Roosevelt Papers: Telegram
Prime Minister Churchill to President Roosevelt1
top secret
London, 10 August 1944.
Prime Minister to President Roosevelt Personal and top secret number 750.
- 1.
- I have a very bad report on the climatic conditions in Bermuda in the first or second week of September. It is said to be extremely hot and steamy whether ashore or afloat. There is also a persistent southerly wind reported very sticky and unpleasant. I most deeply regret your inability to visit Scotland. The King seemed very much disappointed when I told him. However, I quite see that, with Stalin not coming, you may wish to defer this promised visit. I, therefore, recommend the Quadrant area.4 Mackenzie King assured me he would be enchanted. I have no doubt all could be arranged to your comfort and convenience.
- 2.
- I agree about reduced staff on the Teheran scale,5 but I hope that the meeting will not be delayed beyond the early part of September. There are several serious matters in the military sphere which must be adjusted between our staffs. I, too, would greatly welcome a few frank talks with you on matters it is difficult to put on paper. We have to settle the part the British Empire should take in the war against Japan after Germany’s unconditional surrender. The situation in Burma causes me much anxiety. We have suffered very heavy losses through disease and the prospect of the whole forces of the British Indian Army being tied down indefinitely in the worst part of the country is unattractive. Other tangled questions arise about the position of Alexander’s army in Italy including whether it is to be bled white for Dragoon and thus stripped of all initiative. It is impossible to resolve these thorny matters by correspondence and I am sure that, if we and the staffs were together, good working agreements could be reached.
- 3.
- It will be a very great pleasure for me to see you again. I do hope your tour has done you good. Let me know your wishes as soon as possible.
- Sent to Washington by the United States Military Attaché, London, via Army channels; forwarded by the White House Map Room to Roosevelt, who was then en route from Auk Bay, Alaska, to Bremerton, Washington, as telegram No. Red 290.↩
- Ante, p. 14.↩
- Supra.↩
- Quebec.↩
- See Foreign Relations, The Conferences at Cairo and Tehran, 1943.↩