Nanking Embassy Files, Lot No. F–73: Telegram
President Truman to the Ambassador in China (Hurley)
Berlin, August 1,
1945—3:35 p.m.
Please deliver the following message from me to Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek.
- “1. At the Potsdam Conference79 the Prime Minister of Great Britain and I, in consultation with the Combined Chiefs of Staff, have had under consideration future military operations in southeast Asia.
- 2. On the advice of the Combined Chiefs of Staff we have reached the conclusion that for operational purposes it is desirable to include that portion of French Indo-China lying south of 16 degrees north latitude in the southeast Asia Command. This arrangement would leave in the China theater that part of Indo-China which covers the flank of projected Chinese operations in China and would at the same time enable Admiral Mountbatten to develop operations in the southern half of Indo-China.
- 3. I greatly hope that the above conclusions will recommend themselves to Your Excellency and that, for the purpose of facilitating operations against the common enemy, Your Excellency will feel able to concur in the proposed arrangements.
- 4. I understand that the Prime Minister of Great Britain is addressing a communication to Your Excellency in a similar sense.”
Harry S. Truman
- For report on the Tripartite Conference at Berlin, see Department of State Bulletin, August 5, 1945, p. 153, and Foreign Relations, Conference of Berlin (Potsdam) 1945, vol. ii, p. 1499.↩