to rejoin the beloved infantry in one of the big campaigns that lie ahead in the Pacific.

This column was written by Ernie before leaving San Francisco. Three other columns written before his departure will be printed for the next three days, and then by Thursday, February 15, we hope to start receiving some of Ernie’s columns dealing with his new assignment.

SAN FRANCISCO, California – Well, here we go again.

It has been four months since I wrote my last column, from France. In four months of non-production a writer gets out of the habit. He forgets the rhythm of words; falls into the easy habit of not making himself think or feel in self-expression.

This first column is a mankiller. Your mind automatically resents the task of focusing itself again. Your thoughts are scattered and you can’t get them together to put onto paper. Words came hard. You curse the day you ever took up writing to make a living.

So, until I’m once more immersed in the routine of daily writing, and transported once more into the one-track world of war, I’m afraid you’ll have to be tolerant with me.

There’s nothing nice about the prospect of going back to war again. Anybody who has been in war and wants to go back is a plain fool in my book.

I’m certainly not going because I’ve got itchy feet again, or because I can’t stand America, or because there’s any mystic fascination about war that is drawing me back.

I’m going simply because there’s a war on and I’m part of it and I’ve known all the time I was going back. I’m going because I’ve got to.

This time it will be the Pacific. When I left France last fall, we thought the war in Europe was about over. I say “we” because I mean almost everybody over there thought so. I felt it was so near the end I could come home and before the time came to go again, that side of the war would be finished, and only the Pacific would be left.

But it didn’t turn out that way. Now nobody knows how long the European War will last. Naturally all my friends and associations and sentiments are on that side. I suppose down in my heart I would rather go back to that side. For over in Europe, I know the tempo of the battle; I feel at home with it in a way.

Going with Navy

And yet I think it’s best to stick with the original plan and go on to the Pacific. There are a lot of guys in that war, too. They are the same guys who are fighting on the other side, only with different names, that’s all.

I’m going with the Navy this time, since the Navy is so dominant in the Pacific, and since I’ve done very little in the past on that part of the service, I won’t stay with the Navy for the duration – probably two or three months, and then back ashore again with those noble souls, the Doughfoots.

Security forbids telling you just what the plans are. But I can say that I’ll fly across the Pacific, and join ship on the other side. Aboard ship I’ll be out of touch with the world on long cruises. It may be there will be lapses in the daily column, simply because it’s impossible to transmit these pieces. But we’ll do our best to keep them going steadily.

I haven’t figured out yet what I’m going to do about seasickness. I’m one of those unfortunates with a terrific stomach on land, but one that turns to whey and jelly when I get aboard ship. I know of nothing that submerges the muse in a man as much as the constant compulsion to throw up. Perhaps I should take along my own oil to spread on the troubled waters.

Receives warnings

Friends warn me about all kinds of horrible diseases in the Pacific. About dysentery, and malaria, and fungus that gets in your ears and your intestines, and that horrible swelling disease known as elephantiasis.

Well, all I can say is that I’m God’s gift to germs. Those fungi will shout and leap for joy when I show up. Maybe I can play the Pied Piper role – maybe the germs will all follow me when I get there, and leave the rest of the boys free to fight.

So, what with disease, Japs, seasickness, and shot and shell – you see I’m not too overwhelmed with relief at starting out again.

But there’s one thing in my favor where I’m going; one thing that will make life bearable when all else is darkness and gloom. And that one thing is that, out in the Pacific, I’ll be good and stinking hot. Oh boy!

8534

Racial charges denied by dentists

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8535

Lewis may get AFL backing in wage fight

Victory forecast for miners’ leader

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8536

PAC’s battle for Wallace is hint of things to come

CIO’s political unit fights on Capitol Hill as vigorous as for fourth term last fall
By Charles T. Lucey, Scripps-Howard staff writer

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8537

Perkins: CIO leaders find PAC job just starting

Speech in London points up the need
By Fred W. Perkins, Pittsburgh Press staff writer

…