840.24/12–1644
The Acting Secretary of War (Patterson) to the Secretary of State
Dear Mr. Secretary: I understand that Sir35 Richard Law, British Minister of State, will accompany a group of British shipping and supply experts arriving in the near future for a series of conferences. The inclusion of Sir Richard Law in this group indicates the importance attached to this mission. The War Department was aware of the fact that shipping experts would participate in a review of cargo shipping under the supervision of the Combined Chiefs of Staff. It is possible that Sir Richard Law may be more directly concerned with the shipment of civilian aid to liberated areas, including Greece, and may present special requirements for supplies as a matter of extreme urgency which would, in turn, call for shipping to be set aside for this purpose as a special concession.
While I believe that you are aware of the critical shipping situation, I am not sure that you have been completely informed of the exchange of memoranda between the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the President on this subject during the past month. Therefore, I should like to summarize the situation by stating that the existing and prospective demands for cargo shipping are now far beyond the availability of vessels and have already created a critical situation with respect to the prosecution of the war.
The increased tempo of military operations in the Pacific and the Atlantic, together with the increasing demands for shipping to handle civilian supplies for occupied countries, has produced critical deficits in the sailings necessary for the direct support of the military effort. So serious has this situation become that the President has directed negotiations with the British for a reduction of forty (40) sailings a month in the U.K. Import Program, and has directed that the use of American shipping for civilian purposes be cut down to the bone. Other drastic measures have been taken by the Joint Chiefs of Staff [Page 326] and the services to conserve shipping in order to make available the greatest possible tonnage in an effort to meet minimum requirements for the support of military operations in Europe and the Pacific. In spite of this, there still exists a critical deficit in sailings during the current month and throughout the first quarter of 1945. A failure to find essential shipping during this critical period may result in a lengthening of the war in both Europe and the Pacific.
A message has just come in from General MacArthur,36 to the effect that operations in the Philippines will be gravely prejudiced unless additional shipping is made available to him at once.
The above matter is presented to you for your information and with the request that no commitment for cargo shipping or informal encouragement regarding the probability of such commitment be made to Sir Richard Law prior to the submission of requirements to and completion of the discussion by the conference on shipping which is to be held under the cognizance of the Combined Chiefs of Staff.
Sincerely yours,