Foreign Relations of the United States: Diplomatic Papers, Conferences at Malta and Yalta, 1945

Roosevelt Papers: Telegram

Prime Minister Churchill to President Roosevelt ¹

[Excerpts]²

top secret

London, 19 November 1944.

Prime Minister to President Roosevelt, Personal and Top Secret number 825.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

6. Para two of your 649³ causes me alarm. If after Germany’s) collapse you “must bring the American troops home as rapidly as transportation problems will permit” and if the French are to have no equipped post-war army or time to make one, or to give it battle experience, how will it be possible to hold down western Germany beyond the present Russian occupied line? We certainly could not undertake the task without your aid and that of the French. All would therefore rapidly disintegrate as it did last time. I hope, however, that my fears are groundless. I put my faith in you.

Prime

1. Sent by the United States Military Attaché, London, via Army channels.
2. Other portions of this telegram are printed ante, p. 17.
3. Supra.