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Louis Mountbatten
General Dwight Eisenhower
Allied Forces H.Q.,
Algiers
* * *
“Well, I understand why it would be foolish for us not to use these,” Fleming said. “That is to say, foolish to use a variation of them. The signatures are genuine.” He looked at Montagu. “Right?”
“They are indeed by their own hands.”
“I have proofs of the pamphlet, and photographs,” Montagu said. “More filler for the briefcase. Which was the original idea—that there would be a logical reason why he’d have personal and business papers all mixed together, the mundane among the most secret.”
He then produced a final letter.
“Which brings us to the big one,” he said.
Niven took the two pages and began to read. When he had finished the first page, he passed it to Fleming, who then read it:
* * *
VICE CHIEF OF THE IMPERIAL GENERAL STAFF
WAR OFFICE
WHITEHALL, LONDON S.W.I
Personal and Most Secret
23rd April, 1943
My Dear Alex,
I am taking advantage of sending you a personal letter by hand of one of Mountbatten’s officers to give you the inside history of our recent exchange of cables about Mediterranean operations and their attendant cover plans. You may have felt our decisions were somewhat arbitrary, but I can assure you in fact that the Chiefs of Staff Committee gave the most careful consideration both to your recommendations and also to Jumbo’s.
We have had recent information that the Boche have been reinforcing and strengthening their defences in Greece and Crete, and C.I.G.S. felt that our forces for the assault were insufficient. It was agreed by the Chiefs of Staff that the 5th Division should be reinforced by one Brigade Group for the assault on the beach south of Cape Araxos and that a similar reinforcement should be made for the 56th Division at Kalamata. We are earmarking the necessary forces and shipping.
Jumbo Wilson had proposed to select Sicily as cover target for Husky; but we have already chosen it as cover for Operation Brimstone. The C.O.S. committee went into the whole question exhaustively again and came to the conclusion that, in view of the preparations in Algeria, the amphibious training which will be taking place on the Tunisian coast, and the heavy air bombardment which will be put down to neutralise the Sicilian airfields, we should stick to our plan of making it cover for Brimstone—indeed, we stand a very good chance of making him think we will go for Sicily—it is an obvious objective and one about which he must be nervous. On the other hand, they felt there wasn’t much hope of persuading the Boche that the extensive preparations in the eastern Mediterranean were also directed at Sicily. For this reason, they have told Wilson his cover plan should be something nearer the spot, e.g., the Dodecanese. Since our relations with Turkey are now so obviously closer, the Italians must be pretty apprehensive about these islands.
I imagine you will agree with these arguments. I know you will have your hands more than full at the moment and you haven’t much chance of discussing future operations with Eisenhower. But if by chance you do want to support Wilson’s proposal, I hope you will let us know soon, because we can’t delay much longer.
I am very sorry we weren’t able to meet your wishes about the new commander of the Guards Brigade. Your own nominee was down with a bad attack of ’flu and not likely to be really fit for another few weeks. No doubt, however, you know Forster personally; he has done extremely well in command of a brigade at home, and is, I think, the best fellow available.
You must be about as fed up as we are with the whole question of war medals and “Purple Hearts.” We all agree with you that we don’t want to offend our American friends, but there is a good deal more to it than that. If our troops who happen to be serving in one particular theatre are to get extra decorations merely because the Americans happen to be serving there, too, we will be faced with a good deal of discontent among those troops fighting elsewhere perhaps just as bitterly—or more so. My own feeling is that we should thank the Americans for their kind offer but say firmly it would cause too many anomalies and we are sorry we can’t accept. But it is on the agenda for the next Military Members Meeting and I hope you will have a decision very soon.
Laus Deo.
Yours ever,
Archie Nye
General the Honourable Sir Harold R.L.G. Alexander,
G.C.B., C.S.I., D.S.O., M.C.
Headquarters
