811.24583/1–1045
The Minister in Egypt (Tuck) to the
Secretary of State
No. 464
Cairo, January 10,
1945.
[Received March 1.]
Sir: I have the honor to enclose a memorandum,
together with enclosures mentioned therein, entitled “Position of the
United States Army [Armed] Forces in Egypt”,
which has been prepared by Counselor J. E. Jacobs for reference purposes
as problems arise in the future concerning our Armed Forces here.
Mr. Jacobs has not attempted to go into hypothetical problems that might
arise out of the activities of the United States Armed Forces in Egypt;
he has merely attempted to set forth in a brief, concise manner the
various activities of the Army in Egypt, which have been the subject of
negotiations and discussions with the Egyptian authorities, citing in
his memorandum the various notes exchanged with those authorities [and?]
the despatches already submitted to the Department. In some instances
communications with the Foreign Office have never been submitted to the
Department. For this and other reasons, it is believed that it might be
helpful for the Department to have this memorandum in its files.
Respectfully yours,
[Enclosure]
Memorandum by the Counselor of Legation in
Egypt (Jacobs)
The establishment of the United States Army in Egypt under its
present title, “United States Armed [Army]
Forces in the Middle East” (USAFIME), was the result of the attack
of Japan upon the United States in December 1941. At that time the
United States had a small group of officers and technicians in Cairo
who had arrived about six weeks previously to assist the British
Army in the operation, maintenance and repair of airplanes, tanks
and cars and other military equipment being delivered through
Lend-Lease. As the Maxwell4 Mission came more or less under
British auspices before the United States entered the war, no
permission was sought of the Egyptian
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Government for the entry of the Mission into
Egypt. Such permission was not actually necessary in as much as
these officers were in a sense attached to the British Army, which
enjoyed special rights under the Anglo-Egyptian Treaty of August 26,
1936,5 and
already had various contingents in its forces—(Czech, Greek, etc.).
In the light of later developments it would have been preferable to
have obtained the prior approval of the Egyptian Government, which
probably could have been easily obtained. However, no opportunity
was given to consider the question, as the first information the
Legation had of the arrival of the Mission was the Department’s
telegram no. 603 of October 25, 1941,6 which
contained no instructions with regard to obtaining the approval of
the Egyptian Government, and the members of the Mission actually
arrived shortly afterwards.
After the entry of the United States into the war in December 1941,
the complexion of General Maxwell’s Mission was changed overnight
and his mission began to expand its activities, not only as an
advisory group to the British Army but for the purpose of setting up
its own maintenance and repair shops and the handling by air of the
enormous military traffic that followed. Events happened so rapidly,
with the German Army menacing the borders of Egypt several times
within the ensuing year,7 that no thought was given
to the question of regularizing the position of the American forces
with the Egyptian Government.
At the end of 1942, however, and at the beginning of 1943, due to the
large increase in the personnel of the Army Command, various
incidents involving soldiers began to focus attention on the
necessity of having some arrangement with the Egyptian Government
for regularizing the position of these armed forces in Egypt,
particularly in connection with criminal jurisdiction. As a result
several agreements were reached as follows:
- 1.
- In connection with the entry into Egypt of military
matériel for the United States Army, it became necessary to
work out some arrangement for the exemption of this matériel
from the payment of Egyptian customs and excise duties.
There were considerable correspondence and various
interviews with the officials on this subject and finally,
on April 23, 1942, the Foreign Office in its Note No.
P.55.9/102 bis (7) informed the Legation that the Council of
Ministers had decided to exempt American military matériel
from the payment
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of
Egyptian customs and excise duties.8
The aforementioned note will be found in the Legation’s file
no. 624.1 for 1942. After the general permission was granted
there was a conference at Alexandria on April 25, 1942, at
which the same privilege was granted to the Quartermaster’s
Department of the Army, the Post Exchange, the Pan American
Airways, the Transcontinental Western Airways, and the Air
Corps Ferrying Command. Correspondence regarding that
meeting will be found in the Legation’s file no. 624.1 for
1942. Subsequently the Pan American Airways and the
Transcontinental Western Airways withdrew their operations
from Egypt and the Air Ferrying Command became what is now
known as the Air Transport Command (ATC). In order to obtain
free entry for shipments of these military agencies the Army
from time to time must provide facsimiles of signatures of
the appropriate officers who sign on behalf of the agencies.
These facsimiles are sent through the Legation to the
Director General of the Egyptian Customs at
Alexandria.
- 2.
- With regard to the question of criminal jurisdiction, an
exchange of notes, dated March 2, 1943,9 was effected which conferred upon American
Military Courts criminal jurisdiction over uniformed
personnel of the United States Army and American civilians
actually attached to the American Army. While there was some
difficulty in getting the Egyptian authorities to grant this
concession, these difficulties arose out of technical
questions involved in the application and administration of
this privilege. At no time did the Egyptian Government
question the right of the United States armed forces to be
in Egypt. The text of this exchange of notes and other
pertinent information was reported to the Department in the
Legation’s despatch no. 897 of March 6, 1943.10
- 3.
- In order to facilitate the entry and departure of
uniformed military personnel and civilians attached to the
Army without compliance with Egyptian laws and regulations
governing entry and exit visas, an arrangement was worked
out with the Ministry of the Interior in
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March 1941 which permitted the
American military authorities to issue certain special
passes which have since come to be recognized in nearly
every Middle East country as a travel document and which
permits the above-mentioned Army personnel to move freely
across Egyptian borders. A full report on this subject was
made by Consul Albert W. Scott in despatch no. 1142 of July
3, 1943.10
That despatch lists the various citations to notes and
letters exchanged with the Egyptian authorities.
- 4.
- In August and September of 1942 the American authorities
raised the question of asking the Egyptian authorities to
accord to the Army similar privileges accorded to the
British Army with respect to the maintenance in Egypt of an
Army Post Office. Discussions and exchanges of notes took
place, extending over a number of months, and the Post
Office was actually in operation before the Egyptian
authorities finally agreed. The agreement was contained in
Foreign Office Note no. P. 1.–55.9/102 (12), dated June 19,
1943, which provided for the payment by the Army of $50 per
month to the Egyptian Post Office for this privilege.
- 5.
- Also, during the summer of 1943, the United States Army
authorities raised the question of the installation of a
radio station at its Heliopolis Service Commandant Camp for
the purpose of sending messages to the United States, and of
constructing a telephone line between Heliopolis and
Headquarters in Cairo. The Heliopolis Service Commandant
Camp was later removed to what is now known as Camp
Huckstep, where the radio station has been established.
Negotiations in regards to this matter also dragged on for
some time and the installations were actually in operation
before the agreement was reached. This agreement is
contained in Foreign Office Note no. P.I. [1], (17), dated July 25, 1943.
- 6.
- In 1944 the Army also raised the question of installing at
Camp Huckstep a small broadcasting station to reach American
military personnel in Egypt and nearby areas. The Egyptian
Government, in a note no. 55.9/137 (10), dated September 12,
1944, agreed to the establishment of this broadcasting
station, which in fact had already been and still is in
operation, but there was attached as a condition precedent
to this permission that the American Army sell the station
to the Egyptian Government when it is no longer needed. This
phase of the question is still under discussion, as the Army
is only prepared to agree to this condition on the further
condition that the Army will only sell the radio equipment
if, when the Army moves from Egypt, the equipment is no
longer needed. The Army’s position is that this equipment is
portable and the Army may wish to remove it to other scenes
of military operations at some later date. The Foreign
Office has stated orally that the Egyptian Government will
probably agree
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to
the Army’s condition but in the interim the station is
functioning without difficulty.*
Accordingly, in the light of the foregoing agreements, the Egyptian
Government can be said to have recognized the presence and the
position of United States armed forces in Egypt.
