Evening star., 1942-11-11

general agreement by the end Of
June on the African offensive that
began last Saturday night.
Several details of the plan, such
as the points Of attack, the numbers
Of troops to be used and methods Of
meeting shipping problems were de-
termined by the end Of July, and In
another month the approximate date
Of the African campaign was de-
cided, he added.
The date was set without any one
thinking about the elections, Mr..
Roosevelt replied when asked why
the operation was planned to start
after the November 3 voting, in
which Republican gains were at
tributed partly to public dissatisfac-
ton over conduct of the war.
As a matter of fact, the President
said, the inception Of the second
front in Africa goes back to about
two weeks after Pearl Harbor, when
he invited Mr.. Churchill and his
military and naval advisers to Wash
ington for conferences that lasted
through Christmas.
The desirability Of offensive action
was agreed on, then various possibil-
tiles for odensives were considered,
especially a large frontal attack
across the English Channel, he
added.
Requirements Studied.
After study of munitions require
ments, particularly planes, as we'll as
shipping difficulties, Mr.. Roosevelt
went on, the American and British
military experts then believed such
action would be feasible.
But as time went on and the diff
culties were studied more closely, II
became more and more apparent
that an operation across the chan
mel probably could not be carried
out successfully this year. The
President explained that the OBJ
stacles involved producing enough
weapons, training sufficient man.
power and transporting them, tc
make the venture reasonably sure
of success.
The next step in the chronology
outlined by the Chief Executive was
the June decision to undertake the
African offensive this year.
The President said frankly thai
it is impossible to carry out often.
sives at top speed all over the worlc
where he would like to, because Of
all kinds of problems involved ir
producing sufficient weapons ane
trained manpower and getting then
together at the points needed.
Mr.. Roosevelt's disclosure thai
many details Of plans for the Afri-
can campaign were worked out
about the end Of July makes clea
the purpose of a trip to Londor
the latter part of July by a group
of high-ranking American officials
including Gen. George C. Marshall
Army chief of staff; Admiral Ernest
j. King, commander in chief O.
the fleet; Harry Hopkins, special as.
sistant to the President and chair.
man of the Munitions Assignment
Board, and Stephen T. Early, Whit.
House secretary.
Asked about the particular sig
nificance of the conferences in Lon
| don, the President said it was diff
cult to set any specific date wher
any particular thing was determined
about the African expedition, be
cause it was developing over {
period of months.
The Commando raids on Dieppe
nailed at the time as possibl
preliminary to a full-scale assault
by the Allies across the Engnsl
i Channel but actually coming afte
the Roosevelt-Churchill decision
against such move this year, fitte
in with the plans, Mr.. Roosevelt
said. He did not specify how
was related, but obviously it ma
have. been to distract Nazi attention
from our real purposes.
| Such details as the writing of hi
messages to the French people an
officials of the various French colo
nies involved in the African expedi
ton, asking their cooperation, wer
completed three or four weeks age
the President said.
Other Messages Sent.
He disclosed, incidentally, in thi
connection that messages had gon
to the Sultan of Morocco and tn
Governor of Algiers along the line
of those to other officials alread,
made public.
Two or three days after signinI
the written communications thu
President said, he made the record
ing of his appeal to the French peo
pie which was broadcast by short
wave from this country and Londol
simultaneously with the start o
military operations Saturday night.
He confirmed accounts already il
circulation of how this recording wa
made essentially true, filling in som,
details that were not included in {
story obtained from other source.
and published in The Star yester.
day.