Thursday, 22 April
Minister Garreau, the representative of Fighting France, visited me. He said Giraud and De Gaulle are quite close now. De Gaulle approved that all the French army in North Africa will come under Giraud’s direction and Giraud admitted that he organised a political leadership quarter in London. What De Gaulle disagreed with was the participation of the three provincial chiefs of North Africa because they had reached a compromise with Germany before. He also said that Giraud has 150,000 men in North Africa, and is under the American General Commander. De Gaulle has 40,000 men, and they are under the command of the British 8th Army. The aborigines of French North Africa have all received military training and when summoned they could reach 1,000,000 people. Previously he had strongly opposed Giraud, but now his tone has softened. This is good.
In the afternoon, the Czechoslovakian Ambassador visited me.
In the evening the Norwegian Ambassador invited me to a banquet. The food and wine were very nice and some of the meats were from the United States. The wine served was the red wine which was especially made for the President of Argentina in South America for his own consumption. The cigars were especially made for the President of Cuba for his own use. I really dared not invite them to have dinner in the hotel.