The Casablanca Conference was held in Anfa, a suburb of Casablanca, French Morocco from 14 to 24 January 1943. Its objective was to plan the Allied strategy for the European theater during the next phase of the Second World War. The idea for the conference began with a proposal put to Prime Minister Winston Churchill in late 1942 by President Franklin Roosevelt, who felt that as soon as the Allies had driven the Germans out of Tunisia in North Africa, which was imminent, there should be a meeting between the military leaders of Great Britain, Russia, and the United States.
The President explained to Churchill that he believed such a meeting of the Combined Chiefs of Staffs could best put together recommendations about how to proceed with the prosecution of the war and that such a meeting could be held in Cairo or Moscow. Each Allied leader would be represented by a small group of personnel meeting very secretly. Roosevelt said he would probably send Gen. George C. Marshall, Chief of Staff of the United States Army, to head the American group, but presumed that all services should be represented. Finally, the President told Churchill that the conclusions of the conference would of course have to be approved by both of them and by Joseph Stalin. Roosevelt asked Churchill to let him know as soon as possible what he thought of the proposal.1
Churchill replied the same day under the name: “I entirely agree in principle that there should be a conference with the Russians, but I doubt very much whether a conference between officers on general war policy, apart from some special point, would be of much value.”Churchill added: “Only at a meeting between principals will results be achieved. What about proposing it for January? By that time Africa should be cleared and the great battle in South Russia decided.”
