Foreign Relations of the United States, Conferences at Washington and Quebec, 1943

J.C.S. Files

The Combined Chiefs of Staff to President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill ¹

secret
Enclosure to C.C.S. 319

[ Quebec ,] 19 August 1943.

Progress Report to the President and Prime Minister

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the war against japan

14. Southeast Asia Command

We have considered the proposals of the British Chiefs of Staff for the set-up of the Southeast Asia Command.³

On the question of Command relationship, we have agreed:

a. That the Combined Chiefs of Staff will exercise a general jurisdiction over the strategy for the Southeast Asia Theater and the allocation of American and British resources of all kinds between the China Theater and the Southeast Asia Command.

b. That the British Chiefs of Staff will exercise jurisdiction over all matters pertaining to operations, and will be the channel through which all instructions to the Supreme Commander are passed.

We are giving further consideration to:

c. The precise duties of General Stilwell as Deputy Supreme Allied Commander; and

d. Arrangements for the coordination of American agencies such as O.S.S., O.W.I., F.C.B., etc., with comparable British organizations.

15. Operations in the Pacific and Far East

a. We have given preliminary consideration to a memorandum by the Joint U.S. Chiefs of Staff on specific operations in the Pacific and Far East 1943–44.⁴

b. We have had an account from Brigadier Wingate of the experiences of the long-range penetration groups which were employed in Northern Burma in the early part of this year. We think that there is much to be said for further developing this method of conducting operations on a larger scale against the Japanese, and are working out plans to give effect to this policy.

c. We have not yet considered specific operations in Northern Burma or the Arakan Coast for 1943–44, pending the receipt of further information about the logistic situation which has been created by the disastrous floods in India.

d. Meanwhile the Combined Staff Planners have completed in outline a long-term plan for the defeat of Japan.⁵ This has not yet been considered. We propose to review specific operations in the Pacific and Far East for 1943–44 (See a, b and c above) in the light of the conclusions reached on this larger question.

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1. Circulated under cover of the following note by the Secretaries of the Combined Chiefs of Staff (C.C.S. 319), August 19, 1943: “The Enclosure is the report to the President and the Prime Minister which was made to them at the meeting at the Citadel on 19 August [see ante, p. 894]. It includes all of the amendments which they directed be made.” The amendments referred to consisted of six small additions in paragraphs 4, 7, 10, and 15 of the enclosure to C.C.S. 319. The three additions to paragraph 15 are printed in italics below to identify the changes made by Roosevelt and Churchill in the report originally submitted to them.
2. For the introductory paragraphs and the sections dealing with the war in Europe and the Mediterranean, omitted here, see post, p. 1037.
3. C.C.S. 308, ante, p. 968.
4. C.C.S. 301, ante, p. 426.
5. Summarized in the appendix to C.C.S. 313, ante, p. 981.