Casablanca Conference

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.

98

Hintergründe des Treffens in Casablanca –
Die Kriegführungsschwierigkeiten der USA.

dnb. Stockholm, 27. Jänner –
Die amerikanische Monatszeitschrift American Magazine bringt sieben in ihrer jüngsten Nummer eine Reihe an die amerikanische Öffentlichkeit gerichteter Botschaften führender USA.-Politiker, in denen diese teils rückblickende Betrachtungen über das vergangene Jahr anstellen, teils aber auch Voraussagen für 1943 machen.

„Unsere Gegner schlugen uns 1942 immer weiter zurück und ließen Sich in ihrem Vormarsch durch nichts aufhalten,“ stellte dabei unter anderem Marineminister Knox fest. Vor allem seien – so betont er – Fehler, wie man sie 1942 in allen Kriegsorganisationen der USA. gemacht habe, im neuen Jahr unbedingt zu vermeiden. Der Unterstaatssekretär im USA.-Kriegsministerium, Patterson, bemerkt: So verständlich auch die immer Wieder laut werdende Forderung nach größerer militärischer Aktivität sei, so müsse die Bevölkerung der Vereinigten Staaten doch die Transport- und Nachschubschwierigkeiten erkennen und in ihre Berechnungen einbeziehen. Der Vorsitzende der Kommission für den Arbeitereinsatz, MacNutt, stellt in seinem Beitrag fest, in den USA.:

…kratze man jetzt die letzten Reste des noch verbliebenen Menschenmaterials zusammen.

In der richtigen Weise für den Arbeitseinsatz und vor allem für die Arbeiterbeschaffung zu sorgen, sei eines der größten Probleme, vor denen die USA. 1943 stünden. Deshalb werde im neuen Jahr der Fraueneinsatz in den Rüstungsbetrieben und in der Landwirtschaft eine ganz besondere Rolle spielen.

Innenminister Harold Ickes erklärt: Der amerikanische Benzinmarkt habe seit Kriegseintritt der USA. turbulenteste Zeiten durchgemacht. Zahllose Tanker seien versenkt worden, das Verkehrswesen habe an der Atlantikküste schwerste Störungen erfahren und man habe schließlich zu einer allgemeinen Benzinrationierung greifen müssen. Gerade in der Treibstoffversorgung gehe man im neuen Jahre schweren Zeiten entgegen.

Die Lagebetrachtungen des USA.-Beauftragten für das Kriegstransportwesen Eastman, gipfelten in der Feststellung, daß die USA. vor gewaltigen Aufgaben stehen, die um so unlösbarer erscheinen müßten, als sich praktisch alle Gummifelder in den Händen des Feindes befänden. Dies werde um so mehr als ein schwerer Schlag in den USA. empfunden, als fast der gesamte Schiffsverkehr längs der Küste durch die ständigen U-Boot-Angriffe unterbrochen sei. Man habe den Schiffsverkehr durch den Panamakanal so gut wie stilllegen müssen und sei infolgedessen mehr als je auf den Auto- und Eisenbahnverkehr angewiesen. Aber auch den Eisenbahnverkehr könne man nicht nach Belieben ausdehnen, da es hier zur Verstärkung des Rollmaterials an den nötigen Rohstoffen fehle.

Während Roosevelt und Churchill sich in Casablanca trafen, um vor der Weltöffentlichkeit das Theater einer angeblichen Bereinigung ihrer Differenzen in Nordafrika zu spielen, werfen die von American Magazine aus den Federn maßgebender USA.-Politiker veröffentlichten Botschaften ein grelles Schlaglicht auf die mannigfachen ernsten Schwierigkeiten, in denen sich Roosevelt und sein Land heute mehr denn je befinden. Sie geben in Wahrheit den düsteren Hintergrund der allgemeinen Gegenwartslage der Vereinigten Staaten ab, vor dem die Begleitmusik der anglo-amerikanischen Publizistik zu dem mißglückten Zusammentreffen Roosevelts und Churchills in Casablanca nur wie leere Phrasen und wie der vergebliche Versuch wirken kann, die Völker Englands und der USA. über die nüchternen Tatsachen einer Kriegführung, die gegen ihre Regierungen spricht, mit billigen Mitteln hinwegzutäuschen.

99

La Stampa (January 28, 1943)

Il convegno di Casablanca –
Nessun problema risolto in dieci giorni di colloquii

La stampa britannica manifesta la sua delusione e deplora l’assenza degli alleati rosso e cinese

Lisbona, 27 gennaio –
A conferma dei gravi dissidi e delle difficoltà della situazione in Africa settentrionale, si apprende oggi che Roosevelt e Churchill, accompagnati dai rispettivi Stati Maggiori, si sono incontrati a Casablanca, dove avevano convocato anche De Gaulle e Giraud per imporre loro di mettersi d’accordo.

La conferenza, che è durata dieci giorni, ha dato luogo ad un nutrito scambio di messaggi con Stalin e Ciang Kai Scek, i quali, pur essendo stati invitati a parteciparvi, risposero di non potersi assentare dai loro paesi.

Dopo l’incontro, Churchill ha espresso il suo rincrescimento per il fatto che Stalin e Ciang Kai Scek non fossero presenti; lo stesso vivo disappunto è stato d’altra parte espresso pubblicamente anche da Wandell Willkie. Anche i quotidiani londinesi Daily Mail e News Chronicle insistono su questo punto. Nella stampa britannica tutto è relegato in secondo piano. Sono, in generale, telegrammi descrittivi, che parlano del sole e delle bianche case del Marocco, ma dicono molto poco delle decisioni prese. Del resto, anche i comunicati ufficiali sono vaghi e si esprimono in termini generali, di modo che i commenti dei giornali sono, essi stessi, poco precisi, accontentandosi di dare lunghe parafrasi dei comunicati e delle dichiarazioni. Ma dietro a tutto questo – nota la Reuter – sembra si nasconda una delusione generale, pel fatto che i grandi problemi, che tutto il mondo sperava di veder regolati, sembra non lo siano stati. Il News Chronicle ed il Daily Herald esprimono apertamente tale delusione.

Il Times riconosce, altresì, che un accordo completo fra Giraud e De Gaulle non è stato raggiunto, ed aggiunge:

Casablanca non sarebbe certamente stata scelta come luogo per la riunione, se questo dissidio non avesse costituito la immediata preoccupazione della conferenza. Dalla rapida espulsione del nemico dai suoi ripari in Tunisia dipende la possibilità di ogni piano per l’assalto alla fortezza europea nel 1943, e nulla è più suscettibile di ritardare questa vitale tappa preliminare, che la continuazione dei malintesi tra gli alleati sulle linee di comunicazione africane.

D’altra parte il Times ritiene che i piani alleati possono essere messi in esecuzione, con probabilità di successo, soltanto se la minaccia dei sommergibili verrà finalmente dominata.

Il Daily Herald parla più chiaramente:

Cosa è che la conferenza non ha compiuto? Essa non ha certamente realizzato le profezie venute da Washington da una settimana e più. Il gran consiglio strategico delle quattro nazioni alleate non è nato. Nè una parola è detta nel comunicato circa il coordinamento degli scopi degli alleati per il dopo-guerra. Una altra speranza non realizzata è che la conferenza avrebbe eliminato le difficoltà politiche, nette quali gli alleati si trovano in seguito alla loro occupazione dell’Africa settentrionale francese.

In quanto al News Chronicle esso disapprova il fatto che la conferenza abbia avuto luogo in Africa, perchè ritiene che:

…nessuno dei risultati ottenuti giustifica questo spostamento. Tutte le questioni discusse potevano esserlo altrove che in Africa del Nord. Una stretta di mano scambiata fra Giraud e De Gaulle non pub aver regolato la situazione.

(Stefani)

100

Brooklyn Eagle (January 28, 1943)

Allies hold war council may speed Europe invasion

Study move to put Roosevelt-Churchill plans in operation

London, England (UP) –
U.S. and British military leaders held a council of war at Allied North Africa headquarters today and discussed means of putting into execution on the fighting fronts the broad strategic plans made at the Casablanca Conference between President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill.

The best military brains of the two nations were represented in the War Council that took place almost within the sound of guns booming on the Tunisian front.

There were reports in military circles here today that the Allied commanders in North Africa were working on a definite plan for an assault on Europe this year. Some sources said the invasion of Europe was considered such an urgent matter it might even be given precedence over the campaign against the Axis in Tunisia.

Highest officers confer

The United States was represented by Gen. George C. Marshall, Chief of Staff; Lt. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, Allied North African commander; Lt. Gen. Henry H. Arnold, commanding the U.S. Army Air Forces; Adm. Ernest J. King, U.S. naval commander; Lt. Gen. Brehon B. Somervell, of the Services of Supply, and W. Averell Harriman, Lend-Lease official.

For Great Britain: Gen. Harold R. L. G. Alexander, British commander for the Middle East; Vice Adm. Lord Louis Mountbatten, Chief of Combined Operations; Adm. Sir Dudley Pound; Field Marshal Sir John Dill; Lt. Gen. Sir Hastings L. Ismay and Air Vice Mshl. Inglis.

It was understood considerable discussion was given to the immediate plans for the attempt to drive Marshal Erwin Rommel and Gen. Jurgen von Arnim off the narrow bridgehead which the Axis still holds on the North African shore.

Roosevelt commends troops

While the Allied military chiefs were still discussing the place and time of the next blow at the Axis, President Roosevelt sent a message to U.S. troops in North Africa, praising their conduct and equipment.

The message said, in part:

I return to the United States with renewed confidence that American soldiers, equipped with the best equipment the world can produce and led by men who have proven themselves in battle, shall be victorious. Officers and men of the Armed forces of North Africa, I commend you.

Allied air attacks continued, and on Tuesday night bombers struck at Bizerte, the big Axis base in Tunisia. U.S. Billy Mitchell bombers left one Axis destroyer burning between Sicily and Tunisia and damaged another. One Allied plane was missing from yesterday’s operations.

Axis fears for Rommel

The British 8th Army continued to pursue the Afrika Korps through northwestern Tripolitania and Axis radios reiterated their fears that U.S. forces in Tunisia were about to start an offensive designed to cut off the retreat of Rommel’s forces.

The U.S. Army 9th Air Force in Cairo announced in a communiqué that on Tuesday night Liberator bombers attacked Sicilian harbors. Bomb bursts were observed on all target areas and all U.S. planes returned safely.

The Nazi Radio Vichy said the Americans were driving between Gabes, 100 miles from the Tunisian-Tripolitanian border, and Sfax, 63 airline miles above Gabes.

The Middle Eastern Command announced today the 8th Army fought the Afrika Korps’ rearguard yesterday in the area of Sabratha, 40 miles southwest of Tripoli, and 56 miles from Tunisia.

Allied successes in the Kairouan area and northwest of Gabes had lent substance to Axis fears that a big drive as impending against the German-Italian bridgehead in Tunisia.

Dispatches from Allied North African headquarters said the initiative in the Ousseltia area, northeast of Kairouan, had passed from the Germans to the Allies in the last three days, and the enemy had suffered terrible losses in taking positions the French and Americans were now wresting back.

Report 1,258 American casualties in Tunisia

Washington (UP) –
American casualties in Tunisia thus far total 1,258, including 211 killed, 532 wounded and 515 missing, Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson said today. Of the missing, 228 were reported to be prisoners.

101

Völkischer Beobachter (January 29, 1943)

Englands Besorgnisse dauern an –
U-Boot-Gefahr überdeckt das Casablanca-Theater

vb. Wien, 28. Jänner –
Bemerkenswert ist die Reuter-Meldung, daß „die britische Presse am Donnerstag ihre Leitartikel der die anglo-amerikanischen Kriegsanstrengungen bedrohenden U-Boot-Gefahr widmet.“ Das Thema von Casablanca wird also überdeckt durch die deutschen U-Boote, über die bekanntlich das Kommuniqué von Casablanca sich ausschweigt. Daß dazu die jüngste deutsche Sondermeldung über die versenkten 103.000 BRT. wesentlich beigetragen hat, liegt auf der Hand.

Der Evening Standard knüpft an die „Initiative“ an, von der, wie das Blatt meint, gerade jetzt auf englisch-amerikanischer Seite so viel gesprochen werde. In einem Krieg wie dem gegenwärtigen, halte diejenige Partei die Initiative fest in der Hand, die über neuartige Waffen verfüge. Hier lägen die Deutschen weit in Führung, denn gegen die U-Boote, die sie neuerdings erfunden hätten, besäßen die Anglo-Amerikaner noch kein Mittel. Gleichzeitig befänden sich Flottenstützpunkte in Händen Deutschlands, von denen aus sie ihre U-Boot-Angriffe mit sehr großem Erfolg auf die britisch-amerikanische Versorgungsschiffahrt unternähmen. Die Erfolge aber, die der Gegner im Seekrieg erziele, seien entscheidend. Das dürfe man nicht übersehen, zumal eine Blockade des europäischen Festlandes Sich inzwischen als illusorisch herausgestellt habe.

Auch der Manchester Guardian spricht ebenso wie die Daily Mail von der anhaltenden Besorgnis, daß man nichts von neuen gemeinschaftlichen Maßnahmen gegen die U-Boote gehört habe. In der Öffentlichkeit würde man es bedeutend mehr begrüßt haben, wenn man von Casablanca aus einer feste Zusicherung über die U-Boot-Bekämpfung erhalten hätte.

„Die Front auf den Heeren“

Der Kampf auf den Meeren rückt auch in den neutralen Ländern wiederum stark in den Vordergrund. So schreibt unter dem Titel „Die dritte Front“ Yunus Nadi in der Istanbuler „Republique,“ daß man neben den Ereignissen an der Ostfront und in Nordafrika die seit Beginn dieses neuen Weltkrieges existierende Front auf den Meeren vergesse. Es sei unzweifelhaft, daß unter den großen Problemen, die zwischen Churchill und Roosevelt besprochen wurden, eines der wichtigsten die Gefahr sei, die die Achse auf den Meeren darstelle. Amerika gebe selbst zu, daß die USA. und England einen monatlichen Schiffsraumverlust von einer Million Bruttoregistertonnen erlitten.

Alle Welt und in erster Linie Deutschland und England wüßten, daß der deutsche U-Boot-Krieg im vergangenen Weltkrieg die Gegner fast auf die Knie gezwungen hätte. Nun aber sei es klar, daß Deutschlands Lage diesmal viel günstiger sei als im vorigen Weltkrieg. Die U-Boote würden heute von der Luftwaffe unterstützt. An Deutschlands Seite kämpften die Seemächte Italien und Japan, und Deutschland stände heute die europäische Küste- von Narvik bis Spanien und zum Mittelmeer zur Verfügung. Amerika und England hätten Tausende von Seemeilen bis zu den Schlachtfeldern zurückzulegen, und ein versprengter oder zur Hälfte versenkter Geleitzug sei wie eine. verlorene Schlacht. Nicht nur der versenkte Schiffsraum fehle, sondern noch viel mehr die kostbare Ladung. Hinzu komme der Verlust an hochqualifizierten Seeleuten, die eine längere Ausbildung benötigten als Flieger.

Yunus Nadi stellt abschließend fest, daß die anglo-amerikanischen Anstrengungen nicht genügten, um den zunehmenden Möglichkeiten des Angriffs der Achsen-­U-Boote mit Erfolg zu begegnen.

Französisch-Nordafrika spürt Roosevelts „Hand“

dnb. Algeciras, 28. Jänner –
Die wirtschaftliche Lage in Französisch-Marokko hat sich in der letzten Zeit erheblich verschlechtert. Bei ihrer Landung in Französisch-Marokko haben weder die Nordamerikaner noch die englischen Truppen Lebensmittel in größeren Ausmaßen mit Sich geführt. Sie waren daher vom ersten Tag auf Requisition angewiesen. Die Getreidevorräte, die sich in der Nähe der Stadt befanden, und die Lager von Trockengemüse und Trockenkonserven wurden sofort nach der Landung beschlagnahmt. Darüber hinaus haben die Nordamerikaner sogleich mit weiteren Requisitionen begonnen, um Lebensmittelvorräte anzulegen. Diese Requisitionen sind sehr bedeutend und entsprechen ungefähr dem Doppelten der gesamten jährlichen Lebensmittelausfuhr Marokkos nach Frankreich. Zu diesen Beschlagnahmungen kam noch ein besonders von den Engländern stark forcierter Aufkauf von Gemüsen, Wein, Tabak, Südfrüchten und getrockneten Früchten.

Durch die britisch-nordamerikanische Besetzung ist bei den Eingeborenen ein erheblicher Mangel an Lebensmitteln entstanden. Die Versorgung aus Überschußgebieten ist dadurch unmöglich geworden, da Benzin nur für militärische Fahrzeuge abgegeben wird und für den zivilen Transport nicht mehr zur Verfügung steht. Wenn auch die Städte und die landwirtschaftlich schwächeren Gebiete noch nicht von einer Hungersnot unmittelbar bedroht sind, so ergeben sich doch bereits sehr empfindliche Störungen im wirtschaftlichen Verkehr.

Ein Dorf wird ausgerottet

Im Dorf Balta bei Souk el Kamis in Französisch-Nordafrika erschien am 16. Jänner ein nordamerikanischer Offizier mit sieben Mann, um unter den dort lebenden Arabern eine Zwangsrekrutierung durchzuführen. Die Araber leisteten gegen die von den Nordamerikanern beabsichtigte Pressung zum Heeresdienst Widerstand. Der nordamerikanische Offizier erteilte hierauf den Befehl zur Eröffnung des Feuers gegen die Eingeborenen, wobei 14 Araber erschossen wurden, über die Hinschlachtung der 14 Araber empört, sammelte sich eine große Anzahl von Arabern aus der Gegend, überwältigten die nordamerikanischen Soldaten und töteten sie. Auf Befehl des nordamerikanischen Kommandanten wurde hierauf gegen das Dorf Balta eine Strafexpedition durchgeführt, bei der Männer, Frauen und Kinder von den Nordamerikanern erschossen wurden.

102

Völkischer Beobachter (January 30, 1943)

Keine Begeisterung für Casablanca –
Zweikampf Giraud-de Gaulle geht weiter

vb. Wien, 29. Jänner –
Wie schon die ersten offiziellen Mitteilungen über die Konferenz von Casablanca zwischen den Zeilen erkennen ließen, ist es nicht gelungen, die Streitigkeiten zwischen den verschiedenen Cliquen der französischen Separatistengenerale aus der Welt zu schaffen. Das Versöhnungstheater zwischen Giraud und de Gaulle war eine reine Bühnenszene. Nachdem der Vorhang gefallen ist, geht der Kampf in aller Schärfe weiter.

So weist die Presse in Französisch-Nordafrika, die der Kontrolle Girauds untersteht, mit Nachdruck darauf hin, de Gaulle sei in Casablanca praktisch durchgefallen. Nur Giraud sei eingeladen worden, an der Besprechung der Generalstabschefs teilzunehmen. De Gaulle dagegen nicht. Umgekehrt tritt die Times Berichten in der Presse Girauds entgegen, nach denen die Konferenz in Casablanca Giraud als den alleinigen Sachwalter der französischen Interessen anerkannt habe. Dies sei „ein Mißverständnis.“ Die Konferenz habe nichts Derartiges beschlossen. Es sei lediglich ein Verbindungsausschuß ernannt worden. Die Stellung Girauds in Nordafrika sei anerkannt, ebenso jedoch bleibe die Stellung de Gaulles in anderen Gebieten unangetastet. Deutlicher kann nicht gesagt werden, daß auch Roosevelt und Churchill zu keiner einheitlichen Auffassung in dieser Streitfrage gelangt sind.

Konferenz der Nichtigkeiten

Aus Neuyork wird berichtet, daß die erste Begeisterung der Presse über Casablanca, die die Daily Mail als „ersten großen Sieg im Nervenkrieg“ proklamierte, bereits nach 24 Stunden schwachen und müden Kommentaren Platz gemacht habe. Die maßgebenden politischen Kommentatoren in Washington machten keinen Hehl aus dem negativen Ausgang der Besprechungen, den sie wie folgt charakterisierten: Stalin sei nicht erschienen, Tschiangkaischek sei nicht erschienen, volle Einigung zwischen Giraud und de Gaulle sei nicht zustande gekommen, die Schaffung eines einheitlichen Oberkommandos sei anscheinend nicht erreicht worden, die Schaffung eines großen Rates sei nicht vorgenommen worden.

„Diesmal haben die Oberhäupter der Demokratien alles endgültig geordnet, künftig läuft alles wie auf Schienen,“ schreibt die spanische Zeitung Solidaridad Nacional ironisch zu dem anglo-amerikanischen Geschrei um Casablanca. Dummerweise, so fährt das Blatt fort, sei aber bereits vor einem Jahr in einer Churchill-Roosevelt-Erklärung schon einmal „alles geordnet und endgültig in Betrieb gesetzt“ worden. Aber weitere 103.000 BRT. versenkten Schiffsraumes hätten das Fest in tragischer Weise verdorben, anscheinend sei doch nicht alles „endgültig geordnet“ worden.

Im übrigen hat die zehntägige Konferenz von Casablanca auch noch ein militärisches Nachspiel. Nach der Abreise der Politiker sind die Militärs unter sich geblieben und setzen in Algier ihre Beratung fort. Im Hauptquartier des amerikanischen Oberkommandierenden in Nordafrika, General Eisenhower, tagen der Generalstabschef der USA. Marshall, der britische Oberbefehlshaber des Vorderen Orient Alexander und als Vertreter der beiden Flotten der Amerikaner Clark und der Brite Pound. In London gibt man der Erwartung Ausdruck, daß sich als nachträgliches Ergebnis von Casablanca eine Verschmelzung des Flottenkommandos im Atlantik erzielen lasse. Gegenwärtig operierten Amerikaner, Engländer und sogar die Kanadier auf eigene Faust.

Auf den Spuren der Sklavenhändler –
Roosevelt inspiziert Liberia

Stockholm, 29. Jänner –
Wie das Weiße Haus bekanntgab, hat Roosevelt auf der Rückfahrt von Casablanca nach den Vereinigten Staaten den Umweg über Liberia gewählt, um dort, wie es in diplomatischer Glätte heißt, dem „Staatspräsidenten“ einen Höflichkeitsbesuch zu machen. Welcher tiefere Zweck hinter diesem Höflichkeitsbesuch steht, wird aus der Schilderung des Ablaufs der Visite ersichtlich. Danach zeigte sich Roosevelt besonders interessiert, „die in Liberien befindlichen, zahlenmäßig starken Negertruppen zu inspizieren,“ auf gut deutsch: Roosevelt zog an Ort und Stelle Erkundungen ein, wie weit sich die Neger von Liberia als Kanonenfutter für die USA. verwenden lassen.

Im Anschluß an seine Inspektionsreise nach Liberia hatte Roosevelt einer Reuter-Meldung aus Rio de Janeiro zufolge in Natal eine Konferenz mit dem brasilianischen Präsidenten Vargas.

Giraud zeigt großen Eifer –
Senegaltruppen an die Front

Nach der Konferenz von Casablanca hat Giraud seine Anstrengungen verdoppelt, sich den Amerikanern dienstbar zu erweisen und um gegenüber seinem Rivalen de Gaulle seine Position zu verstärken. Sein Versprechen an General Eisenhower, aus Marokko und Algerien große Eingeborenen Truppenkontingente zur Verfügung zu stellen, konnte bisher nicht erfüllt werden, da der Widerstand im Lande gegen die Rekrutierung groß ist. Giraud hat infolgedessen auf Westafrika zurückgegriffen, wo die Rekrutierung jetzt mit allen Mitteln betrieben wird. Giraud hat seinen Vertrauensmann in Dakar beauftragt, augenblicklich das erste Kontingent von Senegaltruppen nach Algerien zu bringen. Dazu wird gemeldet, daß von Dakar ein Geleitzug in See ging, der eine Anzahl von Senegaltruppen an Bord hat.

103

Brooklyn Eagle (January 31, 1943)

A message around the world

img
(Donahey of Cleveland Plain Dealer)

104

Völkischer Beobachter (February 1, 1943)

Blitzlichter vom Nordafrikatheater

dnb. Genf, 31. Jänner –
Charakteristisch für den Ausgang der De-Gaulle-Giraud-Besprechung ist ein Bericht des News Chronicle über die Rückkehr de Gaulles nach London. Er habe bei seinem Eintreffen auf dem englischen Flugplatz, so schreibt das Blatt, „einen müden und nicht besonders freudig gestimmten Eindruck" gemacht.

So gut sich auch de Gaulle und Roosevelt anläßlich ihres Zusammenseins in Casablanca verstanden hätten, so gingen doch, schreibt News Chronicle, ihre Ansichten über die Gestaltung der Dinge in Nordafrika größtenteils auseinander. Auch die Gespräche de Gaulles mit Giraud hätten zu keiner Einigung geführt. De Gaulle habe deshalb keinen der ihm gemachten Verständigungs Vorschläge annehmen können.

Der Franzose d’Astier de La Vigerie, ein Bruder des bekannten Vertrauensmannes von de Gaulle, wird einer Meldung des News Chronicle-Korrespondenten in Nordafrika zufolge unter der Anklage, an dem Mord an Darlan beteiligt zu sein, vor ein Kriegsgericht gestellt. Diese Meldung wird von Nya Dagligt Allehanda wiedergegeben. D’Astier de La Vigerie wäre ein enger Freund des Mörders Darlans und habe mit diesem noch ein paar Stunden vor dem Mord gesprochen. Giraud habe d’Astier de La Vigerie als einen Verschwörer verhaften lassen.