| Present | ||
|---|---|---|
| United States | United Kingdom | |
| President Roosevelt | Prime Minister Churchill | |
| Mr. Hopkins | Sir Charles Wilson | |
| Mr. Harriman | Commander Thompson | |
| Rear Admiral McIntire | Mr. Martin | |
| Captain McCrea | Mr. Rowan | |
| Colonel Beasley | Captain Churchill | |
| Vice Consul Pendar | ||
| Sergeant Hopkins |
The conversation ranged over a number of topics including Morocco, the Arab problem, the de Gaulle-Giraud controversy, and the rebuilding of France.
| Present | ||
|---|---|---|
| United States | United Kingdom | |
| President Roosevelt | Prime Minister Churchill | |
| Mr. Hopkins | Mr. Martin | |
| Mr. Harriman | Mr. Rowan |
The meeting was given over to the final revision of the joint messages from Roosevelt and Churchill to Stalin and Chiang.
Sunday, 24 January
While General de Gaulle was with the President, General Giraud returned, and a few minutes later the Prime Minister appeared.
These four, the President, the Prime Minister, General Giraud, and General de Gaulle then repaired to the lawn in the rear of the President’s villa where they posed for moving and still pictures. While the cameras “turned over”, the two generals shook hands.
Then Generals Giraud and de Gaulle bade farewell to the President and the Prime Minister and withdrew.
A few minutes after twelve, the President, with the Prime Minister seated at his left, invited the assembled newspapermen to sit down on the lawn and make themselves comfortable for the discussion which was to follow. It was a beautiful day, brilliant with sunshine, and with these two great men seated before them, the assembled correspondents heard a complete description of the purpose of bringing the British and American Chiefs of Staff together here in North Africa, together with the heads of their respective governments, and a general description of what had been accomplished.
Both the President and the Prime Minister reaffirmed the decision that no effort would be spared until the unconditional surrender of the Axis powers had been accomplished (The notes of this press conference have been recorded separately). When the discussion ended, the Prime Minister and the President asked the newspapermen to come up to shake hands, the President remarking that they should consider themselves an “elite group”, inasmuch as the great number of correspondents habitually attending routine press conferences in Washington precludes any thought of shaking hands.
Following the press conference, the President received General Charles A. Noguès, Resident General at Rabat, who had hurried down to Casablanca to say “au revoir” to the President upon being informed by telephone at 10:30 that the President’s departure was imminent.
At this time, the President also received Vice Admiral Michelier, the Commander-in-Chief of the French North African Fleet, who had called to pay his respects.
Heavy baggage, collected the night before, had been stowed in the planes and flown to Marrakech. The motorcade was waiting when the President departed from his villa at a few minutes past one o’clock in the afternoon, and at 1:25, the party was on its way to Marrakech, 150 miles almost due south of Casablanca, but well inland.
Besides his own immediate group, the President was accompanied by the Prime Minister, his son, Captain Randolph Churchill, Sir Charles Wilson, the Prime Minister’s aide, Commander Thompson, and his two private secretaries, Mr. Rowan and Mr. Martin.
At three o’clock, the cars were halted at the roadside for a basket lunch packed by the British consisting of several kinds of sandwiches, hard boiled eggs, and mincemeat tarts.
At 5:45, the party arrived at Marrakech, a very old Berber and Arab town, going directly to a large villa now occupied by the U.S. Vice Consul at Marrakech, Mr. Kenneth Pendar. This villa was placed at his disposal by the wife of the American millionaire, Moses Taylor. It was most beautiful, set in the midst of an olive grove. Its courtyards were filled with orange trees, flowers, and shrubs. There was a fountain or pool and inlaid marble floors all furnished in splendor befitting a Sultan.
The President and the Prime Minister, together with Admiral McIntire, Captain McCrea, and several others, ascended to the top of a 60-foot tower which crowned the villa, to view the sunset and the towering Atlas Mountains, many miles away, as the bells tolled from Mosque towers summoning the faithful to evening prayer.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The President and the Prime Minister were dinner guests of Mr. Pendar this evening, as were the following:
U.S. State Department (January 25, 1943)
Marrakech, January 25, 1943.
Most secret
1. We have been in conference with our military advisers and have decided the operations which are to be undertaken by American and British forces in the first nine months of 1943. We wish to inform you of our intentions at once. We believe these operations, together with your powerful offensive, may well bring Germany to her knees in 1943. Every effort must be made to accomplish this purpose.
2. We are in no doubt that our correct strategy is to concentrate on the defeat of Germany, with a view to achieving early and decisive victory in the European theatre. At the same time, we must maintain sufficient pressure on Japan to retain the initiative in the Pacific and Far East, sustain China, and prevent the Japanese from extending their aggression to other theatres such as your Maritime Provinces.
3. Our main desire has been to divert strong German land and air forces from the Russian front and to send to Russia the maximum flow of supplies. We shall spare no exertion to send you material assistance by every available route.
4. Our immediate intention is to clear the Axis out of North Africa and set up the naval and air installations to open:
a) An effective passage through the Mediterranean for military traffic; and
b) An intensive bombardment of important Axis targets in Southern Europe.
5. We have made the decision to launch large-scale amphibious operations in the Mediterranean at the earliest possible moment. The preparation for these operations is now under way and will involve a considerable concentration of forces, including landing craft and shipping in Egyptian and North African ports. In addition we shall concentrate hi the United Kingdom a strong American land and air force. These, combined with the British forces in the United Kingdom, will prepare themselves to re-enter the Continent of Europe as soon as practicable. These concentrations will certainly be known to our enemies, but they will not know where or when, or on what scale we propose to strike. They will therefore be compelled to divert both land and air forces to all the shores of France, the Low Countries, Corsica, Sardinia, Sicily, the heel of Italy, Yugoslavia, Greece, Crete and the Dodecanese.
6. In Europe we shall increase the Allied Bomber offensive from the U.K. against Germany at a rapid rate and, by midsummer, it should be more than double its present strength. Our experiences to date have shown that the day bombing attacks result in destruction and damage to large numbers of German Fighter Aircraft. We believe that an increased tempo and weight of daylight and night attacks will lead to greatly increased material and morale damage in Germany and rapidly deplete German fighter strength. As you are aware, we are already containing more than half the German Air Force in Western Europe and the Mediterranean. We have no doubt that our intensified and diversified bombing offensive, together with the other operations which we are undertaking, will compel further withdrawals of German air and other forces from the Russian front.
7. In the Pacific it is our intention to eject the Japanese from Rabaul within the next few months and thereafter to exploit success in the general direction of Japan. We also intend to increase the scale of our operations in Burma in order to reopen our channel of supply to China. We intend to increase our air force in China at once. We shall not, however, allow our operations against Japan to jeopardize our capacity to take advantage of every opportunity that may present itself for the decisive defeat of Germany in 1943.
8. Our ruling purpose is to bring to bear upon Germany and Italy the maximum forces by land, sea and air which can be physically applied.
25. 1. 43
Marrakech, January 25, 1943.
Most secret
We have been meeting in North Africa with our Chiefs of Staff, to plan our offensives and strategy for 1943. The vital importance of aiding China has filled our minds. General Arnold, the Commander of the U.S. Air Force, is already on his way to see you. We have decided that Chennault should be reinforced at once in order that you may strike not only at vital shipping routes but at Japan herself. Arnold carries to you our best judgment as to Burma. He will also advise you about our expanding operations in the South West Pacific and our developing offensive against Germany and Italy which will follow promptly after the destruction of the Axis forces in Tunisia.
We have great confidence in the 1943 offensives of the United Nations and want to assure you that we intend with your co-operation to keep the pressure on Japan at an ever-increasing tempo.
25. 1. 43.
Marrakech, January 25, 1943.
In cordially approving the Report of the Combined Chiefs of Staff drawn up after thorough examination of the problems, the President and the Prime Minister wish to emphasize the following points which should be steadily pressed in all preparations:
The desirability of finding means of running the W.J. [JW?] Russian convoys even through the Husky period.
The urgency of sending the air reinforcements to General Chennault’s force in China and of finding means to make them fully operative.
The importance of achieving the favourable June moon for Husky and the grave detriment to our interests which will be incurred by an apparent suspension of activity during the summer months.
The need to build up more quickly the United States striking force in the United Kingdom so as to be able to profit by favourable August weather for some form of Sledgehammer. For this purpose, not only the scales of initial equipment and monthly maintenance should be searchingly re-examined but the priorities of material and manpower shipments from the United States to Great Britain should be adjusted to the tactical situation likely to be presented at the target date.
F.D.R.
W.S.C.
25.1. 43.
Monday, 25 January
At the last minute, as the President and his party left for the airport at 7:45 this morning, the Prime Minister, deciding to accompany him, got into the President’s automobile in bathrobe and slippers. Marrakech was the place where the trail split. Au revoirs were said.
At eight o’clock, the planes took off toward Bathurst, 1400 miles to the southward, crossing the Atlas Mountains in flight. In another hour, the planes flew through a pass at 9,000 feet and emerged finally over the endless wastes of sand first seen when flying up on 14 January.
Brooklyn Eagle (January 26, 1943)
Watch for big news
The Brooklyn Eagle is now receiving from United Press correspondents a series of dispatches of transcendent Importance which will be released for publication tomorrow. Watch for these dispatches. They will appear in all editions tomorrow. All major radio stations will make announcements at 10 p.m. tonight.
London, England (UP) –
Today’s newspapers, anticipating an important announcement on United Nations strategy and policy, displayed arch headlines as these over dispatches from their Washington and New York correspondents:
Biggest Talks of War.
United States Awaits News on Tiptoe.
Momentous Decisions by Allies.
Grand Strategy in 1943.
United States Expects News to Stir World.
Two newspapers published editorials on the general war situation.
The News Chronicle, Liberal Party organ, said:
The United Nations are waging at least four wars which in no sense are subject to common strategic direction.
The vast resources of the Allies can only be brought to bear with full effectiveness in terms of a fully concerted plan… individual interests must be subordinated to the supreme interest of winning the war as rapidly as possible.
The conservative Daily Mail said:
Formation of anything like a supreme war council would be warmly welcomed by Allied peoples. We have always taken the view that complete unity cannot be achieved until such a body has been set up. However, there is much to be done yet and coordinated policy would be but the first step toward doing it.
The Chicago Sun said today in a copyrighted dispatch from London that Gen. Charles de Gaulle, head of the Fighting French, and Gen. Henri H. Giraud, High Commissioner of French Africa, had reached an agreement. U.S. and British mediation aided in the agreement, the Sun said.
Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden, replying in Commons to a question by Sir Thomas Moore, Conservative, said he understood suggestions for formation of a United Nations war council had been canvassed in the United States as well as in Great Britain but he had nothing to add to them.
Frederick S. Cocks, Labor, submitted a question to Eden for answer later whether he would make representations in order to improve the flow of political news from North Africa.
It had been expected there would be a bombardment of questions for Eden on the appointment of ex-Vichy adherent Marcel Peyrouton, as Governor General of Algeria, but members apparently awaited further news of the African political problem.
Eden last week had sidestepped questions regarding Peyrouton, asked him by opponents of the policy of including ex-Vichy men.
Axis radio stations continued broadcasting reports Prime Minister Winston Churchill had left London to confer with President Roosevelt.
Today’s Völkischer Beobachter, official newspaper of the Nazi Party, quoted by the Berlin radio, said “the meeting” was a sign of British embarrassment. The newspaper suggested questions to be dealt with probably would include “Russia’s attitude.”
Völkischer Beobachter said:
It can no longer pass unnoticed in London and Washington that Stalin makes no statements regarding post-war problems which are being ceaselessly discussed in his Allies’ camp. He merely contentedly acknowledges the fact that Britain is ready to deliver Europe to the Soviets, in which he sees welcome support of Bolshevism for a world revolution which it is Moscow’s aim to break loose, spread by the power of arms.
The British Premier is always forced to travel to Moscow or Washington while Stalin and Roosevelt calmly let the British come to them.
The United Press New York listening post recorded the following English-language voice broadcast by Berlin:
Churchill has left London to confer with President Roosevelt, it is learned.
Churchill intends to inquire into the view of the American government on Soviet aspirations in Europe so as to be able to pursue his own interest in that sphere accordingly.
Another topic of the conference is said to be the subject of setting up a council of war which would include Roosevelt, Churchill, Stalin and Chiang Kai-shek.
Brooklyn Eagle (January 27, 1943)
By C. R. Cunningham
Algiers, Algeria (UP) –
Conviction grew today that the “unconditional surrender” pronouncement of President Roosevelt and Winston Churchill tells only a part – possibly not the most exciting part – of the story of their 10-day meeting at Casablanca.
Correspondents who attended the historic Roosevelt-Churchill press conference, which concluded the deliberations in the white-walled city on Africa’s west coast, believe that the official communiqué did not cover all the activity of those 10 days in the sun-drenched Moroccan port.
Rumors of what occurred at Casablanca have run a gamut to end all gamuts and none, thus far, has taken any form of authoritativeness. These rumors had it that Italian, Spanish and even Finnish and Turkish delegates had representatives at the meeting.
The rumors were that these representatives were invited not necessarily to join the United Nations but to become convinced of the might of the Allies. Then they could make their own choice.
Walter Logan, United Press staff correspondent also present at Casablanca during the meeting, reported having seen "consular baggage bearing Finnish labels.” G. Ward Price, London Daily Mail correspondent at Casablanca, reported:
It may be said that the statements made here are only a partial revelation. It is obvious there may be additional activities which are unrevealable and may even be denied in the interests of the common cause.
A welter of rumors
There was a welter of rumors regarding those who participated at one time or another in the meeting. The fact that correspondents were not permitted to go into any great deal of speculation as to the conferees aroused their suspicion.
First of all, it is not believed that President Roosevelt would have cared to take the risk of a 6,000-mlle airplane ride for nothing more than a “heart to heart” talk with Prime Minister Churchill.
Nor was it thought likely that he would embark on such a venture simply to review the events of 1942 or even to plan the events of 1943.
It was noted that the combined Allied chiefs of staff could have undertaken these tasks without the presence of either the President or the Prime Minister.
Air of mystery
What particularly aroused the interest of the correspondents was the complete air of mystery which surrounded the entire proceeding.
The records of the correspondents accredited to the North African field have been scrupulously studied and a considerable amount of confidence has been placed in them. However, in the Casablanca instance, they were given not the slightest inkling of what was taking place until after they arrived on the scene.
Casablanca was literally saturated with rumors. Crowded as it was with special anti-aircraft emplacements, special guards, Secret Service men and troops, almost any kind of report was passed avidly from person to person.
One of many reports
One of the most frequent of these reports was that the anti-aircraft batteries had orders not to fire on any planes – whether enemy or not – which might appear at certain hours of the day. The inference, of course, was that some sort of emissary from some belligerent state was expected.
The President and the Prime Minister met correspondents in the rear garden of a beautiful white villa – the North African “White House” – marked simply “Villa No 2.”
With Churchill sitting at his left, Mr. Roosevelt explained to war correspondents hastily flown in from the Tunisian front that he and Churchill had pledged themselves that peace would return to the world and that this peace could not come unless it was accompanied by the total destruction of the power of Germany and Japan to make war.
Demand foe surrender
The President told correspondents gathered at his feet in the velvety grass of the Villa’s rear garden that the keynote of the meeting had been taken from Gen. Ulysses S. Grant.
Gen. Grant, he said, was known as “unconditional surrender” and that was the purpose and purport of the present deliberations. He said that the meeting would be known as the “unconditional surrender” conference.
The Prime Minister, speaking a few minutes later, echoed Mr. Roosevelt’s statement and said that with unconquerable will America and Britain would pursue their purpose to its logical conclusion.
The correspondent listened as Mr. Roosevelt told of the plans of the United Nations to utilize every last resource of the world – if necessary – in order to carry out the extermination of Axis warpower as quickly as possible.
Stalin was invited
Joseph Stalin, the President revealed, had been invited to attend but replied that he was unable to leave Russia because he was directing the Soviet winter offensive.
Although the Russian leader was not able to be present, Mr. Roosevelt said, he and Churchill kept him fully informed of their discussions.
While he and Mr. Churchill were in almost constant conference, said Mr. Roosevelt, the British and American combined staffs proceeded on the principles and methods of pooling all the resources of the Allied nations.
Mr. Roosevelt said that all those participating in the discussions reaffirmed their determination to destroy the military power of the Axis while proceeding with their discussion of the Allies’ military operations for 1943.
The President said that all possible material would be sent to aid the Russian offensive, thereby cutting down German manpower as well as wearing out German material.
The United Nations, he said, would give all possible aid in the heroic struggle of China now in its sixth year and thereby end for all time the attempts of the Japanese to dominate the Far East.
He said that de Gaulle and Giraud had been in conference for a couple of days and that both were wholeheartedly bent on achieving the liberation of France. He said they were both in accord on that.
He said:
I saw a lot of American troops, the greater part of two divisions. I saw combat teams and had lunch with them in the field – and it was a darned good lunch. Then we drove to Port Lyautey where American and French troops were killed. I placed wreaths on the graves of the soldiers of both nations.
I saw the equipment our boys are using over here. They are the most modern weapons we can produce and our men are adequately equipped. They are healthy and efficient and eager to fight again. I think they will. I saw with my own eyes the actual condition of our men and I would like to have their families back home know of the support they are getting.
Mr. Churchill said the discussions were the most successful war conference he had ever participated in or had ever seen.
He expressed regret that Stalin and Gen. Chiang Kai-shek had not been able to be present but said they had both been kept fully informed on the discussions.
Mr. Churchill concluded that he and Mr. Roosevelt were more than determined that their designed purpose was the unconditional surrender of the criminal forces which have plunged the world into sorrow and ruin.
Those who took part
President Roosevelt then gave the correspondents the name, of those who participated in the discussions.
They were: Gen. Harold Alexander, British Middle Eastern commander; Adm. Sir Andrew Brown Cunningham, Lt. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, Air Mshl. Arthur Tedder, Lt. Gen. Mark W. Clark, Maj. Gen. Carl Spaatz and others.
He said that he and Churchill felt that the occasion was an excellent opportunity for Gens. Charles de Gaulle and Henri Honoré Giraud to meet.
A complete agreement between de Gaulle and Giraud was reached during their conference, it was learned, and only a few small details need to be worked out before full collaboration is effected.
Late Sunday afternoon, de Gaulle and Giraud issued a communiqué saying “at the conclusion of their first conversation in North Africa, Gen. de Gaulle and Gen. Giraud have made the following joint statement:
We have met. We have talked. We have registered our entire agreement on the end to be achieved, which is the liberation of France and the triumph of human liberties by the total defeat of the enemy. This end will be attained by a union in war of all Frenchmen fighting side by side with all their allies.
London, England (UP) –
Prime Minister Winston Churchill had lunch with King George at Buckingham Palace just before he left for Africa and the King shook his hand, wished him good luck and gave him a personal message for President Roosevelt.
He flew to Casablanca in the same converted Liberator bomber of the Ferry Command and with the same pilot and crew that took him to Cairo and Moscow last August.
Washington (UP) –
There was no “acting President” while President Roosevelt was in Africa.
The Constitution provides only that the powers and duties of the Presidency shall devolve on the Vice President in case of removal, death, resignation or the inability of the President to perform his duties and powers. Absence from the country has never been held legally to constitute an “inability,” so there was no necessity for delegation of powers to Vice President Henry A. Wallace.
Casablanca, Morocco (UP) – (Jan. 24, delayed)
President Roosevelt, who has probably broken more precedents than any other U.S. Chief Executive, added these to his record in connection with his North African meeting with Winston Churchill:
By Walter Logan
Casablanca, Morocco – (Jan. 20, delayed)
G-2 (Military Intelligence) called me to headquarters and told me I would be shot if I tried to go near a certain villa.
Later Logan found out why. The villa was the meeting place of President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill.
That was how thorough were the precautions taken to protect the President, Prime Minister and other dignitaries during their conference.
Planes of all types crowded the airports, guards were increased, new anti-aircraft batteries dotted the landscape and at night officers went on guard duty with Tommy guns.
Casablanca was a fountain of rumors. One of the most recurrent was that anti-aircraft gunners at the airports had been instructed not to fire on any planes under any circumstances at certain hours.
The meeting place itself was protected by armed guards patrolling a barbed-wire obstruction and the President was protected by his own bodyguard, armed with Tommy guns and two companies of troops.
Includes diplomatic pressure on neutrals – hint at efforts to reach Finland and Italy
By Joe Alex Morris, United Press Foreign Editor
London, England (UP) –
The ten-day meeting of President Roosevelt and Winston Churchill at Casablanca was believed today to have laid the basis of a master war plan for 1943 designed to bring about the “unconditional surrender” of Axis forces in Europe.
Despite huge obstacles – particularly the constantly intensifying Nazi submarine warfare – it appeared obvious today that Allied plans were blueprinted at Casablanca for the purpose of bringing offensive operations against Adolf Hitler and his allies to a climax within ten months.
It seemed equally obvious that official communiqués and reports have told only a small fraction of the decisions and events at Casablanca which some quarters believed may produce “tremendous events” in the near future.
In the Führer’s face
The Casablanca news broke on the Axis with the suddenness of a bombshell, exploding at the darkest moment of the war thus far for Germany and Italy.
There was confidence in Allied quarters here that Casablanca was only the beginning of an ever-accelerating series of surprises for the Axis.
Behind the generalities of the communiqués, Allied quarters saw these developments:
Full decision on an overall plan of offensive action against the Axis in 1943.
Presumable agreement upon a unified command in Africa with a view to quick liquidation of Axis forces in Tunisia and early attacks, aerially or otherwise, against Italy.
Diplomatic maneuvers
Initial steps toward a solution of the French North African political troubles.
Hints of possible diplomatic maneuvers of a magnitude yet unrevealed. North African dispatches mentioned rumors involving Finland, Sweden, Turkey, Spain and even Italy.
Obliteration of any Axis feelers for a "negotiated’’ peace through the forthright declaration of Mr. Roosevelt and Churchill that the only terms acceptable to them were those of “unconditional surrender.”
Complete strategic decisions designed not only to bring greatest possible pressure to bear upon the Axis in Europe but to enhance cooperation with Russia and China and maintain utmost pressure upon Japan in the Pacific.
Decision to strike
There was no doubt that decisions were made on where and how Hitler is to be hit during the coming months.
It was believed the first result of the meeting would be the early establishment of a new African command.
The names of Gen. Sir Archibald Wavell, Gen. George C. Marshall, Gen. Sir Harold R. L. G. Alexander (the British Middle East commander), and Lt. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower were mentioned most frequently.
Rumor about Finland
There was little but hints and rumors on the possibility that diplomatic negotiations of some nature occurred at Casablanca. However, dispatches from North Africa mentioned labels on the luggage of travelers indicating they had come from Finland and rumors spread that there might have been Swedish, Turkish and even Italian participants.
Some credence was lent to the Finnish rumors by signs that some Finnish diplomatic activity might be underway.
There have been recurrent indications of Allied efforts to take Finland out of the war – long stalemated on the virtually inactive Finnish-Russian front – and within the past week, a German propaganda broadcast alleged that Russia had made another peace offer to Finland which had been turned down.
Casablanca, Morocco (UP) – (Jan. 24, delayed)
President Roosevelt made the trip to his historic conference with Prime Minister Churchill entirely by air. He flew by Clipper to a point in North Africa where he transferred to a four-motored bomber that had been especially outfitted for his comfort.
Washington (UP) –
The President’s flying trip to Africa breached the Secret Service’s longstanding policy of objection to air travel by the nation’s chief executives. Mr. Roosevelt’s last previous plane trip was in 1932, when he flew from Albany to Chicago to accept the Democratic Presidential nomination.
Casablanca, Morocco (UP) – (Jan. 24, delayed)
Although President Roosevelt was on the other side of the Atlantic from Washington for his conference with Mr. Churchill, he was still in a white house.
“Villa No. 2,” as the residence in which he stayed is known, is entirely white. The word Casablanca itself means “white house.”
Casablanca. Morocco (UP) – (Jan. 24, delayed)
Eddie Baudry of Montréal, a reporter for the Canadian Broadcasting Company, was wounded fatally while flying to Casablanca, and when he was buried at Port Lyautey with full military honors, a wreath was placed on his grave at the personal direction of President Roosevelt.
Baudry, married and father of a small son, was the first correspondent killed in North Africa. He was wounded while aboard an Army transport plane carrying war correspondents to Casablanca.
Denver, Colorado (UP) – (Jan. 26)
Blonde Louise Anderson, the only woman at the conferences between President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill, must know by now the location of the North African front.
Miss Anderson, a first officer in the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps, asked when she arrived in Africa:
Where is the front, please, to the east or west?
As stenographer at the historic meeting, she has recorded the discussions. En route to Africa, her ship was torpedoed but remained afloat.
London, England (UP) –
The secret of the conference between President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill was kept so well that some of the highest British military and political men did not learn where it was being held until it almost ended, it was revealed today.
Denounces as vicious the attacks made as parley was going on
Washington (UP) –
Secretary of State Hull today denounced critics of the administration foreign policy who, he said, poured out vicious and venomous comments while President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill were working on Allied war problems.
White House Secretary Stephen T. Early agreed during his morning press conference today that “subsequent chapters undoubtedly will be written” to the story of the Casablanca meeting. But he added that the story is complete “so far as it can be told at the present time.”
Hull’s remarks were made at a press conference in response to requests for comment on the fact that criticism of the State Department’s handling of North African affairs coincided with the Roosevelt-Churchill meeting in Casablanca.
Hull said that the people who believed the government to be in error should wait until they were in possession of the facts before making their attacks. He said he personally was content with the policies of the government.
Hull excoriates critics
Hull pointed out that the Roosevelt-Churchill meetings began on Jan. 14 and continued for some ten days.
The abuse that was poured out on the State Department became mast violent during the latter stages of that period, he said.
Hull said that the President was included in the attacks by implication, even if not actually mentioned by name.
We were told, Hull continued, by some persons up on Mount Olympus that we didn’t have people of sufficient stature in North Africa.
Actually, Hull said, there were two people of some stature there – Mr. Roosevelt and Churchill – and they were laboring day in and day out.
He said he believed that some of the critics did not want accurate Information on the situation.
Questioned about Peyrouton
He told reporters that he did not mean to speak in a carping spirit but that obviously some persons had not sought facts.
Hull was asked if it could be assumed that, since Marcel B. Peyrouton arrived in Algeria on Jan. 16, that his appointment as Governor had been approved by the group meeting in Casablanca. The Secretary replied that he thought the correspondents could form a very intelligent conclusion on that matter from the situation as it has been revealed.
Rapidly developing evidence that the full story of the Casablanca conference is far from completely told is catching the sensitive interest of this wartime capital.
There was quick enthusiasm here for the fact that President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill had met in North Africa. There was more than a touch of disappointment that Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek and Premier Joseph Stalin had not been there, too.
Leaders plan to exchange military and economic missions shortly
London, England (UP) –
British and American leaders will make another attempt to bring together Gen. Charles de Gaulle, Fighting French leader, and Gen. Henri Honoré Giraud, chief of the French North African regime, who failed to agree on major political issues at Casablanca, well-informed sources said today.
A Fighting French spokesman disclosed, however, that military and economic missions would be exchanged soon between de Gaulle and Giraud. It was understood that in their talks during the Roosevelt-Churchill conference, the estranged French leaders had agreed upon economic and military coordination and other minor problems.
It was understood that de Gaulle’s French National Committee would select the personnel for the missions, probably on Friday. The de Gaullists will then leave for Algiers to work out military and economic problems. The committee was reported reliably to be in session today to discuss the missions.
No fusion of forces
The spokesman said de Gaulle and Giraud each would be informed of the other’s military maneuvers, although there would be no fusion of their forces. The economic consultations would include trading between North Africa and those parts of the French Empire held by the Fighting French.
The political problems were the chief snag in de Gaulle-Giraud relations. The Fighting French maintain that continuation of the present political confusion in Africa will lay a foundation for civil war in France after the country is liberated from the Axis.
The de Gaullists also believe that a fascist nucleus and supporters of Pierre Laval’s Vichy regime are in the North African administration and insist that these factions constitute danger to the Allied cause.
Competent quarters close to de Gaulle said that at Casablanca, he refused to recognize anybody in the North African regime except Giraud, whom he considered reliable.
Informants said de Gaulle and Giraud were unable to agree on basic issues such as refutation of the Vichy regime of Marshal Henri Philippe Pétain and Pierre Laval, restoration of the laws of the French Republic which Pétain wrote off the statute books, and creation of a single French authority in exile to represent France.
Statement by de Gaulle
De Gaulle, back in London, issued the following statement:
I was very honored to meet President Roosevelt in Africa.
His friendship for France is a particularly comforting factor in the struggle which the French people are waging against the enemy within and without its own territory.
It was an equal satisfaction to me to be able to renew conversations on this occasion with British Prime Minister Churchill.
De Gaulle conspicuously did not mention Giraud or express satisfaction at having met him.
Cites the absence of Chiang Kai-shek and Joseph Stalin
Wendell Willkie maintained today, in commenting on the conference between President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill, that first reports as to decisions reached at the meeting were disappointing.
It had been hoped, the Republican leader said in a radio address, that Joseph Stalin and Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek would attend the conference and that a board for grand military strategy, in which Russia and China would have an equal voice, would be created.
Willkie said:
Perhaps we will learn later that some of the matters not mentioned in the communiqué were discussed and clarified between Mr. Roosevelt and Mr. Churchill.
He deplored the fact the communiqué made no specific reference to a solution of “the tangled and ugly problems of North African politics,” but added that:
Perhaps the French collaborators were reduced in status and the men who have risked their lives for freedom have at last come into their own in North Africa.
Soldiers lined up for ‘just another brass hat’ find he’s their Commander-in-Chief
Casablanca, Morocco (UP) – (Jan. 21, delayed)
U.S. troops in French Morocco lined up today expecting to be inspected by “just another bunch of brass hats” when to their amazement they were reviewed by the President of the United States.
Mr. Roosevelt rode past the soldiers in a jeep, ate a field lunch and drove 108 miles north to visit Port Lyautey, scene of the hardest fighting in the North African campaign, and to lay a wreath at an American cemetery near the 400-year-old fortress of Kasbah Mehdia.
The Presidential convoy formed at 9:30 a.m. It skirted the city of Casablanca and drove directly to the review area, several miles to the north. Mr. Roosevelt rode in the official limousine of Lt. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower and was escorted by other limousines, armored scout cars carrying 50-callber machine guns and weapon carriers.
Umbrella of planes
It drove past the airport, where scores of planes took off, forming a vast umbrella that protected the President all day.
The convoy speeded through the winding hill roads, on which soldiers, not knowing who they were guarding, were stationed at regular intervals, guarding every inch of the road with pistols and Tommy guns.
Reaching the review area, where the troops were lined up for at least a mile in front of their tanks, half-tracks, scout cars and cannon of all sizes, Mr. Roosevelt left the limousine and entered a jeep driven by Staff Sgt. Oran Lass of Kansas City, Missouri.
Riding with Mr. Roosevelt were Lt. Gen. Mark W. Clark, commander of the U.S. 5th Army; Charles Fredericks, the President’s personal bodyguard, and the general officer commanding during the inspection of troops. Immediately behind the Presidential jeep was another with bodyguards. The next jeep carried Maj. Gen. George S. Patton Jr., commander of troops in this area; Adm. Ross McIntire, Mr. Roosevelt’s physician, and Harry L. Hopkins. Robert S. Murphy, U.S. envoy in North Africa, and Lend-Lease Administrator W. Averell Harriman were in another car.
The soldiers were unaware of Mr. Roosevelt’s presence at first. Staring straight ahead at attention, they could not see him until his jeep passed less than six feet away. Few were able to resist smiling.
Eats at field kitchen
The convoy turned into an open field where a field kitchen had been set up. The President ate a typical field lunch of ham, green beans, sweet potatoes, coffee, bread liberally spread with butter, strawberry preserves and canned mixed fruit.
Mr. Roosevelt returned to Casablanca along roads lined by troops, whom he greeted. They saluted him with waves and yells.
The dramatic and unprecedented meeting of President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill at Casablanca has thrilled the people of America and Britain and brought new hope to the enslaved men and women in the countries overrun by the Nazis.
So well was the secret kept that news of the conference at this remote North African city so near the present war zone came as a complete surprise, both in Allied and Axis quarters. Announcement of the decision to force the enemy’s “unconditional surrender,” even if it requires every last resource of the Allied world, may well give Hitler as big a jolt as a defeat on the field of battle.
The determination to follow Gen. Ulysses S. Grant’s historic insistence on unconditional surrender at the end of the Civil War was backed up by detailed plans worked out by the top-ranking military, naval and flying leaders of both nations. They covered all theaters of the war.
Thus is finally ruled out any possibility of a negotiated peace. Furthermore, we hope and believe it may bar any repetition of Allied blunders at the close of the last World War and assure a seizure of enemy territory until the announced objective of destroying the military power of the Axis has been achieved.
It was also reassuring to learn that Stalin had been invited to attend and was prevented only by his preoccupation with the great Russian offensive. Both he and Chiang Kai-shek were kept fully informed of developments at the conference.
As we read of Roosevelt’s precedent-shattering transoceanic flight to the parley, of the obvious joy and amazement of American troops near the scene of recent fighting when they discovered that their reviewing officer was their Commander-in-Chief and, indeed, of the whole handling of this drama-drenched episode in a strange, far-off land, the inspiring, almost uncanny, skill of the President’s direction of the war is driven home more forcefully than ever.
The mere going to Casablanca was the highest strategy. It gave notice to the temporarily subjugated people of France and the other freedom-loving countries of Europe – as no ordinary parley possibly could have – that the United States and Britain are in dead earnest in their plans for liberation. Any last lingering skepticism should be ended. And any possibility of Hitler’s consolidating his conquests is now gone forever.
Just about as important as the broader implications of the Casablanca parley was its success in ending the French factional political tangle whose repercussions here and in Britain had assumed threatening proportions.
Roosevelt and Churchill brought about a meeting between Gen. de Gaulle, leader of the Fighting French faction, and Gen. Giraud, High Commissioner of French Africa, out of which came an agreement that the main French objective is the liberation of France and the triumph of human liberties by the total defeat of the enemy.
This end will be attained, declared a joint statement by the two generals:
…by a union in war of all Frenchmen fighting side by side with all their Allies.
So, at last some common sense is emerging out of all the unbelievable bickering which might well have threatened the future of France.
The lengths to which some radical elements in this country, with the support of a few whose opinions arc ordinarily sounder, have gone has been shocking. Gen. Eisenhower and Secretary of State Hull have been under constant fire. And since the attacks continued even after the President’s statement supporting our North African policies and emphasizing their temporary character, the critics cannot dodge the responsibility of having been aiming at Mr. Roosevelt, too.
The administration argument is well understood. It was a question of saving American lives. If Darlan and later Giraud had not been recognized such chaos might have resulted in French North Africa that even the success of our expedition might have been endangered.
From the beginning it has been the American policy to accept help from all the French elements desirous of freeing France from the Nazi yoke, with the understanding that when that result has been attained the French people themselves will be free to select their own political leaders.
Apparently, it was brought home to the two French leaders at the Casablanca parley that a unified civilian population and unified military support are prerequisites to the freeing of France. At any rate they have accepted the argument that there is no use in quarreling over future leadership until it is assured that there is a free France to lead.
If any further evidence were needed of the complete good faith of Americans in this situation, the mere holding of the conference on French soil will doubtless deeply touch the sentimental French people of all the varied factions into which they have unhappily been split.
Now that the French leaders themselves have seen the light, it is to be hoped that their partisans in the United States will follow suit and stop shooting from the rear at our leaders in the field.