President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill to Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek 2

We have been meeting in North Africa with our Chiefs of Staff,3 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 Chennault4 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 [Page 2] 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.

  1. Copy of telegram obtained from the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, New York Notation at end of text: “O.K. F.D.R. I concur. W.S.C.”
  2. The records of the Casablanca Conference are scheduled for publication in a subsequent volume of Foreign Relations.
  3. Brig. Gen. Claire L. Chennault, commanding United States Air Task Force in China.