UNITED STATES AND THE WAR
Roosevelt-Churchill Meeting.—Prime Minister Winston Churchill arrived in Washington on June 18 for his second meeting with President Roosevelt since the entry of the United States into the war, and his third since the beginning of American collaboration. The first meeting at sea in August of 1941 resulted in the formulation of the Atlantic Charter; the second, last January, set up instruments for joint wartime administration; and the third meeting was devoted also, in the words of President Roosevelt, to “the war, the conduct of the war, and the winning of the war.” The Prime Minister was accompanied by General Sir Alan Brooke, Chief of the Imperial General Staff, Sir Hastings Ismay, Secretary of the Imperial Defense Council, and four other British officials. Although the meeting was planned before the setbacks in North Africa, it was inevitable that the discussions should have considered this problem, as well as the new situation in the Pacific following the Coral Sea and Wake Island victories, the shipping problem as affected by U-boat sinkings in the Western Atlantic, the problem of aid for Russia and a second front in Europe. On this point the joint statement issued on June 27, though intentionally vague, spoke of the “urgent task of creating a second front in Europe in 1942.” The “over-all picture of the war” was pronounced more favorable than in December, and more favorable still than in August of last year. Others present during the conferences were Prime Minister Mackenzie King of Canada and Soviet Ambassador Litvinoff.
Pact with Russia.—Following his visit to London to sign the Anglo-Soviet Agreement (summarized later in these notes), Foreign Minister Molotoff arrived in Washington on May 29, his arrival and departure being kept a well-guarded secret by the press. The purpose of his visit, which continued over the week-end, was to confer with President Roosevelt and sign a mutual aid agreement, which was made public on June 12. This agreement, less far-reaching than the British-Soviet pact, simply pledged the Soviet Republic and the United States to continue to supply each other with “such defense articles, defense services, and defense information” as each could furnish, and to arrange for postwar settlement of claims with as little disturbance as possible to international trade. The Soviet Republic thus joined in the “master lease-lend agreement” already entered into by Britain, China, the Netherlands, and Poland. According to the press, the American answer to M. Molotoff’s question about supplies was “As much as possible”; to his question about boundaries, the answer was “The Atlantic Charter” or “After the war.”
Lease-Lend Pact Extended.—Poland in June and the Netherlands Government in early July signed the master lease-lend agreement with the United States, thus joining Britain, the Soviet Republic, and China in co-operative action with this country to settle obligations after the war with the least possible disturbance of international economic conditions and trade. Belgium, Greece, and Norway have already been invited to join in the agreement, and presumably the invitation will be extended to other member states of the United Nations.
Notable Visitors.—Dr. Alfonso Lopez, President-Elect of Colombia, was entertained by President Roosevelt on July 7, at the beginning of an official visit to this country. In the course of his stay, according to some sources, the question may be raised of Colombia’s joining in the war against the Axis powers. As a result of submarine warfare, Colombia has suffered a falling-off of oil exports and has also experienced a shortage of essential imports. Her coasts are believed to have been used by Axis agents for communications with U- boats, and in an attack with machine guns on the schooner Resolute six Colombian nationals were killed.
During June and July, in addition to Prime Minister Churchill and the Colombian President, numerous other prominent visitors were in this country for official or other purposes. King George II of Greece and Peter II, the 19-year-old King of Yugoslavia, both made official calls in Washington and tours of inspection of American munitions plants. Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands came from England to Canada and thence to Massachusetts to spend the summer with her daughter, the Princess Juliana. On July 10 Hubert Pierot, Prime Minister of the Belgian Government-in-Exile, passed through Washington on his way to the Belgian Congo. M. Pierot stated that King Leopold had refused to accept a Nazi proposal that he sanction a puppet government in Belgium under the Rexist leader Degrelle.
Post-War Relief Plans.—On July 1 Washington announced an agreement among the five chief wheat-producing nations of the world—the United States, Argentina, Australia, Canada, and Great Britain—providing for control of production and distribution of wheat during and after the war. Effective as of June 27, the agreement provides for the establishment of a pool of 100,000,000 bushels of wheat to be used for relief of stricken war areas. The five governments also agree to take joint action, within six months after the cessation of hostilities, to control the production, export, and accumulation of wheat stocks for four years thereafter. Russia’s co-operation will be sought after the war, most of the Soviet wheat lands being now under German control. To the 100,000,000-bushel wheat pool the United States will contribute 50,000,000 bushels, Canada 25,000,000, and Argentina and Australia the remainder as may be needed.
In addition to the grain agreement, Sir Frederick Leith-Ross, Chairman of the Inter-Allied Relief Commission, opened extended negotiations in Washington with Secretary of State Hull, dealing primarily with post-war relief problems. In July the Soviet and Chinese Ambassadors were asked to join in the discussions.
During June the Combined Production and Resources Board and the Combined Food Board were set up, with broad powers to co-ordinate British and American munitions production and food stocks. Four other Anglo-American joint boards have been established since the American entry into the war—the Combined Munitions Assignment Board, the Combined Raw Materials Board, the Combined Shipping Adjustment Board, and the Joint Aircraft Committee.
LATIN AMERICA AND THE WAR
Argentine Ship Sunk.—On June 22 at 6:45 a.m. the Argentine freighter Rio Tercero was sunk by torpedo about 140 miles off the port of New York. Four of the crew were killed by the explosion and another was drowned. The captain was taken temporarily aboard the submarine, which was thus fully identified as the German U-boat Innsbruck. The crew were later picked up by patrol boats called to the scene by American planes. This third sinking of an Argentine vessel aroused popular demonstrations in Argentina and agitation by Radical and Socialist deputies in favor of joining with the other American republics, in a severance of relations with the Axis. The Argentine Government, however, contented itself with a stiff note of protest, calling for apologies, indemnity, and a salute to the Argentine flag. The German reply on June 30 promised all this except the salute, which was described as an obsolete form of apology and not necessary since no offense was intended. The two Argentine ships previously sunk were the freighter Uruguay, destroyed off the Spanish coast in 1940, and the tanker Victoria, torpedoed off Hatteras last May. Germany in each case replied to the protests by notes which were regarded as sufficient. The declaration of the extended blockade zone in the Atlantic was no doubt intended to free the Nazis from any further responsibility for sinkings in the future. Argentina stated subsequently that the Rio Tercero affair was closed, and that hereafter Argentine ships will be kept out of the North Atlantic and routed to U.S. ports on the Gulf of Mexico.
President Ortiz Resigns.—At about the time of the agitation over the Rio Tercero sinking, President Roberto M. Ortiz of Argentina submitted his resignation from office. President Ortiz, pro- United Nations in his attitude and a champion of inter-American solidarity, was elected President in 1938, but for the past two years had been incapacitated by ill health and had turned over his duties to Vice President Ramon Castillo. Following the acceptance of Senor Ortiz’ resignation by the Argentine parliament, the Vice President formally succeeded. Castillo has consistently opposed a definite break between his government and the Axis powers, and on accession to full control he appeared more fully confirmed in this attitude.
BRITAIN AND THE WAR
Soviet-British Alliance.—In late May and early June the Soviet Republic signed two important agreements, one with Britain and one with the United States, the effect of which was to link the three major powers more closely both in the war-time effort and in the post-war settlement. The agreement with England was signed on May 26, taking the place of the treaty of alliance signed on July 12 of last year. It was divided into two parts. The first part pledged the two nations to
afford one another military and other assistance and support of all kinds in war against Germany and all those states which arc associated with her in acts of aggression in Europe . . . and not to enter into any negotiations with the Hitlerite Government or any other government in Germany that does not clearly renounce all aggressive intentions, and not to negotiate or conclude, except by mutual consent, any armistice or peace treaty with Germany or any other state associated with her in acts of aggression in Europe.
Thus the two states bound themselves to make war and peace together, though the phrase “in Europe” left Russia unaffected in her relations with Japan.
Part Two related to post-war problems, and pledged each nation to support the other if either should become again involved in hostilities with Germany during the post-war period. Further, the two nations pledged friendly collaboration and economic assistance after the war. Part Two of the treaty will remain in force for a period of 20 years, and thereafter unless 12 months’ notice is given by either party to terminate it at that time.
Nothing was said about post-war boundaries, and Foreign Secretary Eden stated there were no secret clauses relating to territorial problems or in particular to the disposition of the Baltic states after the war. On this point there was only the agreement in the preamble that the peace settlement was to be on the basis of the principles enunciated in the Atlantic Charter.
Churchill Supported.—Following his return from Washington, Prime Minister Churchill faced sharp criticism in Parliament and press as a result of reverses in North Africa and disappointments elsewhere. Speaking in the House in the first week of July, the Prime Minister implied faulty generalship in Libya by his assertion that in tanks, artillery, and planes the Eighth Army had a measure of superiority over Rommel’s forces. But the British had lost 50,000 men from May 26 to June 19, and had suffered severe losses in tanks. Mr. Churchill gave assurance that air raids on Germany would continue and that these and other operations in prospect would “divert German strength from the attack on Russia.’’ The vote of confidence that followed was 475 to 25. It showed clearly enough that the Prime Minister retained his hold on public confidence and that no other comparable leader was in sight. Yet criticism continued over shortcomings of British generalship in the field, the inferiority of tanks, and the unwillingness of the Prime Minister to lighten his own load by putting the Ministry of Defense in other hands.
Geopolitics and the War.—In a review of Geopolitics: the Struggle for Space and Power, by Robert Strausz-Hupé, in the Saturday Review of Literature, Frederick Schuman quotes the following passage written by a German theorist in 1902:
England can be attacked from Europe and by land only at one vital point, namely in Egypt. All ideas about the feasibility of an invasion of the British Isles are pure fantasy. The loss of Egypt, however, spells the loss of Britain’s whole position in the Near and Middle East, and Central and East Africa.
These words might have been written today, as they might also have been written by Bonaparte in 1799. Of the book reviewed, Professor Schuman remarks that it is “an admirable summary of geopolitical thought” by an American student, “and an equally admirable critique of the uses, abuses, limitations and triumphs of a new method of playing a grim and ancient game ... an applied science of intercontinental power politics and global war which, for all its facade of mumbo-jumbo, is of as much use to all players of the power game as is Culbertson’s system to all bridge-players.”
CONTINENT OF EUROPE
Germany Extends Danger Zone.— The German Government in an official broadcast on June 13 gave warning that the danger zone in the Atlantic, “within which military action must be reckoned with at any time,” was thereby “enlarged to extend to the American coast across the Atlantic Ocean.” The boundaries of the entire zone were described as running northward from the Low Countries through the center of the North Sea, thence westward including the waters of Iceland and Greenland, thence southward along the Canadian and United States shores to the West Indies, and ultimately back to the Franco-Spanish frontier on the Bay of Biscay. The broadcast added that this was more than an announcement on paper, as proved by the success of German submarines in American waters. It appeared from the announcement that ships of any nationality would be sunk without warning in the North Atlantic; how far the practice would be extended into the South Atlantic was not equally clear.
Following the announcement of the enlarged danger zone, Germany sent word through the Swiss Government that she would no longer guarantee safe conduct across the Atlantic for ships engaged in repatriation of American nationals from the European war zone. The American State Department described this a unilateral violation of the previous agreement, and thereupon declared the agreement ended. This meant no further voyages for the chartered Swedish liner Drottningholm, which in two trips from Lisbon had brought back 1,443 North and South American diplomats and other nationals. There will be for the present no interruption of the trips of the Swedish liner Grisholm, en route to Portuguese East Africa to bring back United States nationals from Japan and Japanese controlled areas in the East.
Free French Manifesto.—On June 25 the Free French authorities in London issued a statement of policy clearly intended as a bid for the support of all anti-Nazi elements in France and abroad. In effect it denied General de Gaulle’s political aspirations by declaring that “once the enemy is driven from their land, all French men and women will elect a national assembly, which will decide what course the future of the country shall take.” The remainder of the five-point program called for the overthrow of the totalitarian system, guarantees to insure liberty and dignity in work and life for every citizen, destruction of the “mechanical organization of mankind, such as the enemy has achieved in contempt of all religion,” and establishment of a world organization of mutual help between nations. It was stated that the manifesto had received the approval of secret organizations in France and had been published in most of the underground newspapers both inside and outside the occupied zone.
In contrast with the De Gaullist statement, Vichy Premier Pierre Laval in a broadcast on June 22 expressed his hopes for a German “victory over Bolshevism,” and appealed to French workers to go to Germany in great numbers. The inducement was that they would thus release war prisoners and enable France to “find her place in the new Europe.” Since plants in France not producing essentials were to be shut down, French workers would have a slim choice—either to work in Germany or starve in France.
FAR EAST
Soviet-Japanese Friction.—While dispatches from China continued to predict a Japanese invasion of Siberia in the course of the present summer, neither the Soviet Republic nor Japan made open moves in violation of the Non-Aggression Pact of last year. The only noteworthy friction between the two countries arose over the sinking of the Soviet ship Angarstroi, of 4,760 tons, which was torpedoed on May 1 near the Japanese coast, apparently by a Japanese submarine. The ship had been detained in a Japanese port, and was subsequently following a route prescribed by Japanese officials. In Tokyo the sinking was attributed to an American submarine.
Concessions to India.—On July 3 it was announced that two Indians had been accorded seats in the British War Council, thus providing India with representation in all respects equal to that of other British dominions. India was also invited to name representatives for the Pacific Council meeting in London. In India the Viceregal Executive Council has been increased from 12 to 15 members, with the Indian majority increased to 11.