ABSTRACT
At this point one must consider American and British perceptions of the war situation generally, and of the problem of China in particular, as Roosevelt and Churchill prepared to meet Chiang Kai-shek in Cairo (22-26 November 1943). That encounter was in fact only one element in the Conference, which was also a major operational strategy meeting (under the code-name ‘Sextant’) between the American and British leaders and their Combined Chiefs of Staff. The latter dimension involved a second series of discussions in Cairo (4-6 December) to complete Allied military planning for the next stage of the war in both Europe and Asia. By the time this second Cairo meeting got under way, following on the heels of the Teheran meeting of Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin from 28 November to 1 December 1943, Chiang had left for home.1
