Cairo Conferences (SEXTANT)

101

Draft agreement prepared by the U.S. Delegation 

Cairo, 30 November 1943
Secret

Liaison between European Advisory Commission and Combined Chiefs of Staff

At the Moscow Conference there was established the European Advisory Commission to which there has been referred civil affairs matters closely connected with military considerations of primary interest to the Combined Chiefs of Staff.

It is essential that a liaison procedure be established between the European Advisory Commission and the Combined Chiefs of Staff whereby they can readily exchange views and comments on civil affairs matters.

With these considerations in mind, the following principles are laid down as satisfactory liaison procedure between the European Advisory Commission and the Combined Chiefs of Staff:

a. Tentative recommendations of the European Advisory Commission will be referred to the Combined Chiefs of Staff for their comment prior to final submission of recommendations by the Commission to the three governments.

b. The governments will transmit approved recommendations of the Commission to the Combined Chiefs of Staff, who will prepare and transmit final directives to the appropriate commanders. Detailed planning will be carried forward at the headquarters of the commanders concerned.

c. The British representation on the CCAC will be instructed to participate and empowered to act in all civil affairs matters relating to combined operations, without limitation as to area, that are brought before the committee.

Accepted at SEXTANT Conference
Cairo, Egypt

. . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . .

102

The Assistant Secretary of War to the President’s special assistant 

Cairo, 30 November 1943

Memorandum for Mr. Harry Hopkins:

In the course of my talk with Eden I brought up Hull’s suggestion of a Committee set up somewhat as the Combined Committee to deal with all French questions. All matters relating to our dealings with the French would for the time being be cleared through that committee. Hull’s idea was that this would eliminate the irritation and distrust that now arises in connection with our respective French policies. Eden expressed prompt approval of the idea and today Hull cabled through Stimson to the effect that he thought it would be well to set such a group up in London. I gather it would be most informal and could consist of a military man and a foreign affairs man from each of the governments, calling on other agencies for such economic and other help as they need.

Would the President think well of this idea? If so, I can see that it is pushed along.

Sincerely,
J. J. McCLOY

103

Memorandum by the Minister Resident in Saudi Arabia, temporarily at Cairo 

Cairo, November 30, 1943

Brief comment on Mr. Jordan’s telegram of November 15, 1943, about arms for Saudi Arabia

In the first paragraph the question numbered (6) was not asked, though the answer was supplied by the King’s messenger. The remainder of the first paragraph is correct, and the second paragraph, insofar as it goes.

What does not appear from Mr. Jordan’s telegram is that King Ibn Saud was informed as a preface to the inquiry that the American and British military authorities in Washington were in consultation on the problem of arms for Saudi Arabia. The King was further informed that the subject of the inquiry would be discussed with the British Minister in Jidda; and the American Minister Resident did discuss it with the British Minister on a date which cannot be stated exactly without reference to records in Jidda, but which may have been November 16 or November 17, 1943.

A noteworthy feature of Mr. Jordan’s telegram is that his concern over apparent lack of collaboration did not lead him to refer to his American colleague to verify the completeness or accuracy of his information before reporting to the Foreign Office, nor did he mention it when discussing arms with the American Minister Resident on or about November 16, 1943. It is also worthwhile to note that the British Foreign Office (or Ministry of State) attributed sufficient importance to this point of procedure to refer it to the highest authority.

JSM JR.

104

The President’s special assistant to the Minister in Egypt 

Tehran, November 30, 1943
Secret

To Kirk for Frank Shea from Hopkins.

Re Shea’s query instructions are as follows: Eliminate or hold for later release all references to Mena House, villas occupied by any members of party, or Mena itself. It is permissible to release details of trip to Pyramids and Sphinx and other color stories so long as no hint or disclosure of local conference locations is given. Cairo dateline still stands. Text of communiquĂ© unchanged. Repeat this message to Steve Early for reference to Surles.

105

Reuters (November 30, 1943)

Roosevelt, Churchill and Chiang hold long conference in Cairo

Lisbon, Portugal –
President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill have completed a long conference in Cairo and are now en route to somewhere in Iran to meet Premier Stalin, it is known here definitely.

Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek took part in the Cairo conference and will also meet Premier Stalin.

A communiqué agreed on after the Cairo Conference will be published later this week. The three statesmen met on one occasion in a tent in the shadow of the Pyramids.

During the conference, Cairo was cut off from communications with the rest of the world. President Roosevelt and Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek, who was accompanied by Madame Chiang, traveled to Cairo by air, while Prime Minister Churchill traveled by sea.

106

U.S. State Department (November 30, 1943)

The Director of the Office of War Information to the British Minister of Information

Washington, November 30, 1943

Secret
Priority

I must enter the most energetic protest against the Reuters dispatch purporting to come from Lisbon and distributed today. While I realize that Reuters is a purely private institution on which the British government has not the slightest shadow of influence, this dispatch is reported to have been passed by the British censorship for radio transmission abroad though we understand it was not published in the United Kingdom. I need hardly point out to you the very unfortunate consequences. First is a serious and perhaps perilous violation of security. Second, the political warfare value for both the American and British governments of the meetings and the decisions made thereat will be materially lessened by premature disclosure of the fact which enables the Germans and the Japanese to blanket the world with their version of the story before the actual announcement is on the record. Finally, a consideration not without importance is the universal indignation of the American press at Reuters disclosure here though not in British Isles of facts this morning imparted to American newspapers with instruction to observe extraordinary precautions to preserve secrecy. As you know this is far from the first time that such an incident has occurred though this exceeds all its predecessors in flagrancy. This practice could become one of the most serious obstacles to Anglo-American understanding. In the interest of that understanding, as well as of our coordinated propaganda against the enemy, I most urgently request you to see that censorship holds Reuters in line hereafter.

107

The Pittsburgh Press (November 30, 1943)

Meeting of ‘Big 3,’ Chiang reported

London, England (UP) –
Radio Ankara today broadcast unconfirmed reports that Soviet Premier Joseph Stalin met in Cairo with President Roosevelt, Prime Minister Churchill and Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek.

A German DNB News Agency dispatch, datelined Amsterdam, today quoted what was described as a Reuters report that Mr. Roosevelt, Mr. Churchill and Generalissimo Chiang had just conferred at Cairo and are now on the way to meet Premier Stalin in Iran.

108

The Pittsburgh Press (December 1, 1943)

Stalin reported meeting Roosevelt and Churchill

Chiang also with ‘Big Three’ in Iran, dispatches from Turkey say
By the United Press

Dispatches received in Lisbon from the Middle East today said that President Roosevelt, Prime Minister Churchill and Premier Joseph Stalin have opened a momentous conference in Tehran, Iran, and that Generalissimo and Mme. Chiang Kai-shek were also in the Iranian capital.

The Lisbon daily O SĂ©culo published a dispatch quoting the Inter-Information Agency of Ankara that the “Big Three” leaders were meeting in Tehran where they had been joined by Laurence Steinhardt, U.S. Ambassador to Turkey.

It gave no indication as to whether Gen. Chiang would participate. American and other Allied shortwave radio transmitters in broadcasts to the world said that the Chinese leader had conferred with Mr. Roosevelt and Mr. Churchill in Cairo recently and suggested that he would also meet Premier Stalin.

Sensation for Nazis

Axis broadcasts and copies of German and neutral European newspapers reaching Lisbon indicated that reports of the meeting had created a sensation throughout the Nazi-occupied continent.

Both Axis and neutral accounts agreed on the importance of the reported conference, particularly in that Stalin was said to be participating.

They indicated that Berlin had been taken by surprise. German propaganda for months has hammered at the idea that Stalin could not be brought into agreement with his allies.

Appeasement for Chinese

Radio Tokyo followed the line that Chiang had been included to “appease” the Chinese for their non-participation in the recent Moscow conference of foreign ministers.

Most broadcasts agreed that a communiqué covering at least the Roosevelt-Churchill-Chiang meeting would be issued sometime this week.

Almost all the broadcasts reported the meetings without qualification and said they were “announced” in a dispatch carried by the British news agency Reuters from Lisbon.

Cairo communications cut

An American broadcast to France, typical of all the Allied broadcasts, said that all communications between Cairo and the outside world were cut during the lengthy conference among Mr. Roosevelt, Mr. Churchill and Generalissimo Chiang. One of the meetings was said to have been held in a tent in the shadow of the Pyramids.

Mr. Roosevelt and Generalissimo Chiang, who was accompanied by Mme. Chiang, flew to Egypt and Mr. Churchill arrived by ship, the broadcast said.

Broadcast by Dakar

The American broadcast said:

The President of the United States, the British Premier and the chief of the Chinese government, following their meeting in Cairo, are now heading for an unknown destination, in order to meet Marshal Stalin.

The Allied-controlled stations in Dakar and Brazzaville, as well as that in Leopoldville, made similar broadcasts.

The Germans, apparently monitoring a Reuters broadcast to its overseas clients, picked up the British agency’s Lisbon dispatch and reissued it to Nazi foreign clients within a half-hour yesterday, the Office of War Information reported.

Nazi propaganda

Quickly developing their propaganda line, the Germans put out a dispatch under the signature of Dr. Siegfried Horn, DNB’s diplomatic correspondent, saying that the United States and Britain had been forced to “make concessions to the Soviet Union.”

Though his agency relayed the report through the medium of American shortwave broadcasts, Director Elmer Davis of the OWI denounced Reuters’ distribution of the dispatch reporting the three- and four-power meetings as “reprehensible.”

If such a conference had been held, he said, it could be assumed from past experience that some arrangement would be made for a simultaneous announcement “in all the capitals involved.”

Sees broken release

Mr. Davis said:

If that were the case, Reuters broke the release date. If there were no conference, the story would be an invention. Either way, it is equally reprehensible.

Mr. Davis said OWI broadcast the report because, since “everybody else” was handling it, the OWI should “give its own customers something, too.”

The Reuters Agency, according to a Dow Jones report from London, today took exception to the criticism by Elmer Davis, saying he should have made a search for the facts on the Roosevelt-Churchill-Stalin conference. Reuters said there was no embargo or restriction agreed, or otherwise, on sending anywhere the story of the meeting. The story was the result of spontaneous journalistic enterprise by Douglas Brown, chief of the Reuters bureau in Lisbon. Reuters said it was not allowed to publish the story in London but sent it to clients overseas.

Says BeneĆĄ may attend

The Stockholm Svenska Dagbladet reported from Berne that both President Roosevelt and Mr. Churchill arrived in North Africa by warship, accompanied by high military authorities and diplomats. The dispatch said that Edvard BeneĆĄ, President of the Czech government-in-exile, was expected to attend the meeting involving Marshal Stalin as an observer, while the French Committee of National Liberation would also be represented.

The dispatch said:

The meeting [with Marshal Stalin] is expected to formulate conditions for Germany’s capitulation and probably will result in an Allied declaration to the German people and a similar declaration to the satellites urging the withdrawal of their troops to their own countries.

An earlier Ankara dispatch reported that U.S. Ambassador Steinhardt had returned to Ankara last night after a week-long “mysterious trip” which foreign circles linked with a three-power meeting. The “foreign” sources suggested that Mr. Steinhardt had been summoned to give expert counsel to Mr. Roosevelt in view of Turkey’s possible role in an offensive in Southeastern Europe.

British papers ignore report of parley

London, England (UP) –
British morning newspapers today ignored a Reuters Lisbon dispatch saying that President Roosevelt, Prime Minister Churchill and Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek had completed conferences at Cairo and printed only Axis speculation on the prospects of a conference.

The BBC also did not carry the Reuters report in either its home or shortwave programs, though some references to the dispatch were made in a program called America Calling Britain, which originates in the United States.

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109

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 immediate

Addressed 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 immediate

Addressed 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 AttachĂ©. 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

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110

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.

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111

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.

112

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 communiquĂ©. The text was about all they did not publish in advance of communiquĂ©. 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

113

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.

114

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?

115

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

116

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.

117

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

japmap

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:

  1. Allied military leaders decided on future military operations against Japan.

  2. The United States, Britain and China will bring unrelenting pressure on their “brutal enemies” by land, sea and air.

  3. 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.

  4. 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.

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Allied leaders hold parleys in armed camp

Cairo, Egypt (UP) –
President Roosevelt, Prime Minister Churchill and Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek held their historic conference in an armed camp.

The conference headquarters was described as “a complete defense unit.” Within its barbed-wire perimeter were air-raid shelters, slit trenches, ack-ack batteries, barbed-wire enclosures, military guards and fire watchers.

It was built to withstand surprise assault by land or air. It bristled with arms and mystery.

Roosevelt arrives

Only the conferees and their guards were allowed inside. Correspondents were outside the barbed wire.

President Roosevelt motored to the scene through a lane of U.S. soldiers spaced 20 yards apart – but no one will be able to tell his grandchildren that he saw the President arrive. Everyone was facing out – back to the road – watching for any suspicious person.

Prime Minister Churchill came part of the way by warship. He requested that the officers put on no extra “spit and polish” for him and the crew wore dungarees.

Relax on Thanksgiving

It wasn’t until Thanksgiving Day that the American, British and Chinese leaders were able to sit back, after three solid days and nights of joint efforts, and have their pictures taken.

President Roosevelt waved an expansive hand toward the center chair and said to Chinese Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek:

You are the guest of honor – and after all, this is your first conference.

Chiang smilingly declined the honor and took a chair on the President’s right.

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British ‘break’ news release; U.S. angered

‘Premature’ disclosure of parley news brings rebuke
By Joseph Laitin, United Press staff writer

Washington –
Government officials, angered by repeated premature British disclosures of Allied news involving the United States, promised today to exert every effort to ensure American newspapers and news services an even break from now on.

Reuters, a British news agency, broke the news of the three-power Cairo Conference Tuesday morning, about 33 hours ahead of the official release time. Officials charged this was in violation of an Allied agreement not to publish the news until 7:30 p.m. Wednesday night to protect the safety of the conferees.

Held in confidence

American editors, it was pointed out, had the official communiqué on their desks and were holding it in confidence at the time the Reuters dispatch was circulated.

Rep. Frank Carlson (R-KS) today told the House that Congress should investigate the “slipshod and bungling manner” in which the conference was announced.

He added:

This is not the first time. What about the Tokyo raid? What about the Patton incident?

Rep. Clare Hoffman (R-MI) asserted that the people of the United States are being neglected because “the President of the United States wants to be President of the world.”

Defended by Democrat

Democratic Leader Rep. John W. McCormack (D-MA) replied that the President is a “strong and courageous” man now “abroad in line of duty.”

McCormack said:

In future generations when the country faces such a crisis, I hope we have another man as strong and courageous, and I don’t care whether he’s Republican or Democrat – Protestant, Catholic or Jew.

Director Elmer Davis of the Office of War Information placed partial blame on British censorship which allowed the Reuters story to be sent out from London although it did forbid its publication in the British Isles.

Price pledges aid

Director Byron Price of the U.S. Office of Censorship said he would back Mr. Davis to the hilt. Asserting that “the circumstances speak for themselves,” Mr. Price said that:

Censorship is doing all it can and is anxious to see American newspapers and radio stations get at least an even break on such stories in the future.

Mr. Davis sarcastically rejected Reuters’ explanation that the “scoop” was the result of enterprise by its Lisbon bureau chief.

He said it was a kind of “enterprise” that any American news editor could have “indulged” in if he so desired, considering that the official communiquĂ© was available to editors at the time.

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U.S. people entitled to news, paper says

Bayonne, New Jersey (UP) –
The Bayonne Times published the official announcement of President Roosevelt, Prime Minister Churchill and Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek yesterday, in advance of the official release time, explaining that “the people of the United States are as fully entitled to news as any other country in the world.”

The story was headlined:

Everyone In the World Except U.S. Knows FDR, Churchill, Chiang Meet

The Times said:

This release has been violated not alone by foreign and domestic news agencies, by various diverse means, but by the Office of War Information itself, which has kept the news from the American people but has broadcast it to foreign lands. We prefer to do this openly instead of publishing rumor stories credited to the usual “well-informed circles.”

Sydney, Australia (UP) –
The Daily Mirror yesterday published a full report of the Cairo Conference – 23 hours before the official release date. The story was withdrawn from later editions, the newspaper explaining that it had made a mistake.

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