851.01/2175
The British Embassy to the Department of State
Aide-Mémoire
Arrangements have been made with the approval of General Eisenhower and General Giraud for General de Gaulle to travel by air to Algiers at the end of this week accompanied by Massigli, Philip, Billotte, Palewski and other subordinate staff.
The United States Government will be aware of the exchanges which have taken place between General Giraud and General de Gaulle, and of the acceptance by the French National Committee of the latest proposals received from Algiers. His Majesty’s Government understand that a central Executive Committee will be formed immediately with Generals Giraud and de Gaulle acting as joint presidents, and that this Committee will operate on the principle of collective responsibility and will last until such time as, after the liberation of France, a provisional government can be established in accordance with the Constitution of the French Republic.
A statement will be issued at Algiers in due course announcing the formation of the new central authority and defining its status and functions. It is desirable that the United States Government and His Majesty’s Government should be in a position to define their attitude to the new body as soon as possible thereafter, and that their attitude should so far as is practicable be concerted in advance. In any event, it is likely that Mr. Eden will be called upon in the House of Commons next week to make a statement about developments at Algiers and, if agreement has been reached in Algiers by then, he would like to be able to indicate the attitude of His Majesty’s Government to the new Administration, at any rate in a preliminary way, in agreement with the United States Government.
The idea of His Majesty’s Government would be that the two governments should say at the appropriate moment that they regard this central Executive Committee as representing all French Nationals and Territories which are associated, or hereafter become associated with the United Nations in the war against the Axis. It might be as well to add that the existing agreements between the Allied Commander-in-Chief and the French authorities in French North and West Africa, and those between His Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom and the French National Committee will remain in force until replaced by new arrangements with the Executive Committee, with whom all negotiations will in future be conducted.
His Majesty’s Government would be glad to receive the observations of the United States Government on the above proposal.