851.01/3377: Telegram
The Acting American Representative to the French Committee of National Liberation at Algiers (Chapin) to the Secretary of State
[Received January 21—1:52 a.m.]
205. The Consultative Assembly concluded yesterday evening a 2 days’ debate on the subject of national defense. Speeches by a number of members and by Le Troquer16 and Jacquinot17 were of general nature and contained no information of particular interest. General de Gaulle in the concluding speech expressed appreciation of the aid which had been given by Great Britain, United States, and Russia and stressed the continuity of France’s war effort as carried on since the armistice by the forces under his command. The speech as a whole seemed to imply an indirect argument that the war effort of the forces wearing the Croix de Lorraine should entitle him to carry on with his colleagues as a government in liberated France.
Before an adjournment the Assembly unanimously passed a motion expressing confidence that the Provisional Government, the President and Members of the Committee of National Defense, the Commissioners of War and Air and of the Marine, would:
- (1)
- Develop France’s war effort to the fullest possible extent and obtain the maximum of armament, material, and equipment as rapidly as possible from the Allies;
- (2)
- Provide for the participation of French in the battles to liberate France;
- (3)
- Eliminate as soon as possible from the French forces elements hostile to the nation and thus put an end to the uneasiness existing because of too slow purification; and
- (4)
- Bring about the complete unification of French forces devoted to service to the nation and the Republic.