Quadrant Conference

Group photo with the most important military advisors, sitting v. l. To the right: William Lyon Mackenzie King , the American President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill .

The First Québec Conference (code name: Quadrant ) was a meeting of leading allies during World War II . It took from 14 to 24 August 1943 in the Canadian Quebec , including the Citadel and the hotel Château Frontenac instead. Participants were the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and the American President Franklin D. Roosevelt with their Chiefs of Staff . The host was the Canadian Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King .

Procedure and content

At the meetings the differences of opinion between Churchill and Roosevelt came to light again. Central themes were the surrender of Italy , Operation Overlord , the Burma campaign and the occupation of the Southeast Asia Command .

Operation Overlord was approved and the Chief of Staff to the Supreme Allied Commander (COSSAC), General Frederick E. Morgan , was tasked with drafting a detailed plan. The person in chief has not yet been clarified. The British assumed that after General Dwight D. Eisenhower had led the operations in Sicily and Italy as an American , a British should now be given supreme command. Churchill had therefore informed General Brooke that he was the Commander in Chief. After it became increasingly clear in the course of 1943 that the Americans provided the majority of troops and material, they demanded the post of Commander-in-Chief. Churchill finally agreed, also in order to bind the Americans more closely to the European theater of war.

Furthermore, the behavior towards the peace offers of Italy was discussed. It was agreed to stick to the demand for unconditional surrender. Follow-up operations for the recently completed Operation Husky were also discussed, and it was agreed to continue the project to invade mainland Italy .

Another topic was the British nuclear weapons program (code word Tube Alloys ). In this context, the Québec Agreement was signed, according to which the British and Canadian researchers should from now on participate in the American Manhattan project .

Another topic was the planned use of the Azores for the transport of war material from the USA to Great Britain.

monument

In 1998 a memorial was inaugurated in Québec City to commemorate this first conference in 1943 and the second conference in September 1944. It shows the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and the American President Franklin D. Roosevelt, each as bronze busts. The monument stands directly behind one of the city gates, the Porte Saint-Louis, which leads into the historic old town.