Chapter 173 Volume 5, Chapter 18, Cairo

Sailing on the Majesty with a stop on the island of Malta Khartoum cannot be a meeting place We are all gathered near the pyramids President Roosevelt's arrival I meet with the Chiang Kai-shek couple My indictment of military misconduct since the Battle of Salerno Concerning the strength and responsibilities of the Mediterranean theater An unrealistic division! !The German army controls the shadow of the Overlord operation plan in the eastern Aegean Sea. The first plenary session of the Cairo conference on November 23. Chiang Kai-shek asked the British Navy for support. The second meeting was held on November 24. Mr. Eden and the Turks Come join us after the meeting on the issue of the Supreme Commander America proposes to appoint a Supreme Commander in charge of the German War The British Chiefs of Staff present a memorandum to the contrary I support them our allies remain silent November 25th Thanksgiving Home He left for Tehran on November 27.

On the afternoon of the twelfth of November I set sail from Plymouth with my staff on the Renown, a journey which kept me out of England for more than two months.I was accompanied by the American Ambassador, Mr. Winant, the First Sea Lord, Admiral Cunningham, General Ismay, and other officials of the Ministry of Defence.I was very unwell. I was already suffering from a severe cold and sore throat, which became worse because of the injections against typhoid and malaria.I was bedridden for days.My colleagues in the cabinet expressed their concern and hoped that my daughter Sarah would accompany me, and I happily accepted their request.Sarah works in the Air Force and is now my adjutant.We passed the Bay of Biscay safely, and I was able to go on deck while crossing the Strait of Gibraltar.On the sixteenth we stopped in Algiers for a few hours, and I had a long talk with General Georges about the French situation in Africa.As night fell we continued on to Malta, reaching the island on the seventeenth.

Here I met with two generals, Eisenhower and Alexander, and other important people.After the Tunisian campaign, I suggested to the King that General Alexander should be honored with the North African Ribbon bearing the letters one and eight, representing the two British armies victorious in the North African campaign.I think Eisenhower is the Supreme Commander, so he deserves that honor as well.I sought the king's consent, and it was granted.It is my great honor to bestow this exceptionally honorable ribbon on the two commanders.When I fastened the ribbon to their skirts, they were all surprised, and looked very happy.When I arrived in Malta, very ill with another cold and fever, but still able to support me, I attended a dinner given by the Governor of Malta at his war residence.The original residence of the Governor-General was rendered uninhabitable due to bombing.

The whole time I was in Malta, I was obliged to stay in bed, although I continued to attend to various business, and got up only for a staff meeting and a final tour of the bombed-out naval yard.There, the entire staff and workers assembled to welcome me with great enthusiasm.At midnight on November 19th we sailed on to Alexandria. I had a telegram from President Roosevelt saying that his security advisers thought it too dangerous to hold a meeting in Cairo.Fearing German air strikes from Greece and Rhodes, they suggested that the meeting be held in Khartoum instead.This is of course not Roosevelt's own opinion, because he does not consider personal safety at all.

Khartoum is not well equipped to accommodate the large number of officials we have brought with us, nearly five hundred of them, so I want Ismay to investigate the Maltese installations. He reported that, because of the damage caused by the air raids, the living conditions in Malta were not only inadequate for our large group, but also very poor.I therefore decided that we had better stick to Cairo, where all the arrangements were made.There were eight British air squadrons stationed at Alexandria, and if German planes came to attack, they were bound to be intercepted and destroyed.Near the pyramids, the isolated area where we were going to live was guarded by more than an infantry brigade, and there were more than 500 anti-aircraft guns nearby.So I sent a wireless telegram to the USS Iowa, which was carrying President Roosevelt across the Pacific Ocean:

prime minister to president roosevelt November 21, 1943 Read John 14:1-4. 【１】 [1] "New Testament" John 14:1-4 original text: Do not let your hearts be troubled; believe in God, believe also in me.In my father's house there are many dwellings; if there were not, I would have told you.I go to prepare a place for you.Where I am, I also call you to be there.translator After the telegram was sent, I read these verses of John's Gospel more carefully from beginning to end.I was a little apprehensive lest, in addition to giving the impression of unintentional blasphemy, I might be offended by making myself appear too decisive.But President Roosevelt brushed aside all objections, so our plan remained the same.As a result, German planes never came within hundreds of miles of the pyramids.

The Prestige arrived at Alexandria in the early morning of November 21, and I immediately flew to the desert airfield near the Pyramids.Here, Mr. Casey has at my disposal the comfortable villa in which he himself lives.Surrounding our residence is a vast Kasselin forest, dotted with luxurious residences and gardens of Cairo's rich and powerful from all over the world.Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek and his wife have settled down comfortably half a mile away.President Roosevelt would live in the spacious villa of American Ambassador Kirk about three miles up the road to Cairo.When he arrived from Oran on the Sacred Cow the next morning, I met him at the desert airport and drove to his villa.

The accompanying staff officers quickly gathered together.The headquarters of the conference and the gathering place of the Chiefs of Staff of the British and American Armed Forces were at the Grand Hotel of Mina, opposite the pyramid, only half a mile from where I lived.The whole area was covered with troops and anti-aircraft guns, and the strictest cordon was placed on all the passages.People at all levels also got to work right away, dealing with a multitude of matters requiring decisions and adjustments. The problems we feared would arise due to the arrival of Chiang Kai-shek have now finally happened.The lengthy, complex and trivial situation concerning China seriously disrupted the talks between the chiefs of staff of the United Kingdom and the United States.Moreover, as will be described below, because President Roosevelt paid too much attention to the India|China battlefield, he soon held several long and secret talks with Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek.We had hoped to persuade Chiang Kai-shek and his wife to visit the pyramids and have fun until we returned from Tehran, but this hope did not materialize.As a result, Chinese affairs were not the last but the first to be discussed at the Cairo Conference.No matter how much I argue, President Roosevelt promised the Chinese a large-scale amphibious operation in the Bay of Bengal within the next few months.This plan, no matter compared with my Turkish plan or the Aegean Sea plan, will take up more landing craft and tank landing craft required by the Overlord operation plan, and the current shortage of these ships has severely affected combat operations .Moreover, the plan of operations in the Bay of Bengal must seriously interfere with the great campaign we are conducting in Italy.On November 29th I informed the Chiefs of Staff in writing that the Prime Minister wishes to put on record the fact that he expressly rejected Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek's request that we undertake an amphibious operation in parallel with the land campaign in Burma .But it was not until we returned to Cairo from Tehran that I finally persuaded President Roosevelt to withdraw his promise.Even so, many intricacies still occurred.These circumstances will be discussed shortly.

Of course I took this opportunity to visit Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek at his villa, where he and his wife lived comfortably.This is my first meeting with Chiang Kai-shek. I was deeply impressed by his calm, cautious and capable character.At this time, his authority and prestige were at their peak.In the eyes of Americans, he is a decisive force in the world, he is a fighter in the new Asia.Undoubtedly, he was a staunch defender of China against Japanese aggression, and at the same time he was vehemently opposed to the Communist Party.People from all walks of life in the United States recognized that after victory in this war, he would become the head of the fourth largest country in the world.Later, many people who held these views and valuations abandoned their original views.I did not agree with the overestimation of Chiang Kai-shek's power, or China's future contribution, at the time, however, I can point out here that Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek is still dedicated to the same cause that made him widely famous at that time, but, Then he was defeated by the Communist Party in his own country, which is a very bad thing.

I had a very pleasant conversation with Madam Chiang Kai-shek.I found her to be a very good and charismatic character.I told her how sorry I had been for not being able to find an opportunity to meet when we were both in the United States at the same time.We agreed that we should not let those cumbersome etiquette hinder our talks in the future.During the talks at President Roosevelt’s villa, President Roosevelt once asked us to take a group photo. Although many people who used to admire Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek and his wife now regard them as evil and corrupt reactionary figures, I still want to preserve this photo as a souvenir.

On the voyage to Cairo I had drawn up a document which was actually an indictment of misconduct in the Mediterranean campaign during the two months following our victory at Salerno.I submitted this document to the Chiefs of Staff Committee, who agreed in principle but also made several comments in detail.The final revised text is as follows: In the past year since the Battle of Alamein and the landing in Northwest Africa, the British and American armies have won practically continuous victories on various battlefields.There can be no doubt that our method of commanding operations, through the Joint Chiefs of Staff working under the leadership of both heads of government, has enabled our field commanders to win brilliant victories and achieve great results.Never before in the history of all the alliances has there been such coordination and mutual understanding, not only at the highest command but also among commanders and units in the field.Our joint operations from Alamein to Naples and the disposition of our forces in Italy have been very sound and successful. 2. However, the situation changed later.We were behind, and in a sense, greatly behind our own victory situation.Among the British and American staffs some differences of opinion arose, differing in emphases rather than in principle.We should not see that we have achieved some victories and become complacent, and refuse to carry out serious and careful self-examination separately and jointly in order to improve working methods and continuously improve the quality of work. 3. Since the successful landing and deployment of troops in Italy in September, the war in the Mediterranean has gone through an unsatisfactory course.The build-up and advance of our troops in Italy must be regarded as very slow, though the bad weather also had an effect.At the front, we have no significant advantage over the enemy.Many divisions fought consecutively after landing without any opportunity for rotation.Meanwhile, the 50th and 51st Divisions, the most elite British divisions, based in Sicily and close to the field, were first disarmed and then withdrawn to the United Kingdom.We have not been able to employ the tactics of conducting amphibious assaults from the east or west coasts to help our forces push forward to where we might hope to be.Some urgently needed landing craft have been dispatched home, but suffered serious losses due to bad weather on the way.A large number of other landing craft have also been withdrawn and concentrated, ready to leave home.The execution of these orders has now been postponed until December 15, but this date has no meaning for the objectives of the Mediterranean campaign.The landing craft were not used during October and November, except to assist in bringing vehicles ashore.At the same time, the establishment of a strategic air force in Italy also hindered the reinforcement of the front line.As a result, the campaign across the land has been slackened.There was no hope of taking Rome in 1943. 5. Concurrent with these circumstances is that we have not taken any real steps to support the partisans and patriots in Yugoslavia and Albania.These partisans held as many (German) divisions as the combined British and American armies held.So far, they have been supported solely by airdropped supplies.For more than two months now we have had air and sea superiority in the mouth of the Adriatic, but no supply ships have yet entered the ports occupied by the partisans.Instead, the German army systematically drove the partisans out of these ports and gained control of the entire Dalmatian coast.It is impossible for us to prevent the German forces from taking Corfu and Argostolione, which they now have de facto control over.The German army has thus overcome the difficulties caused by the collapse and treachery of Italy, and is carrying out a very violent sweep of the patriotic forces and cutting them off from the sea. 6. How did this situation come about?The reason is that we have drawn an imaginary dividing line in the Mediterranean that relieves General Eisenhower's forces of all responsibility for the Dalmatian coast and the Balkans.These areas were assigned to General Wilson of the Middle East Command, but he did not have the necessary troops.Thus, one command has troops but no responsibilities; another command has responsibilities but no troops.This cannot be considered an ideal arrangement. Seventh, the most unfortunate are the Dodecanese Islands and the Aegean Sea.Immediately after the surrender of Italy, we seized, with Italy's consent, several of the islands it controlled, the two most important of which were Kos and Leros.We tried unsuccessfully to take Rhodes, which of course is the heart of the Aegean.Hitler quickly realized the naval and political importance of the heavily fortified island of Røros, which had so easily fallen into our hands.Therefore, he was very tenacious and stubborn to personally take charge of restoring the situation in the Aegean Sea.A large part of Germany's air force, which could have been used in the Italian war, was transferred to the Aegean battlefield, while sea transportation was temporarily arranged. 【１】 [1] According to German archives, during this period the German Air Force in the Aegean gained nearly 300 aircraft, while its Italian Air Force decreased by about 200 aircraft. At the beginning of October the German attack on the islands of Leros and Kos was clearly imminent; on the 4th of October Kos, where we had only one battalion, was reoccupied by the Germans.The island of Leros, despite an unexpectedly protracted defensive battle, finally fell on November 16.The British lost around 5,000 men in the whole campaign, while the enemy won their first victory since El Alamein.All of these battles were of course outside the purview of the North African Supreme Command. 9. Now, the German army has completely controlled the eastern part of the Aegean Sea.Although they were already at a disadvantage in the skies of Italy, they did not hesitate to reduce the air power there, and transferred to the Aegean battlefield sufficient air power to dominate the Aegean Sea.Although the front-line air forces of the United States and Britain in the Mediterranean Sea have more than 4,000 aircraft, that is to say, they are actually equal to the entire strength of the German Air Force. However, the Germans can still use it on the Aegean battlefield. When we lack air force All old tricks were used, and Stuka dive bombers were used to destroy the resistance of our best troops, and to sink and blow up our ships. 11. These unfortunate circumstances arise from two causes.The first reason has already been stated, namely, that an artificial line was drawn between the eastern and western parts of the Mediterranean, and the western commanders with their armies were absolved of all responsibility for the vital interests at stake in the eastern part.The second reason is of course the shadow brought about by the Overlord's battle plan.The decision at Quebec was taken before the consequences of the collapse of Italy became apparent, and before the capitulation of the Italian fleet and our successful invasion of the Continent.Nevertheless, these decisions were, until two weeks ago, rigidly and mechanically maintained.It has not been possible for us to meet at an earlier date.At present we are faced with the prospect that the established date of Overlord will continue to hamper and weaken our Mediterranean campaign; our situation in the Balkans will deteriorate;We have to accept all this for a May campaign on the assumption that it will probably not be realized then, and it certainly will not be if we ease the pressure in the Mediterranean. 12. At present, everyone in the army knows that in order to conduct a campaign in another place in the spring, manpower and material resources will be transferred from the Mediterranean battlefield as much as possible according to needs.We cannot ignore this situation, as it had a demoralizing and weakening effect on the entire Mediterranean campaign.The fact that troops and landing craft are being withdrawn from the field, and that military establishments are being ordered to return home, is detrimental in itself.Our strong desire to concentrate our forces against the enemy, which has carried us from Alamein to here in the past, and which has made us invincible in the Tunis campaign, has been compromised. Now, however, we can only deal with the enemy in the Mediterranean and at the same time be able to use our numerical superiority to overwhelm them.But in the Mediterranean, the only theater where any action could be taken for the next few months, we slowed down the fighting, an odd way of aiding the Russians indeed. The first plenary meeting of the Cairo Conference (codenamed Sextant) was held on Tuesday, November 23, at the villa of President Roosevelt.The purpose of this meeting was to formally and concisely explain to Chiang Kai-shek and the Chinese delegation the draft operational plan for Southeast Asia drawn up by the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee at the Quebec meeting.Admiral Mountbatten and his staff had flown in from India.He first described the military plan he had received and was to implement in the Southeast Asian battlefield in 1944.I then add on the general situation of the Navy.Thanks to the surrender of the Italian fleet, and other developments favorable to the navy, it was not long before a British fleet could be established in the Indian Ocean.This fleet will eventually have no less than five modern capital ships, four heavily armored cruisers and twelve auxiliary transport ships.Chiang Kai-shek interjected that he believed that the victory of the Burma campaign depended not only on the strength of our naval forces stationed in the Indian Ocean, but also on the simultaneous coordination of naval operations and land operations.I pointed out that there was no necessary connection between the land campaign and the fleet operations in the Bay of Bengal.Our main fleet bases can exercise their commanding influence two to three thousand miles from the theater of operations of our armies.These battles, therefore, cannot be compared with those of Sicily, where the British fleet was able to fight in close support of the army. The meeting was short, and it was agreed that Chiang Kai-shek and the Joint Chiefs of Staff would discuss the details further. The next day, President Roosevelt convened the second meeting of our Joint Chiefs of Staff to discuss operational plans in Europe and the Mediterranean, and the Chinese delegation did not participate.Before we go to Tehran, we need to consider the relationship between these two battlefields and exchange views with each other.President Roosevelt spoke first. He talked about any possible actions we can take in the Mediterranean now, including Turkey's entry into the war, and what impact it would have on the Overlord plan. In my speech I said: Operation Overlord remains a priority, but this campaign should not outright negate any other activity in the Mediterranean, for example, there should be some flexibility in the use of landing craft.General Alexander had requested that the date for the landing craft to go to the Battle of Overlord should be postponed from mid-December to mid-January.In Great Britain and Canada, orders have been issued for the construction of an additional eighty tank landing craft.We're going to try to do even better than that.We may find that the issues at issue between the American and British staffs affect only one-tenth of the human and material resources of both countries (not counting the power in the Pacific).Undoubtedly, some degree of flexibility is allowed.I still want to dispel any notion that we have weakened and chilled Overlord, or attempted to withdraw from this campaign.On the contrary, we are ready to go all out. In general, I think that the course I advocate is to occupy Rome in January and Rhodes in February; resume the supply of Yugoslavia, solve the problem of the arrangement of the headquarters, and according to the results of our negotiations with Turkey To open up the Aegean Sea; within the scope of the above-mentioned Mediterranean policy, speed up all preparations for the Overlord Operation Plan. This is a faithful record of my position on the eve of the Tehran conference. Mr. Eden came from the UK to join us when he was flying back to the UK after the talks in Moscow.His presence has been very helpful to me.He and General Ismay met the Turkish foreign minister and other Turkish figures in Cairo on their way back to Britain from the Moscow conference.During these talks, Mr. Eden pointed out that we urgently need air bases in southwestern Anatolia.He explained that our military situation on Leros and Samos was dangerous due to German air superiority.Later, both islands were lost.Mr Eden also detailed the favorable consequences of Turkey's entry into the war.First of all, this will force Bulgaria to concentrate their troops on the border, thus forcing Germany to replace the Bulgarian troops in Greece and Yugoslavia with a strength of ten divisions.The second is the possibility of attacking a perhaps decisive goal, Ploiesti.Third, the supply of Turkish chromium to Germany could be cut off.The last point is a moral interest.Turkey's entry into the war could hasten the process of the collapse of Germany and its satellite states.All these arguments failed to impress the Turkish delegation.In the end, they said that providing a base in Anatolia would amount to an intervention in the war, and if they intervened they could not prevent German reprisals against Constantinople, Angola, and Smyrna.We had assured them enough fighter planes to counter any air attack the Germans could launch, and we had assured them that, since the Germans were so short everywhere, they had nothing left to attack Turkey.Still, they were concerned.The only result of the talks was that the Turkish delegation promised to report to their government.The Turks have seen with their own eyes the developments in the Aegean, and we cannot blame them for their caution. Since I have not heard any more about the combined command plans for the Overlord and Mediterranean campaigns, I assumed that the British opinion had been accepted, but, on November 25, while we were in Cairo, the American Chief of Staff The Joint Conference proposes to us in formal memorandums the establishment of a Supreme Command.It can be seen that President Roosevelt and the U.S. High Command felt strongly that it was necessary to appoint a supreme commander to command the United Nations' operations against Germany in both the Mediterranean and the Atlantic.They still want a Commander of Operations in Northwest Europe and a Commander of Allied Forces in the Mediterranean, and above both Commanders there is a Supreme Commander who not only plans and directs the war in these two theaters, but who Troops can be moved from one battlefield to another.It must be remembered that not only did we already have great superiority in all arms of land, sea and air force, and must continue to have great superiority for many months to come, but that our The reputation is high. The US memorandum was immediately and strongly opposed by the British Chiefs of Staff.They and I both put our comments in writing.The British Chief of Staff replied as follows: On the command of the three armies of Britain and the United States against Germany Memorandum of the British Chiefs of Staff Committee November 25, 1943 The British Chiefs of Staff had carefully studied the recommendation of the American Joint Chiefs of Staff that a Supreme Commander-in-Chief be immediately assigned to direct all United Nations operations against Germany in the Mediterranean and Atlantic.This proposal has significant political implications, and is clearly one that should be given the most serious consideration by the US and British governments.Nevertheless, the British Chiefs of Staff must immediately declare that, from a military point of view, they do not agree with this proposal at all.They list their reasons in the following sections. Total war is not a mere question of military power, even in the broadest sense of the term.Almost all major war issues have political, economic, industrial and domestic implications. Therefore, it is obvious that the Supreme Commander in the war against Germany must consult with the American and British governments on almost every important issue.In short, the fact that he can only make decisions on minor and strictly military matters without consulting higher authorities, such as removing a division or two, several squadrons of air forces, or dozens of landing craft from his many fronts he would be transferred from one front to the other, and would thus become an additional and redundant link in the entire chain of command. The position that Field Marshal Foch enjoyed in the last war was not really the same as that of the Supreme Commander who is now contemplating a war against Germany.Marshal Foch was only responsible for commanding the Western and Italian battlefields.His mandate did not cover the Thessaloniki, Palestine, or Mesopotalian battlefields.Under the presently proposed arrangement, the Supreme Commander-in-Chief would have command not only of the Overlord campaign and the Italian field, but also of the Balkan and Turkish fields (if such a field were opened).There are certain limits to which the Allied Governments may entrust a soldier with duties, and the terms of reference now proposed seem to go well beyond these limits. The US Chiefs of Staff proposed that decisions made by the supreme commander could be reversed by the Joint Chiefs of Staff.If the main purpose of this new arrangement is to ensure speedy decisions, it appears that the above-mentioned provisos have precisely the unfortunate consequences.It was bound to happen in the future that the Supreme Commander in Chief issued an order, the troops marched in accordance with the order, but the Joint Chiefs of Staff immediately revoked the original order, and confusion arose.Moreover, it might happen that the British Chiefs of Staff agree with the decision of the Supreme Commander, while the American Joint Chiefs of Staff completely disagree.In this case, what should we do?From a military point of view, on the other hand, the Joint Chiefs of Staff may wholeheartedly support the decision of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, only to find that the government or that government concerned is not prepared to approve it.In this case, what to do? If the Supreme Commander is to exercise true command, he will need to bring together, on an unprecedented scale, all the intelligence, planning, and logistics personnel who will form part of the theater commanders and joint chiefs of staff committees. A huge buffer team in between. If the existing tried-and-tested institution, which has kept us safe for the first two years, is malfunctioning on minor issues, it would be well to examine it and find out how to improve it. Efficiency and adjustments should be made instead of embarking on a completely novel experiment that would add a redundant and unnecessary link to the overall chain of command and would inevitably lead to disillusionment and disappointment. These arguments struck a chord with the chiefs of staff of the U.S. armed forces.They recognized that their proposal would effectively mean ending the command of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, since the supreme commander would largely replace them.Therefore, they removed this topic from the agenda of staff discussions, which they believed should be addressed by the head of government. I enthusiastically endorsed the Chiefs of Staff's paper and, the next day, wrote a memorandum further developing these arguments. On the Supreme Commander in All-out War Against Germany Memorandum from the Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Defense November 26, 1943 All the difficulties and shortcomings in our command of operations since the battle of Salerno have arisen from differences of opinion between the two staffs and between the two governments.We do not see how these differences can be resolved by the appointment of a supreme commander, who is under the command of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, by whom his decisions can be reversed.These differences, both military and political, must still be adjusted through the present method of consultation among the Joint Chiefs of Staff and between the heads of government of the two countries. Thus the Supreme Commander, besides being celebrated as a hero of the world wars, would in fact find himself with very little room for maneuver: on the one hand limited by the present methods of dealing with major decisions concerning policy and strategy, on the other On the one hand, it is bound by the terms of reference of the two main regional commanders. 2. The foregoing is of course not enough to prove that, since the announcement of a Supreme Commander who will defeat Germany must necessarily give rise to all hope, institutions must be established. 3. On the other hand, if the final decision is de facto vested in this Supreme Commander, then the work of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee will actually be replaced by him, so there will be immediate tension between the two governments and the Supreme Commander relation.Leaving aside the matter of selection, I very much doubt that any general will be found who can make decisions on the very complex issues which are now being dealt with by the two heads of government with the assistance of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee. 4. A principle that should be observed as far as possible among allies of equal status is that the command of any battlefield should belong to the allied nation that has deployed or will deploy the largest force on that battlefield.According to this principle, the command of the Mediterranean Sea belongs to the United Kingdom, while the command of the Battle of Overlord belongs to the United States. 5. If the two commands were combined and placed under a single Supreme Commander, then by May (1944) Britain would clearly have more troops fighting against Germany than the United States.Therefore, it seems that the Supreme Commander should be held by a British general.As Head of His Majesty's Government, I am very displeased to entrust such an unpalatable duty to a British general.On the other hand, if, regardless of which side employs superior forces, the office of Supreme Commander should be given to an American general, and at the same time he declares that he should concentrate all his efforts on the Overlord campaign, regardless of the damage suffered by our Mediterranean campaign, then the British King His Majesty's government is also difficult to agree. The Supreme Commander, whether British or American, would therefore be left powerless.He has assumed before the world the responsibility of calling the shots, and his orders have been rescinded by this government or that, leaving him no choice but to resign.This would pose the most serious crisis to the harmonious and happy relations between our two governments hitherto maintained. 6. I see no reason why the present method should not be continued, if some minor improvements can be made to it as suggested.Under the current arrangement, an American commander will command the large-scale campaign across the English Channel, while a British commander will command the Mediterranean campaign. The Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee of the heads of government of the two countries will deal with it.At the same time, arrangements should be made for the Joint Chiefs of Staff to meet more frequently, with the respective Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff, if possible, visiting London and Washington alternately for one week each month. 在我們啟程赴德黑蘭以前，我把這個備忘錄面交羅斯福總統；在德黑蘭會議期間，我不知道他將作出什麼答覆。我從私人方面聽說，美國三軍參謀長充分認識到，我們的聯合參謀機構和新的最高統帥在權力方面可能產生的衝突，同時他們在權衡我們的論點以後，已不再堅持這個計劃了。羅斯福總統以及和他接近的人們，在和我們接觸時，不論在正式的或非正式的場合，始終沒有以任何方式提起這個問題，而且我們一直互相保持友好的關係。因此，我便以為馬歇爾將指揮霸王戰役，艾森豪威爾將軍將回到華盛頓去接替他； 而我代表英皇陛下政府，則有責任遴選地中海戰場的司令官。 當時我無疑地認為，這個司令官應當是已經在意大利作戰的亞歷山大。於是，這個問題在我們重新回到開羅以前，便擱置下來了。 十一月二十五日，適逢感恩節，這是美國人生活中的一件大事。美國軍隊的每一名士兵，在那天按說都要吃火雞，而他們大多數人在一九四三年確實也吃到了。供給開羅美國參謀人員的大批火雞，是由羅斯福總統乘坐的軍艦運來的。羅斯福先生邀請我到他的別墅參加晚餐。他說：讓我們來舉行一次家宴。因此，薩拉也受到邀請，此外，還有羅斯福總統非常喜歡的湯米（湯普森海軍中校）。羅斯福總統的客人包括他的私人親信，他的兒子埃利奧特，女婿伯蒂格少校，哈里‧霍普金斯和他的兒子羅伯特。我們愉快而又安靜地吃了一頓豐盛的晚餐。兩隻大火雞由人按照隆重的儀式送了進來。羅斯福總統高高地坐在椅子上，用非常高明的技巧，毫不疲倦地給大家切雞肉。我們共有二十多人，因此，切雞肉需要很長的時間；那些先分到的人都已吃完了，而羅斯福總統還沒有替自己切上一份。我看到他把一盤盤堆得滿滿的雞肉分給大家，擔心他自己會一點也吃不到。但是，他計算得非常精確，到最後，當兩付雞骨架撤去時，我看見他開始吃他自己的那一份，這才放了心。哈里看見我著急的樣子，便說：我們還有很多備用的火雞哩。席間，大家致詞表達了熱誠而親切的友誼。那兩個小時，我們把一切憂慮都拋在一邊。我從未看見過羅斯福總統那麼高興。晚餐以後，大家便到我們曾經舉行過好多次會議的那個大廳去。跳舞音樂用留聲機唱片播送的開始響起來了。薩拉是唯一在場的女人，她已被人搶先請走了，因此我和沃森老爹（羅斯福的親信、舊友和副官）跳舞，他的首長坐在沙發上看著我們，感到非常高興。這個歡樂的夜晚，以及羅斯福總統切火雞的景象，是我在開羅停留期間所有最愉快的經歷中最突出的印象。 一切難題終於都得到了解決。美國憲法、羅斯福的健康、斯大林的頑固帶來的種種困難，以及前往巴士拉的旅程和橫貫波斯的鐵路的複雜問題，都已一掃而空，因為現在迫切需要舉行三國會議，而且除了飛往德黑蘭以外，其他一切代替方案都已失敗了。於是，我們就在十一月二十七日黎明乘飛機離開開羅，向那個經過長期研究才確定的會議地點飛去。沿途天氣非常晴朗，我們從不同的航線，在不同的時間安全地到達了目的地。