Foreign Relations of the United States, The Conferences at Washington, 1941–1942, and Casablanca, 1943

Hopkins Papers

The Communiqué¹

[Casablanca,] 24 January 1943.

The President of the United States and the Prime Minister of Great Britain have been in conference near Casablanca since January 14. They were accompanied by the Combined Chiefs of Staff of the two countries, namely, for the United States:

• General George C. Marshall, Chief of Staff, U. S. Army
• Admiral E. J. King, Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Navy
• Lieut. General H. H. Arnold, Commanding U. S. Army Air Forces

and for Great Britain:

• Admiral of the Fleet Sir Dudley Pound, First Sea Lord,
• General Sir Alan Brooke, Chief of the Imperial General Staff,
• Air Chief Marshal Sir Charles Portal, Chief of the Air Staff.

These were assisted by:

• Lieut. General B. B. Somervell, Commanding General, Services of Supply, U. S. Army,
• Field Marshal Sir John Dill, Head of the British Joint Staff Mission in Washington,
• Vice Admiral Lord Louis Mountbatten, Chief of Combined Operations,
• Lieut. General Sir Hastings Ismay, Chief Staff Officer to the Minister of Defence,

together with a number of Staff Officers from both countries.

They have received visits from Mr. Murphy² and Mr. Macmillan;³ from General Eisenhower, the Commander-in-Chief Allied Expeditionary Force in North Africa; from Admiral of the Fleet Sir Andrew Cunningham, Naval Commander Allied Expeditionary Force in North Africa; from General Spaatz, Air Commander Allied Expeditionary Force in North Africa; from General Clark, U. S. Army and from Middle East Headquarters, from General Sir Harold Alexander, Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Tedder and Lieut-General F. M. Andrews, U. S. Army.

The President was accompanied by Mr. Harry Hopkins and was joined by Mr. Averell Harriman.⁴ With the Prime Minister was Lord Leathers, the British Minister of War Transport.

For ten days the Combined Staffs have been in constant session meeting two or three times a day, and recording progress at intervals to the President and the Prime Minister. The entire field of the war was surveyed theatre by theatre throughout the world and all resources were marshalled for the more intense prosecution of the war by sea, land and air. Nothing like this prolonged discussion between two Allies has ever taken place before. Complete agreement was reached between the leaders of the two countries and their respective Staffs upon the war plans and enterprises to be undertaken during the campaign of 1943 against Germany, Italy and Japan with a view to drawing the utmost advantage from the markedly favourable turn of events at the close of 1942.

Premier Stalin was cordially invited to meet the President and the Prime Minister, in which case the meeting would have been held very much farther to the East. He was, however,⁵ unable to leave Russia at this time on account of the great offensive which he himself, as Commander-in-Chief is directing.

The President and the Prime Minister realized to the full⁶ the enormous weight of the war which Russia is successfully bearing along her whole land front, and their prime object has been to draw as much of the weight as possible off the Russian armies by engaging the enemy as heavily as possible at the best selected points.

Premier Stalin has been fully informed of the military proposals.

The President and the Prime Minister have been in communication with Generalissimo Chiang Kai Shek. They have apprised him of the measures which they are undertaking to assist him in China’s magnificent and unrelaxing struggle for the common cause.

The occasion of the meeting between the President and the Prime Minister made it opportune to invite General Giraud⁷ to confer with the Combined Chiefs of Staff and to arrange for a meeting between him and General de Gaulle.⁸ The two Generals have been in close consultation.

The President and the Prime Minister and the⁹ Combined Staffs having completed their plans for the offensive campaigns of 1943, have now separated in order to put them into active and concerted execution.

24. 1. 43

1. The Communiqué was released for publication in Washington on January 26, 1943, at 10 p.m. EWT (at Casablanca at 2 a.m., GMT on January 27). Verbal variations between the text printed here and the text printed in the Department of State Bulletin, January 30, 1943, pp. 93–94, are indicated in footnotes; differences in spelling, capitalization, and punctuation are not indicated.
2. At this point, the text released to the press contains the following insertion: “(Robert Murphy, United States Minister to French North Africa).”
3. At this point, the text released to the press contains the following insertion: “(Harold Macmillan, British Resident Minister for Allied Headquarters in North Africa).”
4. In the text released to the press, this sentence reads as follows: “The President was accompanied by Harry Hopkins (Chairman of the British-American Munitions Assignments Board) and was joined by W. Averell Harriman (United States Defense Expediter in England).”
5. The word “however” was not included in the text released to the press.
6. The phrase “to the full” reads “up to the full” in the text released to the press.
7. At this point, the text released to the press contains the following insertion: “(General Henri Honoré Giraud, High Commissioner of French Africa).”
8. At this point, the text released to the press contains the following insertion: “(General Charles de Gaulle, Fighting French Commander).”
9. The word “the” at this point reads “their” in the text released to the press.