851G.00/8–2644
Memorandum by the Secretary of State to President Roosevelt
French Participation in Liberation of Indochina
On August 26, 1944 I sent you a memorandum with a copy of a British aide-mémoire dated August 25 stating that the French had requested British approval of:
- (a)
- Sending a French Military Mission under General Blaizot to be attached to SEAC43 headquarters;
- (b)
- Sending to India a light intervention force for later use in Indochina;
- (c)
- Sending, later on, a French expeditionary force to participate in the liberation of Indochina;
- (d)
- Participation by the French in planning the war against Japan;
- (e)
- Participation by the French in planning political warfare in the Far East.
The British requested American concurrence on the first two points by August 29. You informed me orally that you planned to discuss the French proposals with the British Prime Minister at Quebec; accordingly no reply has been made to the British aide-mémoire.
The Consul at Colombo has reported that on October 4 it was learned from an unimpeachable source that the British plan to bring a French Mission under General Blaizot to SEAC headquarters in the immediate future; that full collaboration is to be given the French Mission which will participate officially in activities of the SEAC; that as American agreement has not been obtained, the Mission will be ostensibly unofficial and will be housed at first in a hotel; that as soon as the concurrence of the Allies is forthcoming it is planned to move the Mission into permanent quarters; and that French parachutists are continuing to be trained by the British in groups of four or five for clandestine activities in Indochina.
As you will recall, the British proposed in their aide-mémoire that all details of French political warfare relating to Indochina should be a matter for arrangement between SEAC and the French Military Mission, although, according to the latest information in the Department, Indochina is in the China theater and not in the SEAC theater.
Will you inform me whether the reported sending of this Mission is in accordance with any understanding which may have been reached with Mr. Churchill on the French requests together with an indication of whether you desire the Department to take any action?
- South East Asia Command.↩