Roosevelt Papers: Telegram
The Presidents Personal Representative (Bullitt) to the President 1
Following for the President from Bullitt Strictly confidential:—
The British both on the west coast of Africa where I conferred with General Giffard and his staff and in Cairo believe that they have absolute information with regard to the following points. (1) there are only two German divisions on the Spanish frontier of the Pyrenees. (2) all British information indicates that there are no German aircraft in either Morocco, Algiers, Tunis or the Dakar region. Moreover there are no German submarines based at Dakar or on the Portuguese possessions on the west coast of Africa. General Giffard stated that he had a careful investigation made of the entire coast and (enemy ships?) operating in the South Atlantic are refueled by supply ships and not from shore bases. (3) The British here believe that the weather and the concentration of Turkish troops in Thrace will cause the Germans to put off any possible attack against Turkey until the early spring.
The British Air Marshal in Cairo Tedder desired me to call to your attention that the German failure to get through to the oil wells of the Caucasus has made the oil wells of the Ploesti region in Rumania vital to Germany. He believes that three squadrons of Liberators based in Cairo could destroy this oil field in an attack to be sustained over a period of two months. I told the Air Marshal and General Auchinleek that we were extremely short of Liberators and that I felt almost certain that we should have none to spare for this purpose. He was never-the-less most insistent that I should [Page 50] present this possibility to you as the vital link in the whole strategic picture.
The British Air Force operating in Libya is still stronger than the German. This is due to shortage on the German side of aviation gasoline and maintenance facilities. The Germans and Italians are making most determined efforts to get through gasoline and oil and tanks as well as airplanes to Libya. If they should succeed in delivering a few large cargoes the entire picture in this area would change at once. Speed is therefore essential. Lyttelton has informed me that Auchinleck is to be given command not only over North Africa Palestine and Syria but also over Iraq and Iran. Wavell is to command in India and Burma. General Wheeler’s Mission in Iraq and Iran will therefore in the near future be operating in an area commanded not from Delhi but from Cairo.
- Sent via Navy channels. Received in Washington on December 23.↩