Casablanca Conference

78

U.S. State Department (January 25, 1943)

President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill to Premier Stalin

Marrakech, January 25, 1943.

Most secret

President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill to Premier Stalin

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

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79

President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill to Generalissimo Chiang 

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.

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80

The President and the Prime Minister to the Combined Chiefs of Staff 

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:

  1. The desirability of finding means of running the W.J. [JW?] Russian convoys even through the Husky period.

  2. The urgency of sending the air reinforcements to General Chennault’s force in China and of finding means to make them fully operative.

  3. 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.

  4. 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.

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81 
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.

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82

Brooklyn Eagle (January 26, 1943)

London press hails news of ‘momentous decisions’

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.

83

Press Release
January 26, 1943, 10:00 p.m. EWT

84

Brooklyn Eagle (January 27, 1943)

Action will tell foe story of conference

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.

Churchill carried King’s message to Roosevelt

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.

85

No acting President

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.

Sets new precedents

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:

  1. He became the first President who ever left the United States while the nation was at war.
  2. He became the first President ever to fly while holding office.
  3. He became the first President since Abraham Lincoln to visit an actual theater of war.
86

Casablanca a hive of rumors, air batteries and Tommy guns

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.

87

Casablanca war plan maps Hitler’s doom with 1943 smash attack

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:

  1. Full decision on an overall plan of offensive action against the Axis in 1943.

  2. 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

  1. Initial steps toward a solution of the French North African political troubles.

  2. Hints of possible diplomatic maneuvers of a magnitude yet unrevealed. North African dispatches mentioned rumors involving Finland, Sweden, Turkey, Spain and even Italy.

  3. 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.”

  4. 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.

88

All-plane trip defied Secret Service dictum

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.

89

Hull says critics of Africa events don’t have facts

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.

90

Hear de Gaulle, Giraud failed to reach terms

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.

91

Africa confab disappointing, Willkie says

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.

92

Bored Yank guards’ eyes pop: ‘It’s FDR!’

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.

93

Editorial: FDR-Churchill meeting in Africa thrills world

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.

94

Editorial: End of French schism shows folly of U.S. policy’s critics

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.

95

Reading Eagle (January 27, 1943)

WORLD AWAITS ALLIED BLOWS AT AXIS IN WAKE OF HISTORIC AFRICAN POLICY
Strategic decisions unrevealed in 10-day confab at Casablanca

Move to wean Axis satellites seen’ offensive from West is indicated
By Harrison Salisbury, United Press staff correspondent

The world today heard the story of ten days at Casablanca in which President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill placed their stamp upon 1943 offensive plans to bring about the “unconditional surrender” of the Axis.

But indications grew that the dramatic announcement of the war conference on the sun-drenched African coast left many dramatic events and important decisions unrevealed.

Strategic decisions, it was certain, would not be revealed until their reality is brought home to the Axis by the crunch of bombs, the blast of shells and the scramble of landing troops on the European continent anywhere from Norway to Italy or the Balkans.

Maneuvers unrevealed

However, suggestions appeared in dispatches of United Press correspondents from North Africa that diplomatic maneuvers of unrevealed scope may have accompanied the military discussions.

There was no authoritative basis for these suggestions and there was no statement from Allied quarters touching on the possibility of moves designed to wean Axis satellites or sympathizers away from Adolf Hitler.

Finland was hinted as one possible subject of an Allied get-out-of-the-war-while-the-getting-is-good drive. Italy was another and there were rumors as to eye-opening and cards-on-the-table maneuvers involving Spain, Turkey and Sweden.

The ten-day session of the President and Prime Minister ending Sunday, overshadowed all other news from the far-flung fighting fronts of the war.

The news of fresh Russian successes, of deepening gloom in Germany’s satellite states, of ever grimmer warnings by Nazi propagandists to the German public of the seriousness of the reverses in the East provided a dramatic background for the Casablanca announcement.

Foremost in the conclusions drawn in Washington and London was a conviction that the big news of Casablanca is yet to be told.

Results of parley

Thus far, these results of the conference have been made known:

  1. Allied strategic plans for 1943, calling for blows from the West against Hitler’s citadel timed to coincide most effectively with Russian blows from the East, have been started toward execution.

  2. Specific details for the liquidation of the Axis foothold in Tunisia are presumably settled and should quickly be clarified with announcements of a new Anglo-American command in the Mediterranean.

  3. The initial step toward bringing together the dissident French groups represented by Gen. Charles de Gaulle and Gen. Henri Honoré Giraud has been taken, but full collaboration and agreement is still distant.

  4. No apparent progress toward establishment of a unified Allied high command, with Russia and China represented, appears to have been made. However, Joseph Stalin and Chiang Kai-shek were closely advised of Anglo-American decisions.

Some observers believed the language of the Casablanca communiqué, particularly in passages in which Mr. Roosevelt and Churchill appeared to speak for Stalin and Chiang Kai-shek as well as themselves

Confer in Moscow

Stalin and Foreign Minister V. M. Molotov met with British and American diplomatic representatives in Moscow last night a few hours before the news of the Casablanca meeting was flashed to the world.

The communiqué emphasized that Stalin had been invited to attend the conference, but that he found it impossible because of his preoccupation with the Red Army’s offensive.

London reaction to the announcement was enthusiastic except as regards the de Gaulle-Giraud situation. Fighting French spokesmen made clear that whatever progress had been made in settling this thorny issue was almost entirely confined to generalities. De Gaulle and Giraud, it appeared, agreed in their common desire to win France’s liberation and to fight for that end – but on little else.

However, the feeling was strong in London that much more has not been told about Casablanca than has been placed on the record.

This feeling was shared by correspondents in Africa. They noted there was no real necessity for Mr. Roosevelt to make a 6,000-mile trip by air to Africa simply to have a heart-to-heart talk with Churchill, that the joint Allied staff conferences could have been held much more conveniently elsewhere and that speculation and inquiries by newsmen as to participants in the discussions – other than those officially announced – were severely discouraged.

Multitude of rumors

They occupied these observations with the multitude of rumors suggesting that Finnish, Spanish, Turkish, Swedish or even Italian representatives may Have been there. There was no tangible evidence, apparently, for these rumors except Finnish labels spotted by one correspondent on the luggage of one of the arrivals at Casablanca.

There have been some reports recently suggesting that the Finns might be interested in a way out of the war. A Finnish mission headed by Commerce Minister V. A. Tanner is currently in Stockholm, and the German radio only last week claimed that Russia had made a new peace offer to Finland which was rejected. There appears to have been little fighting other than minor skirmishes on the Finnish-Russian front for nearly a year.

Finland’s positions would be of major strategic importance to the Allies in event of a move on northern Norway designed to clear the convoy route to Russia.

The revelation that Mr. Roosevelt and Churchill, accompanies by every top military, naval and air chieftain of the Anglo-American Command had met for 10 days on the African coast right under the nose of the Axis, was beamed to occupied and Nazi Europe by all available means.

The initial effect of the Casablanca Conference was expected to be felt in North Africa.

New army setup seen

While no immediate announcement was forthcoming, it was assumed that complete decisions on the Allied command and tactical plans for the elimination of remaining Axis forces there had been made.

London believed that two commands would be established – a commander-in-chief for the whole Mediterranean, presumably including any forthcoming operations from that theater against Europe, and a field commander in Africa itself. The African field commander would assume charge of the British 1st and 8th Armies and the U.S. 5th Army. London believed an American general would receive one post and a British commander the other. It appeared to be a tossup as to which would receive which.

Caution was voiced in London against expectations of an immediate Allied sweep through Tunisia or any immediate dramatic Allied move against the continent.

96

Conference stirs ire of Nazis, Japs

Casablanca meeting described as ‘bluff’

London, England (UP) –
Germany, completely misled on the Roosevelt-Churchill conference, heaped denunciation on the President today and that Nazi Vichy radio echoed that “Frenchmen” had hoped they would be spared such new effrontery as an Allied meeting on French Empire soil.

The London Daily Sketch, discussing the complete secrecy which protected the conferees at Casablanca, said Allied intelligence agents in the United States had given fake reports of a meeting in Washington to suspected Axis agents and as the result, “an important group” of German spies had been arrested.

It was not until 6 a.m. (1 a.m. EWT), three hours after the world, that German radios heard here reported that the President and Prime Minister Churchill had met at Casablanca.

The OWI reported that the Germans broadcast the fact of the Casablanca Conference at 10:45 p.m. EWT yesterday in an English-language morse code program – 45 minutes after it was announced.

All last night, in broadcasts in many languages, the German and other Axis radios had told in detail how Churchill had gone to Washington to confer with the President, who, they said, had demanded new bases in the British Empire in return for supplies for Britain.

Germany’s first broadcast putting the conference on the right side of the Atlantic merely quoted, in French and German, the fact that it had been held and the names of those who took part. It carried the news under an Amsterdam date, in keeping with the German policy of faking the places of origin of broadcasts on events in Allied countries.

‘Blow to sentiments’

Next the Nazi Vichy radio said:

The general opinion was that Churchill had gone to Washington to confer with the President, but this time the two statesmen met at Casablanca. The choice of Casablanca. The choice of Casablanca, that great city of our empire, deals a severe blow to the sentiments of Frenchmen, who had believed we would be spared such new effrontery.

At 9 a.m. (4 a.m. EWT), Berlin gave its first comment, in an official German news agency dispatch:

Roosevelt’s theatrical appearance in French territory, conquered without fighting, was symbolic of United States imperialism.

Roosevelt’s statement regarding a desire to see the strongest coalition in world history destroyed shows a lack of sense for reality for which he will be punished by the future course of events.

That he wishes the European peoples to bleed white while fighting against Bolshevism confirms that he is one of the greatest criminals in world history.

Germany quoted “political quarters” that the situation in North Africa and differences between the “invasion powers” there – America and Britain – and “French dissidents” had necessitated the personal intervention of the President and Churchill.

Typed as ‘bluff’

This broadcast said:

Internal differences which cannot be bridged have to be camouflaged by a bombastic meeting with the usual democratic propaganda bluff.

It was said that the Allied communiqué on the meeting referred to “offensive action” only to conceal submarine losses.

Berlin said:

Berlin considers that all that is being said on the offensive action subject in Allied declarations is mere propaganda.

As last as 7:15 p.m. EWT yesterday, Berlin was broadcasting such stories as:

STOCKHOLM: The outcome of the conference in Washington is being awaited in London with the utmost interest.

The Nazi Radio Paris broadcast at about 5:30 p.m. EWT yesterday:

Well-informed circles in Stockholm say that the Churchill conversations taking place in Washington deal with new territorial demands by the United States on Britain in exchange for further supplies.

It was learned in circles connected with the British Embassy at Madrid that violent discussions with Secretary of State Cordell Hull caused Viscount Halifax, British Ambassador in Washington, to decide to resign. The reason for the decision was said to be heavy claims made by the United States for cession of new bases.

Berlin had made the same statement regarding territorial claims.

Tokyo’s reaction

San Francisco, California (UP) –
Tokyo radio said today that the results of the meeting between President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill were “all tall talk and no cider.”

Quoting “informed circles,” Tokyo radio said:

The total result of the conferences was their outstanding scrap centered on the puppet French regime set up by both Britain and the United States for dominating North Africa.

Another object was, the Tokyo radio said, to determine how:

Britain and the United States could get into the good graces of the Soviet Union as it would be too vital for the U.S. and Britain to incur the displeasure of the Soviet Union at the present stage of the World War.

97

Völkischer Beobachter (January 28, 1943)

Das Kitschtheater von Casablanca –
Feierliche „Versöhnung“ unter Jupiterlampen

Von unserer Stockholmer Schriftleitung

Stockholm, 27, Jänner –
Der geheimnisvolle Schleier über den britisch-amerikanischen Beratungen ist jetzt gelüftet. Noch 24 Stunden vorher hatten die Londoner Blätter von einer „historischen Überraschung“ geschrieben. Das einzige überraschende aber ist, daß die Beratungen nicht, wie ursprünglich angenommen und geplant war, in Washington, sondern in der Nähe von Casablanca in Französisch-Marokko stattfanden. Sachlich und inhaltlich unterschieden sich die Beratungen in nichts von der Konferenz, die vor genau einem Jahre in Washington stattgefunden hatte, wenn auch der äußere Rahmen groß aufgemacht sich im grellen Licht der Jupiterlampen vollzog. Roosevelt und Churchill können aber kaum erwarten, daß die Welt ihren Besprechungen irgend welche sensationelle Bedeutung beimißt.

Stalins Sessel bleibt leer

Wie vor einem Jahr wurde ein großer Stab von Militärs und Politikern aufgeboten. Wie vor einem Jahr versichert das im Anschluß an die Konferenz herausgegebene Kommuniqué, daß die gemeinsamen Generalstäbe die gesamte Kriegslage besprochen und alle Unterlagen für die Hilfsmittel „für eine besonders intensive Fortsetzung des Krieges“ geprüft hätten. Wie vor einem Jahr glänzten die Sowjets durch Abwesenheit, obwohl man sie auch dieses Mal aufgefordert hatte und so weit gegangen war, Stalin „einen bedeutend weiter östlichen Platz“ vorzuschlagen. Wie vor einem Jahr versichern Roosevelt und Churchill, „sie seien sich klar über die unerhörten Kriegslasten der Sowjetunion,“ und wie vor einem Jahr geloben sie,

…die Last der bolschewistischen Armeen dadurch zu erleichtern, daß sie sich an gewissenhaft gewählten Punkten in dem Kampf mit dem Feind einlassen werden.

Wie vor einem Jahr wird erklärt, daß sowohl Stalin wie Tschiangkaischek völlig auf dem laufenden gehalten wurden.

Das also ist die ganze „Sensation.“ Damit das Ergebnis aber nicht allzu mager ausfiel, wurden die landesflüchtigen Generale Giraud und de Gaulle unter Druck gesetzt, ebenfalls nach Casablanca beordert und gezwungen, eine Erklärung herauszugeben, indem sie ihren Willen zur Zusammenarbeit versichern. Nachdem man die beiden französischen Kampfhähne unter einen Hut gebracht hatte, von dem man nicht einmal weiß, ob er wieder hochgeht, setzten sich Roosevelt und Churchill noch einmal mit ihren Beratern zusammen und gaben kund und zu wissen, daß sie damit:

…ihre Pläne für die offensiven Aktionen im Jahre 1943 abgeschlossen hätten, die jetzt jeder für sich in die Tat umsetzen würde.

Wer unterwirft wen?

Roosevelt, der nun einmal Krieg im Hollywooder Stil führt und etwas für die Hebung der Stimmung im eigenen Lande tun muß, hat die Beratungen bei Casablanca die „Konferenz der bedingungslosen Unterwerfung“ getauft. Es steht nicht ganz fest, ob damit England gemeint war. Churchill war vorsichtiger und erklärte lediglich, er hätte noch nie einer „wichtigeren“ Konferenz beigewohnt.

Interessanter als diese nachträglichen Deklarationen, die dem blassen Kommuniqué nachdrücklich etwas Farbe verleihen sollen, ist die Zusammensetzung des Stabes, den Roosevelt und Churchill mit nach Marokko brachten. Auf englischer Seite war neben dem Ersten Seelord Sir Doucley Pound, dem Chef des Generalstabes Sir Allan Brooke, dem Luftmarschall Sir Charles Portal, dem Oberbefehlshaber im Mittleren Osten General Alexander und dem stellvertretenden Chef der britischen Luftwaffe, Luftmarschall Tedder, auch der Transportminister Lord Leathers anwesend. Das deutet darauf hin, daß der Unterseebootkrieg einen der Hauptpunkte der Beratungen bildete. Von amerikanischer Seite waren außer den drei Stabschefs Harry Hopkins und Harriman zugegen. Zur Berichterstattung hatten sich der General Eisenhower und der Chef der britischen Mittelmeerflotte Admiral Cunningham eingefunden. Schließlich wurde auch Roosevelts Vertreter, Murphy, heranzitiert, während der britische Sondergesandte MacMillan bezeichnenderweise nicht genannt wird.

Da die amerikanische Verfassung es dem Präsidenten verwehrt, ohne besondere Genehmigung des Kongresses ins Ausland zu reisen und von einer solchen Genehmigung nichts bekannt ist, so bleibt nur die Annahme übrig, daß Roosevelt Französisch-Marokko seelenruhig als amerikanisches Gebiet betrachtet. Churchill war also wiederum, genau wie in Washington, nur „Gast“ Roosevelts. Eine „Gastrolle“ ist es allerdings nicht mehr, die er spielen muß…

Verhandlungen hinter Stacheldraht

tc. Tanger, 27. Jänner –
Roosevelt und Churchill hielten ihre tägliche Konferenz in Casablanca hinter einem „riesigen Ring aus Stacheldraht“ ab, wie von dort berichtet wird. Der Konferenzort war ein Hotel in der Nähe von Casablanca. Ein Dutzend Villen, die das Hotel umgeben, war für die Kongreßteilnehmer beschlagnahmt und ebenfalls aufs stärkste militärisch gesichert worden.

In ihren Presseerklärungen beteuerten Roosevelt und Churchill die enge Freundschaft, die zwischen ihnen bestünde, und bedauerten mehrmals, daß kein Sowjetvertreter erschienen war.

Nach einer Reuter-Meldung hat sich auch Wendell Willkie zu der Besprechung in Casablanca geäußert. Er drückte seine Unzufriedenheit darüber aus, daß die Leiter der Sowjetunion und Tschungking-Chinas nicht anwesend waren und daß ein großer militärischer strategischer Rat nicht zustande gekommen sei. In einer Rundfunkansprache erklärte Willkie:

Vielleicht werden die Gerüchte über die Bildung eines großen strategischen Rates noch Wahrheit. Wir hatten gehofft, daß Stalin und Tschiangkaischek bei den Besprechungen anwesend sein würden.