Supreme Commander (41 page)

To attain these objectives, Eisenhower was willing to pay almost any price, including a public censure for another Darlan deal. Although the King of Italy, Victor Emmanuel III, was widely regarded as a Fascist because of his long association with Mussolini, Eisenhower was concerned with victory, not ideological purity. He told Macmillan that the King should be assured that the House of Savoy might “stay as a symbol of Italian unity” if Italy sued for peace.
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Eisenhower wanted to broadcast an immediate proposal to the Italians, but Murphy pointed out that AFHQ lacked the authority to make a political offer. Eisenhower replied wearily that in the old days generals were free to do whatever they thought best. Still, he knew Murphy was right, and agreed to consult his superiors.
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Eisenhower and Macmillan drafted a message to the CCS outlining their ideas. “We regard it as of the utmost importance that full opportunity should be taken immediately of the dismissal of Mussolini,” they began, and warned that if the King remained as head of a country still at war with the Allies “full odium in our two countries now concentrated on Duce will be transferred to the King.” This would make it difficult, perhaps impossible, to work with the King, and there was no other responsible authority in Italy to deal with. Eisenhower and Macmillan therefore suggested that a propaganda message be “immediately and constantly” broadcast to Italy from AFHQ. The message would
“commend” the Italians and the King on ridding themselves of Mussolini and point out that “the greatest obstacle which divided the Italian people from the United Nations has been removed by the Italians themselves.” The only remaining obstacle to peace was the German Army on Italian soil.

The message would promise the Italians immediate and honorable peace and say the Allies would come to Italy as liberators to “rid you of the Germans and deliver you from the horrors of war.” Soldiers and prisoners of war would return to their homes, while the “ancient liberties and traditions of your country will be restored.”
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Even as he helped compose the message, Eisenhower had a sinking feeling that while he waited for government approval he would lose the opportunity. He knew that Roosevelt especially would tread carefully in an area which involved Italy because of the hundreds of thousands of Italian-American voters, and that neither the President nor the Prime Minister was particularly anxious to have another Darlan deal on his hands.

After two days, exchange of a number of messages, and modifications of the Eisenhower-Macmillan draft to eliminate such words an “honorable peace” and promises about the return of prisoners of war, the governments gave AFHQ permission to make the propaganda broadcast. By then it was more or less academic, as AFHQ was already preparing firm armistice proposals.
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Eisenhower spent most of July 26 working with his staff on the problem of what AFHQ should do if the Badoglio government asked for an armistice. By July 27 they had a policy ready, but it needed CCS approval before it could be put into effect. Eisenhower therefore sent a long cable to the CCS, requesting that he be authorized to offer the Italians the general terms he outlined. He explained that he had to be “prepared to announce at once the conditions under which a general armistice would be granted” if Badoglio approached him. Eisenhower admitted that he had not had a chance to talk to his deputies about the problem and recognized that further details would have to be worked out by the governments.

One of the key questions was disarming German troops in Italy. Eisenhower thought the Allies should not require this, partly because the Italians would consider it “completely dishonorable” to make such an about-face, mainly because the Italians “would not be getting the only thing in which they are interested, which is peace.” To insist on disarming the Germans “might prevent us from obtaining great advantages.”

The list of requirements Eisenhower drew up was fairly stern, but two things stood out: the Italians could have peace, and the Italian government would remain in power. It was a long way from an unconditional surrender.

The terms, Eisenhower declared, “are submitted in the hope that they may serve as a basis for an immediate directive to me by the Combined Chiefs of Staff.” Most important, he wanted authority to broadcast the terms to the Italian people, since they promised a peace under honorable conditions and after the people heard them “no Italian government could remain in power if it refused to request an armistice.”
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Eisenhower’s request for approval of surrender terms took a long and circuitous route before being met. On July 28 Churchill approved Eisenhower’s provisions except that terms should more expressly provide for the release of Allied prisoners. The Prime Minister also thought that the Italians should be required to force the German garrison in Italy to surrender and implied that he hoped for a future alliance with Italy against Germany. He spoke of turning the “fury of the Italian population” against the Hun.
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In reply, Eisenhower said it was his conviction “that there is no fury left in the population unless it is aroused by desperation. The people are tired and sick of the war and want nothing but peace.”
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On July 29 Marshall warned Eisenhower that his authority was limited to concluding local surrenders.
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Eisenhower replied that he was “perfectly aware of the fact that there are many implications and corollaries that far transcend military considerations as well as my own authority,” and asked Marshall to inform the President that he had only military contingencies in mind. He added that Churchill had sent him a similar reminder.
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By July 31 Eisenhower had received four more long cables from London and Washington, each asking for some modification of the terms.

On July 29 Macmillan summed it all up: “I spent from 9 to 12 going backwards and forwards between my own office and A.F.H.Q. and conversation with General Eisenhower and Bedell Smith.… Poor Eisenhower is getting pretty harassed. Telegrams (private, personal and most immediate) pour in upon him from the following sources:

(i) Combined Chiefs of Staff, his official masters.

(ii) General Marshall, Chief of U. S. Army, his immediate superior.

(iii) The President.

(iv) The Secretary of State.

(v) Our Prime Minister (direct).

(vi) Our Prime Minister (through me).

(vii) The Foreign Secretary (through me).

All these instructions are naturally contradictory and conflicting. So Bedell and I have a sort of parlour game in sorting them out and then sending back replies saying what
we
think ought to happen. As this rarely, if ever, coincides with any of the courses proposed by (i), (ii), (iii), (iv), (v), (vi), or (vii), lots of fun ensues. But it gets a bit wearing, especially with this heat.”
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The Germans also had divided counsels. Rommel wanted to pull back to northern Italy; Hitler wanted to seize the Badoglio government and put Mussolini back in power; Von Kesselring argued that the Germans should maintain correct relations with Badoglio while reinforcing southern Italy, which he felt could be held. But though the Germans disagreed among themselves, they were capable of acting. While the Allied governments and soldiers debated, the Germans started four more divisions on the road to Italy—they even went to the extreme of withdrawing two SS Panzer divisions from the eastern front.
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The Allies, meanwhile, continued to bicker. Churchill cabled Eisenhower to inform him that he had told Roosevelt that no armistice terms should be broached until a responsible Italian government approached the Allies with a request for an armistice. That ended all hope of broadcasting a peace feeler from AFHQ, and meant as far as the Italians were concerned that unconditional surrender was all they could hope for. If a request for terms were made to Eisenhower, “you would naturally refer it to both Governments.” The Prime Minister said he liked Eisenhower’s draft, but “we feel that more precision is needed and that the document must be drawn up between Governments and must include civil as well as military terms.” Churchill thought the terms should be “cut and dried” rather than “attractive and popular.”
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Eisenhower told Churchill that he did not think it necessary to repeat “that I am ready to carry out in detail any instructions that the two governments may choose to give me.” He did suggest that Roosevelt and Churchill “should give me a general directive on this subject couched in as accurate terms as they can now foresee as applicable,” so that he would be ready if Badoglio did ask for an armistice. Any delay, he reminded Churchill, would only work to the advantage of the Germans. “All I urge,” Eisenhower concluded, “is that the Governments decide quickly on what to do in a certain contingency and give me a suitable directive by which my actions may be guided.”
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Clear directives, however, seemed to be beyond the two governments’ capacities, as an incident in the first week of August emphasized.
“When things are going rather badly,” Eisenhower told Marshall on August 4, “the troubles of an Allied Commander-in-Chief are wholly at the front.” At such times the CCS provided him with everything he asked for, while the commanders at the front plagued him with demands for more of everything. When the battle was going well, however, the people in front were quite happy, “but some of the individuals who are responsible for running the war begin to take an enormous interest in its detailed direction.”
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The incident that Eisenhower had in mind, and that upset him so much, had its origins with the British Political Warfare Executive at AFHQ. On July 24 the Allied bombers had reached a state of near exhaustion and Tedder and Spaatz had decided to give the crews a short rest. The propaganda staff decided to make the hiatus appear voluntary and proposed to announce to the Italians that the Allies were giving them a breathing space to allow them to unite “for peace and freedom.” The Joint Propaganda Planning Board and Macmillan agreed, and the announcement went out over Eisenhower’s name. Eisenhower was in Malta at the time, but as he later told Marshall, “I accept full responsibility for the actions of a staff in which I have confidence.”
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Churchill, always sensitive to the intrusion of soldiers into political affairs, felt the announcement went much too far. He protested to the President, reminding Roosevelt that while it was necessary for low-level propaganda “to be pumped out by the machines,” when the Supreme Commander spoke it involved the governments. “Speaking broadly,” the Prime Minister told the President, “it is quite right that politicians should do the talking and generals the fighting.” He hoped Roosevelt would agree that no pronouncements should be made by AFHQ over Eisenhower’s name until they had been agreed to by the British.
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It was the first time Churchill had protested to the President about an action of Eisenhower’s. Previously, when unhappy, he made his complaints directly to AFHQ. Eisenhower learned about the protest on August 4, a bad day for him. Montgomery’s attempt to get around Mount Etna had failed, Patton was making no real progress, the interminable discussion over armistice terms was at its height, the CCS had just turned down a request for more bombers, and the heat in Algiers was ungodly. “I spent rather a difficult couple of hours with the C.-in-C. and Chief of Staff,” Macmillan noted that afternoon. “Ike is beginning to get rather rattled by the constant pressure of telegraphic advice on every conceivable point.”
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After discussing the situation with Smith and Macmillan, Eisenhower
dictated a long cable to Marshall. As he talked his irritation grew. He could not see why the broadcast was considered harmful in conception, Eisenhower began; in fact he felt it was “a very good statement and one that appears appropriate in the circumstances.” He pointed out that the entire statement dealt with the employment of forces in his theater and did not even hint at any broad Allied foreign policy.

“The Combined Chiefs of Staff have provided me with personnel who are presumably expert in the business of using propaganda,” Eisenhower declared. He said that these staff officers had tried to keep up the closest possible contact with the appropriate agencies in Washington and London so that they would always know the policies of the two governments, “so far as these policies have been promulgated.” No statement had ever gone out from AFHQ without Macmillan’s approval, and Churchill had assured Eisenhower that Macmillan represented his, Churchill’s, personal views on political matters. Problems arose daily in a theater of war on which the commander had to act swiftly, Eisenhower felt; indeed, the governments expected him to act and not procrastinate.

“I do not see how war can be conducted successfully if every act of the Allied Commander in Chief must be referred back to the home government for advance approval,” Eisenhower said. In an oblique reference to the discussion over armistice terms, he added that AFHQ could act much more effectively if the governments would agree upon a policy and then let the commander in chief know what it was. If he then failed to carry out the directive successfully, the CCS should relieve him of his command, “but the authority and responsibility of his office should not repeat not be diminished.” Eisenhower concluded by recommending that Churchill’s specific proposal—to have all AFHQ statements cleared with both governments—be emphatically rejected. Marshall agreed with Eisenhower, and the Prime Minister dropped the proposal.
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The most troublesome aspect of the endless exchange of messages, both on the propaganda and on armistice terms, was that after a week of debate the Allies were no closer to agreeing upon terms to offer the Italians than they had been at the beginning. Nothing, meanwhile, had gone out to the Badoglio government to indicate that it could expect anything more than unconditional surrender. Roosevelt and Churchill, in fact, had both publicly said that the only terms were unconditional surrender. No Italian representatives, therefore, showed up at AFHQ, and Eisenhower’s hands remained tied.