• CRC 262 DOWNGRADED TO UNCLASSIFIED SUEZ CRISIS 1956 U CENTER FOR NAVAL ANALYSES 2000 North Beauregard Street Alexandria Virginia 223 t t Institute of Naval Studies April 1974 Prepared for OFFICE OF NAVAL RESEARCH Department of the Navy Washington D C 20350 OFFICE OF THE CHIEF OF NAVAL OPERATIONS Op96 Department of the Navy Washington D C 20380 CLASSIFIED BY 00254 30 M•r 72 N00014•6B·A·00 l1 Mtd oth•r applicab _ lllid c• aurc••· Ex•mpt from G•n•r•I D•cl•ssific•tion Sch•dul• of Ex cutive Order rr652 EHmption C•tegor'I 3 0 Cl• ify on 31 December 19B6 DOWNGRADED UNCLASSIFID - - -- - Copy 2 02 026200 00 NOTICE We are advised -that the State Department is in the process of declassifying its papers on this topic July 1974 Therefore para graph claaification cannot be determined NATIONAL SKCUIIITY INP'OIIMATION UnautnorlHCI OIICIO$Unl Subject to Criminal Sanctions • 0 • • Unc lassifiL'd _ SECURITY CLASSIFICATION OF r 11S PAGE When f ata F nrereJJ REPORT DOCUMENTATION PAGE READ INSTRtlC'Tl NS BEFORE COMPLETINC H RM 1 REPORT NUMRF R 2 GOVT ACCESSION NO 3 RECIPIENT'S C t TALOG NU 'llf R CRC 262 4 TITLE anrl Suhtltlrl -- S TYPE OF REPORT 6 PEJ 1100 r VEREO Suez Crisis 1956 lJ 6 PERFORMING ORG REPOR to •J 48Ell 7 AU THOR aJ CONTRo CT OR GRANT NUMBERf u ·- Jill M Hill N00014-o8-A-009 l 9 PERl ORMING ORGANIZATION NAME ANO AOORESS 10 PROGRAM ELEMENT PROJECT T IIS r Center for Naval Analyses AREo 6 WORI UNIT NUMBERS 1401 Wilson Boulevard Arlington Virginia 22209 11 CONTROLLING OFl ICE NAME AND ADDRESS 12 REPORT DATE Office of Naval Research Aoril 1974 Depanment of the Navy 13 NUMBER OF PAGES -- Washington D C 20350 96 14 MONITORING AGENCY No ME I ADDRESS lf dlftare 11 ftom Control Inf Oftlc• 1$ SECURITY CLASS ot Ihle report Office of the Chief of Naval Operations Op96 Department of the Navy UNCLASSIFIED Washington D C 20380 IS DECLASSll'IXT N w_ 3101NG SCHEDULE rl - - - -·· T II 1 16 DtSTRIBUTION STATEMENT ol lhh Reporl 17 DISTRIBUTION STATEMENT of the ab•ltacl entared In Bloclr 20 If dllf•r•I _ R t 18 SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES This Research Contribution does not necessarily represent the opinion of the Depanment of the Navy II KEY woi 01 Continue on • elde II neca atd ldanllt by loclr n1atle J Suez Crisis conflict Egypt foreign policy France Great Brit ain history international relations Israel Mediterranean Sea Middle East Sixth Fleet operations 20 AIIST ACT Conllnue on•••••• •Ide II n•ceH- -d ldenllt b1' llloM -hr This research contribution recounts the history of the 1956 Suez Crisis and attempts to settle many of the historical controversies surrounding the crisis The role of the Sixth Fleet and the consequences of Suez are examined DD l ORM 1 JAN '3 1473 l DITtON OP' 1 NOV 111S OIIIOLl TI 5 N 0102•014• 6601 I Unclassified 11 cui 1TY C'-AUIP'ICATION 01' THII AOI • _ LLlJ ITV CLASSIFICATION OF TMIS PAGE Wlt- D•I• lr11Cet•d 1 t HCUIIITY CLAUl ICATION 0 THII ll'AG WJIM 0•• _ __ • • • UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED WHEN ENCLOSURE REMOVED Center for Naval 1401 Wilson Boulevard Arlington Virginia 22209 An Equal Opporr11n ry Employar MEMORANDUM FOR DISTRIBUTION LIST 703 524-9400 Analyses in ttlfthatP nl Un vr r· ty of Rn hP Mr 12 July 1974 Subj Center for Naval Analyses Research Contribution 262 Encl 1 CRC 262 Suez Crisis 1956 U Jill M Hill Secret April 1974 1 Enclosure 1 is forwarded as a matter of possible interest 2 Research Contributions are distributed for their potential value in other studies and analyses They do not necessarily represent the opinion of the Department of the Navy 3 When no longer desired for retention the enclosure should be destroyed in accordance with current security regulations Distribution List Reverse page HERSCHEL E KANTER Director Institute of Naval Studies UNCLA·SSIFIED Subj Center for Naval Analyses Research Contribution 262 DISTRIBUTION LIST Deeartment of the Na SNDL Part 1 SNDL Part II 21A CINCPACFLT Al SECNAV 21A CINCLANTFLT A2A OPA 21A CINCUSNAVEUR A2A ONR 22 COMSECONDFLT A4A CHNAVMAT 22 COMTHIRDFLT Bl OSD DIR NET ASSESSMENT 22 COMSIXTHFLT Bl ASD PA E 22 COMSEVENTHFLT Bl ASD INTELLIGENCE SOA USCINCEUR Bl ASD ISA SOA CINCLANT B2 DEF INTELLIGENCE AGENCY 51A SACEUR FSl NAVINTCOMHQ 51A SACLANT FT69 USNA ANNA FT73 NAVPGSCOL FT75 NAVWARCOL OpNav Op-09BH Op-96 Op-06 Op-60 Op-61 Department of State Bureau of Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs 2 copies Bureau of Intelligence and Research INI INA 2 copies Bureau of Political Military Affairs PM ISO Other u s Army War College Air War College Senior Naval Member Weapon Systems Evaluation Group U S Arms Control and Disarmament Agency Agency for International Development Central Intelligence Agency National Security Council Industrial College of the Armed Forces National War College Institute for Defense Analyses The Rand Corporation • • • • • UNCLASSIFIED TABLE OP CONTENTS Page Preface vi List of abb_reviations and acronyms • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • vii Synopsis Events of the Suez crisis An alysis of th e eve nts ••••••••••••• ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• Role of the Sixth Fleet The consequences of Suez ············································· Events of the Suez crisis The Aswan decision ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• The U S offer to finance the High Dam ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• British concerns about the Middle East ····························· The effect of th e Arab-Israeli conflict Maneuvering and withdrawal of the U S offer Nationalization of the Suez Canal ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• Egyptian reaction to U s withdrawal from dam project The threat to Western interests Israeli Anxiety The immediate reaction••••······•·••••••••••··········•••••··•·•••··· British-French military plaootng begins U S resistance to military measures British-- French mnttary plaootng proceeds The organization of international pressure Movement toward a conference •••••• •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• Military preparations coDttnue •••••••••• •• ••• A new Dulles plan ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• Israel breaks the lee •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 'Ibe Soviet factor Neg tiations fail ••••••••• •t• •• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • The disintegration of peace in the Near East •••••••••••••••••• • ill9Yes ••••••• •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••···········• och-laraelicollu _ •••••••••••••••••••• • •• •• • • taare tbaa-ple•tlt ••·• - --• •• ' •••••••••••••••••••••••• reac t lon ••• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • ••• • •• • •• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Armecl co n fllct • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Israel advances ••• ••• • ••• • •• Britain am Prance make their move •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• The U S reacts·····••••••••••••·······•••••••••••••••••·•••••··· --1-- -UNCLASSIFIED X X xii xiii xiv 1 l l 3 5 8 10_ 10 12 15 15 16 17 19 20 20 22 25 26 28 29 30 30 31 33 35 37 37 40 44 UNCLASSIFIED TABLE OF CONTENTS Cont'd · Britain and France attack U N involvement and cease-fire resolution •••• •••••••••••••••••• • Britain aoi France continue attacks ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• The specter of Soviet involvement ••••••••••••• •••••••••••••••••••• Britain and France accept ceasefire •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• Crisis within a crisis begins Soviet intentions are reassessed The crisis winds down The role of the Sixth Fleet Operations during the crisis • ••• • • • • • • Aid to the U N Role during threat of Soviet action ••••••••••••••• ••••••••••••••••••••••• Requests for Sixth Fleet help during the war •••••••••••••••••••••••••• ••• Communications • • • • •• ••• • • •• • •••• • • •• • • • • Logistics • • • •• • ••• ••• • • • • The consequences of Suez -ii UNCLASSIFIED Page 44 45 48 49 52 53 56 60 61 61 69 71 74 75 79 81 • • • • UNCLASSIFIED PREFACE The historiography of the Suez Crisis is made up of differing accounts and incompat ible conclusions drawn from the public record To the author's knowledge this paper is the first to be based on a complete study of the classified records of the State and Defense Departments The conclusions set forth here are interpretations but are based on examination of original records The materials used for this study were State Department telegrams memos of conversation and summaries Navy messages and reports the Dulles Oral History and personal interviews This study is more than a recitation of history The events of the 1956 Suez Crisis and its aftermath profoundly affected the subsequent history of the Middle East and the relations among the Western powers am the Soviet Union The parallels of U S - Soviet interactions in the 1956 crisis to their interactions in the 1967 1970 and 1973 crises are striking and should not be forgotten • • l ·'· -- -iii UNCLASSIFIED· • ALUSNA ' AMCONGEN AMEMB CAS CINCLANTFL T CINCNELM CINCNELM REAR CINCPACFLT CINCSPECOMME COMANTISUBLANT COMEASTSEAFRON COMIDEASTFOR COMSIXTHFL T CNO CTF IDF JCS MIDEASTFOR R A F SCUA UNEF lJNTSO USARMA WESTPAC UNCLASSIFIED LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS American Legation U S Naval Attache American Consulate General American Embassy Controlled American Source Commander in Chief Atlantic Fleet Commander in Chief Naval Forces Eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean Commander in Chief Naval Forces Eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean Rear Echelon London Commander in Chief U S Pacific Fleet Commander in Chief Specified Command Middle East a second hat worn by CINCNELM Commander Antisubmarine Forces Atlantic Commander Eastern Sea Frontier Commander Middle East Force Commander U S Sixth Fleet Chief of Naval Operations Commander Task Force Israel Defense Forces Joint Chiefs of Staff U S Middle East Force Royal Air Force Great Britain Suez Canal Users Association United Nations Emergency Force U N Truce Supervisory Orgao178tion U S Army Attache Western Pacific -v UNCLASSIFIED 4 UNCLASSIFIED SYNOPSIS EVENTS OF IBE SUEZ CRISIS It is not easy to ascertain the beginning and closing dates of the crisis from the viewpoint of the Sixth Fleet The Fleet began a buiW-up in the eastern Mediterranean as early as· February 1956 as an Israeli-Jordanian war was expected The diplomatic occasion for the crisis usually cited - - and the point at which the study begins - - is July 1956 when John Foster Dulles withdrew the U S offer to aid Egypt in building the Aswan High Dam Giving a date to the end of the crisis is elusive The crisis situation couW be said to have ended with the U N cease-fire in November the withdrawal of French and British troops in December or the withdrawal of Israeli troops in the Spring of 195 7 For purposes of this analysis the crisis ends in December 1956 when Commander-in-Chief Naval Forces Eastern Atlantic CINCNELM returned to London after the threat of a U S - Soviet conflict had abated On October 20 1955 the State Department announced the U S intention to aid Egypt in the buiWing of the Aswan High Dam Great Britain decided to share in the financing and on December 16 1955 a formal Anglo-American offer to grant Egypt $84 million was made A proposed World Bank loan to Egypt of $200 million was contingent on the Anglo American grant There began a diplomatic tug of war over the conditions attached to the offers While Egyptian President Nasser accepted the requirements of the World Bank in February 1956 he stipulated some Egyptian conditions Both Nasser and Secretary of State Dulles began to delay the Aswan Dam negotiations On July 19 1956 Dulles informed F4Jyptian Ambassador Hussein of his decision to withdraw the offer of a grant for the High Dam Since the entire scheme was dependent on U S participation Great Britain and the World Bank withdrew as well In a speech on July 26 • 1956 Nasser announced F« ptian nationalization of the Suez Canal while simultaneously bis officers quietly took control of the Canal Company offices in Egypt Was n•s official reaction to the Canal seizure was temperate but the governments of Britain and France officially declared their outrage and quietly ordered plans for the miJitary invasion of Egypt to be preJ ired The integrated commam '· · Jt for an Anglot' · · · joint military venture in the Mediterranean was appointed At the week President Eisenhower diapatc-1 Dulles to London for dis cussions with British Pr1Die Minister Anthony Bien and Pfench-Foreign Minister Christian Pineau Dulles proposed an international conference to help mobilize world opinion against Hgypt' a nmning of the Suez Canal While ten and French President Mollet agreed to the conference method they continued planning-for military action -vii UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED The international conference met in London on August 16 and ended on August 23 A draft declaration formulated by Dulles proposing an internationalized canal assuring Egypt a fair return and calling for the negotiation of a new Suez Canal convention was passed aµd signed by eighteen nations while the Soviet Union am Egypt led the dissenters Robert Menzies the Prime Minister of Australia conveyed the proposal to Nasser who rejected it Dulles produced a second plan whereby the users of Suez would ban together and run the canal On September 12 Dulles announced his plan to form a Suez Canal Users Association SCUA On September 19 the eighteen powers again met in Lomon Eden and Pineau disappointed at the lack of forcefulness in SCUA decided to take the crisis to the u N Security Council The U N slowly began preparing to discuss the Suez question On October 5 the Security Council began hearings on Suez On October 12 secret Anglo• French-Egyptian talks with Hammarskjold produced six working principles which were agreed upon Toe next day the Soviet Union vetoed an Anglo- French resolution and the secret talks were abandoned At that same moment French and Israeli military leaders were meeting in Paris to plan a coordinated attack on Egypt On October 14 the French approached Britain about the Israeli plan to attack Egypt and noted this would be a good excuse for a joint Anglo- French operation to separate the combatants On October 16 Bien am British Foreign Secretary Selwyn Lloyd flew to Paris where the Joint intervention was agreed upon Israel started partial mobilization on October 15 as British and French naval forces began routine exercises in the Mediterranean On October 24 the day Ben Gurion got Eden and Mollet to approve the collusive plan in writing Russian troops moved into Budapest to crush the Hungarian revolt -- Washington had to deal with two crises On October 27 the State Department reali red that the Israeli mobilization was massive and Eisenhower contacted Ben Gurion strongly urging that the Israelis abandon any plans for military action Israeli Ambassador Eban assured Dulles that no offensive moves would be made On October 29 Israeli forces launched a massive invasion of Egypt The Suez war beg Just days after the Hungarian Revolution and a week before the American Presidentia1' elections With Anglo- French air cover and French destroyers protecting its coast Tarael marched across the Sinai At Malta the Anglo- French armada began to move east Tio task forces of the U S Sixth Fleet were sent to Alexandr a and Haifa for evacuation of Americans On October 30 Bien announced the pre-planned Anglo- French ultimatum to Egypt and IsraeL It called for a withdrawal of military forces to a distance of 10 miles from the canal the Israelis were then 25 miles away and could advance F gyptian agreement to the occupation by Anglo- French forces of Port Said Ismailia am Suez am twelve ·viii UNCLASSIFIED • • UNCLASSIFIED hours in which to accept the ultimatum Egypt refused it The Anglo- French assault fleet had already set sail and the R A F began bombing Egypt The U S made every effort to stop its allies through the U N On November 1 Dulles went to the U N to urge a c ase-fire and withdrawal The U S resolution was passed by the U N Egypt accepted the cease-fire on November 2 The main forces of the Anglo-French armada were still three days sailing time from Egypt On November 3 E'den announced Anglo- French rejection of the cease-fire While he was speaking hostilities in the Sinai ceased lt the invasion force continued The Sixth Fleet still in the middle of evacuations found itself across the path of the approaching armada in a few areas On November 5 British parachutists landed at the Cairo Airport beginning the first helicopter- borne amphibious assault ever made That afternoon the Suez crisis took on a new dimension Soviet Premier ailganin sent notes to the governments of Great Britain France am Israel in which he threatened Soviet action A number of Soviet military movements were reported on November 6 The CNO' s estimate was that the Soviets woukl ''probably send volunteers to the Middle East Prime Minister E'den acceding to the wishes of his cabinet accepted the U N cease-fire on the evening of November 6 just hours after British naval forces went ashore on Egyptian beaches The French also acquiesced The cease-fire went into effect but the RuS Sians continued to recruit volunteers and rumors of Soviet military movements continued to be passed through Western intelligence channels By November 8 th6'entire U S Navy was put on war-time alert with readiness to implement emergency war plans The United Nations moved quickly 1n assembling an emergency force which began arriving 1n Egypt on November 15 1be crisis was dtminishing On December 3 Lloyd announced the imminent withdrawal of Anglo- French forces and Israel drew back thirty miles from the canal On December 13 CINCNELM returned to London and the crisis was over as far as the U S Navy was concerned By December 22 the British and French had completed witldrawal 1be Israelis umer great pressure from Eisenhower evacuated conquered territory on March 6 1957 On March 29 the first convoy went thro - ly opened Suez Canal ANALYSIS OF THE' BVBNI'S The major filKUngs of the analysis are summarized here and the evidence is presented 1n detail in the later chapters John Foster Dulles w thdrew the Aswan Dam offer without regard to British preferences and in the absence of any policy planning or estimates No one expected Nasser to -ix- --- T UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED retaliate by nationalizing the Suez Canal The British and French outraged at Nasser's move endeavored to get U S backing for a military venture Dulles did imply that there would be U S military support if good faith diplomatic efforts faile l Indeed our military worked with the British throughout the summer as did our intelligence It was not until ·late in the summer of 1956 that Dulles entirely dismissed the idea of backing the British and French with force In the end the Sixth Fleet was more of a hindrance than a help to the British and French expeditionary forces • The Israelis decided to attack Egypt long before the Arab Defense Pact was concluded and after Nasser opened the canal to Israel-bound ships The Anglo- French-Israeli plan for attack was written down and signed as a treaty When it became evident that U S diplomatic support was not forthcoming the Israelis jumped the gun on the British and French -- attacking early and although using French pilots leaving the Franco British armada little time to reach the Eastern Mediterranean Members of the U S National Security Council debated whether to aid their European allies with Sixth Fleet support meed both Eisenhower and General Twining have said that the U S would probably have joined the fighting on the side of Britain and France if those countries had handled the situation differently Movements of the Sixth Fleet indicate that its role was a low-risk attempt to protect Egypt or at least to stall the fighting until the U N could intervene Nasser requested active Sixth Fleet intervention to forestall Soviet aid Perceived evidence of Soviet movements toward the area put the Sixth Fleet am all U S Naval Forces on full alert The Soviet threat to retaliate against the French British and Israelis with missiles put the U S Navy on a war footing and finally brought NATO into play Britain and France requested a definition of NATO am its application to Allied forces in the Mediterranean The U S reply which was relayed to the Soviet Union was that NATO did apply in the event of an attack on those forces and that the U S would oppose with force any Soviet military interference The question of what are the obliga tions of an ally came under consideration The position my ally right or wrong was not taken by the U S Washington did maintain that the North Atlantic Treaty required advance consultation if force were to be used a point which the British and French had breached However the u S jumped in under NATO when the threat of a Soviet attack became imminent Sixth Fleet ships were interspersed with the British-French Navies - - an attack on one would be an attack on all Dlrlng Suez the U S had come closer to war with the Soviets than at any time since World War II The entire U S Navy was directed to maintain readiness to implement emergency war plans -x UNCLASSIFIED • • UNCLASSIFIED ROLE OF THE SIXTH FLEET The Sixth Fleet played many roles during the Suez Crisis When hostilities began the Fleet endeavored to forestall the fighting and although the U s turned down an offer of joint action with the Soviets we were nevertheless joined diplomatically by that opposing great power and arrayed against two of our oldest allies and one of our youngest clients The Sixth Fleet then turned to deterring Soviet intervention A third role of the Sixth Fleet was the protection of U S citizens and investments Amphibious task forces evacuated 2000 people from the area in the midst of hostilities Requests for Sixth Fleet aid came from many countries at different points in the conflict They came from Egypt Turkey Great Britain the Soviet Union the u N •• France and Germany The Fleet augmented am in some cases replaced _ State Department communi cations facilities Lastly the Fleet gave logistic support to the incoming U N Force without which the emf of the crisis would have been delayed To a great extent U S opposition was the strongest factor in ending the war The t Sixth teet first in its role of reproving onlooker and secooo in its array against t Soviet ervention dki have a stabilizing effect 1· THE CONSEX 2UENCES OF SUEZ A result of Suez the Eisenhower Doctrine which was annoW1ced December 31 1956 formally declared that any Russian intervention in the area would at once be met by the l United States with force if all else failed This represented the first American assumption r of indE3 endent guarantees to the Arab World Soviet gains of the 1955-56 period in the area combined with the lack of clearly defined goals on the part of the U S saw the Middle East turn almost overnight from an Anglo- French preserve to a new area of confrontation of the cold war powers The U S had to create a new Middle East policy taking i nto conskieration the new setting stronger Soviet Influence more independent Arab states and a new operational role for the U N • -xi UNCLASSIFIED • UNCLASSIFIED EVENTS OF nlE SUEZ CRISIS THE ASWAN DECISION The Suez Crisis of 1956 had its origins in the U S decision not to finance construction of Egypt's Aswan High Dam Secretary of State John Foster Dulles' withdrawal of the Aswan High Dam offer changed greatly the relationship of the Western powers and the Arab world It precipitated Nasser's nationalization of the Suez Canal that in turn re sulted in the Anglo- French-Israeli invasion of Egypt and it destroyed the ever elusive but nearly achieved plans for an Arab- Israeli settlement The High Dam was to have been the symbol of Washington's newly announced even-handed policy It was to fill the vacuum with aid rather than troops The decision to withdraw the offer was probably more completely the act of John Foster Dulles than any other major foreign policy decision of the Eisenhower years · The U S Offer to Finance the High Dam In Cairo on October 12 1955 the Soviet Ambassador Daniel Solod delivered to Nasser a Russian offer for the High Dam On October 17 in Washington Egyptian Ambassador Hussein called on Secretary Dulles to say that Egypt would prefer a U S aid and let him know that this would prevent Egypt from becoming a Soviet satellite On October 20 Washington announced the U S intention to help the Egyptians build their dam This opportunity held great appeal for the U S which hoped Nasser would begin to concentrate more upon internal socio-economic reform than upon regional imperial ambitions • l It gave Secretary Dulles a chance to put into practice his newly announced policy of non-preferential treatment in the Middle East It would bring stability to the area by building up the economic rather than the military strength of Israel's neighbors and keep the U S from having to increase its military presence in the Middle East By offering to help finance the High Dam the U s was overcoming the temptation to provide aid in narrowly anti-Communist terms Nevertheless it could not resist the desire to attach a political rider stating that its action would bring Egypt firmly into the Western camp and encourage an Arab-Israeli settlement In September 1955 F gypt and the Soviet Union had conclooed an agreement in which the Soviets were to send F sYPt $200 million worth of arms in exchange for some Egyptian cotton The Egyptian• Soviet agreement spurred the State Department to action It was 1 James E Dougherty 'Ibe Aswan Decision in Perspective Political Science Quarterly March 1959 p 37 -1- UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED felt in Washington that U S aid for the High Dam would so overshadow Soviet aid that Egyptians would steer clear of further involvement with the Russians It was also hoped that Nasser an Arab hero because of the arms agreement would gain such prominence and secu ity that he might be able to compromise in a settlement with Israel Under Secretary of State Herbert Hoover Jr •• convinced Dulles to make the Dam part of a larger Near East settlement On August 6 1955 Dulles had made a major policy speech in which he offered to help overcome the obstacles to an Arab- Israeli peace Knowing Nasser's great longing for a Western-aided High Dam Dulles could give him an incentive to negotiate Nasser on the other hand resisted any political conditions to an economic arrangement But he was aware that his new stature made it easier for him to try for peace Nasser praised British Prime Minister F clen' s November 9 peace proposal made during his annual Guild Hall Speech On November 25 Egypt announced in the U N its acceptance of negotiations conducted through an intermediary Eisenhower and Dulles chose to provide the intermediary Robert Anderson was appointed to go on the highly secret mission and went to Tel Aviv and Cairo Ambassador Byroade in Cairo was concerned with the Administration's linking of the Aswan High Dam offer with the success of the Anderson mission He wired to Dulles his worry that if the secret talks failed for any reason at all Washingtoy would retaliate against Nasser but Dulles assured Byroade that he wouJd not retaliate On August 30 1955 the World Bank had reported to Egypt that the Aswan High Dam proposal was both technically and economically sound The Bank's President Eugene Black reaffirmed this appraisal even after the Soviet- Egyptian arms arrangement On November 21 the Egyptian Finance Minister met with representatives of the World Bank in Washington to reconfirm their positions The next day Egyptians met with Under secretary of State Hoover and George Allen Assistant Secretary for Near East and South Asia who supported the position taken by the World Bank 2 The outcome was a joint offer made on December 16 1955 The United States offered a grant of $70 million and Great Britain $14 million to defray foreign exchange costs for the first stage of five years 'Ibe Anglo-American offer was limited am made no long-term commitments stating both would be prepared to consider sympathetically in the light of then existing circumstances further support towards financing the later 1 U S State Department #2515 from Cairo Oune 16 1956 and interview with Eugene Black November 13 1969 2 U S State Department Memo of Conversation November 22 1955 -2- UNCLASSIFIED • • • • » ·'5 UNCLASSIFIED 1 stages to supplement World Bank financing Subsequent grants and loans were expected to amount to $130 million and the entire project was to last 15 years The World Bank offered a loan of $200 million at 5 percent interest for forty years but this offer was continge t on the Anglo-American grant Thus the combined fifteen year assistance was expected to be $400 million with Egypt providing most of the costs of labor and materials Nasser called the offer the high point in his relations with the United States 2 On February 9 Nasser formally accepted the World Bank condition of a voice in Egyptian economic policy He accompanied this acceptance by government-controlled radio attacks on U S conditions Then Nasser began to stall by stipulating he wanted agreement with the Sudan first British Concerns About the Middle East Late in January of 1956 British Prime Minister Bien became distressed over what he determined to be Russian moves to expand in the Middle East Bien saw the Soviets working with the Saudis Syrians Slid tians to take control of oil so necessary to the defense and economy of the West 3 On January 30th fen and Foreign Secretary Selwyn Lloyd came to Washington to encourage Dulles to take a harder line in the Near East An effort should be made to work with Nasser but as len said U his attitude on this and other matters was that he would not cooperate we would both have to recon sider our policy towards him _ 4 It was decided the Aswan Dam was to be left up in the air • In contrast to the haziness and uncertainty which surrounds Secretary Dulles' change of mud Prime Minister F c len's can be pinpointed almost to the day On March 1st King Hussein of Jordan sent for Lieutenant-General John Glubb - - the Englishman who had commanded the Arab legion for eighteen years -- and dismissed him at a moment's notice • 5 Glubb Pasha was one of the last evidences of the British Empire in the Near East The expulsion of this revered Arabphile am the injury to British pride F clen attributed to Nasser's hand l Kennett Love Suez The 'I vice- Fought War New York McGraw- Hill 1969 p 311 • 2 John Connell 'I'be Most Important Country LoDion Wyman and Sons 1957 p 87 3 Louis L Gerson John Foster Dulles New York Cooper Square 1967 p 273 Gerson used Dulles' private papers in this book 4 Love 2-2· cit p 313 5 Colin Cross Toe Fall of the British Empire New York Coward-Mccann 1969 p 316 · -3- UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED In March British Foreign Secretary Lloyd went to Bahrein where he was stoned by men he was convinced were Nasser agents Lloyd went back to London livid and completely hostile to Nasser Eden's anger was festering By March 12 F den's anger burst into rage and he shouted to Anthony Nutting at the Savoy Hotel that he didn't want Nasser isolated or neutralized he wanted him destroyed 1 1 The unfortunate incident snow-balled out of proportion It later became apparent that King Hussein had dismissed Glubb for personal reasons and on his own initiative But Parliament began sneering at F den' s ineptitude in the Near East Rumors of the Prime Minister's resignation were rampant and F den was forced to publicly deny them Later in March F den wrote Dulles of the two alternatives he thought open to them 1 establish a modus vivendi with Egypt giving Nasser economic aid a m i suspending arms deliveries to Israel or 2 ignore Egypt and attempt to stabilize the Near East by isolating Nasser He wrote Eisenhower of Cairo's increasingly anti-Western propagama and of the Russian determination to liquidate the Baghdad Pact F den said the only way to stop Nasser was to have the U S join the Pact 2 Both Eisenhower and Dulles still had confidence that Nasser was their key to peace in the Near East and that they could convince him of the disadvantages of leaning toward the Soviet bloc Dulles did not want a break which might force Nasser into the arms of the Bear 3 He decided a mild reaction would be to postpone grain shipments to Egypt deny arms to Israel and Egypt and delay arrangements for the High Dam Dulles was not willing to participate in the Baghdad Pact because he believed U S participation would frighten the Arabs and cause Israel to demand a security treaty from the U S Eden was placated by an American offer to give Britain a hand both overt and covert in stabilizing King Hussein's government 4 Eisenhower informed the British that any move toward dropping Nasser would ruin prospects of an Arab- Israeli settlement Early in April Washington turned a deaf ear to Eden's pleas Dulles was still trying to look on Nasser's good side At a press conference on April 3 the Secretary of State said he believed Nasser to be acruated primarily by a desire to maintain genuine inde pendence in the area He stated that Egypt has taken no irrevocable decision to repudiate ties with the West or to accept anything lilce vassalage to the Soviet Union 5 1 Love E e· cit •• pp 213-215 2 Gerson •£ p 274 3 ll id p 276 4- ll id p 276 5- 'Ihe New York Times April 4 1956 p 1 -4- UNCLASSIFIED • • UNCLASSIFIED The Effect of the Arab-Israeli Conflict Dulles was still working for a peace settlement through Anderson The Ambassador's secret mission seemed to be gaining results on the Arab side On March 22 it was re ported tlia1 Nasser was willing to modify demands and would discuss anything through Anderson The Israeli Prime Minister Ben Gurion then brought everything to a halt by reiterating the usual Israeli demand for direct talks with Nasser knowing full well how impossible and personally dangerous this would be for the Arab leader On March 28 Israeli Ambassador Abba Eban appeared in the office of the Secretary of State with a bargain If the United States would give Israel the arms it wanted Ben Gurion would enter peace negotiations through an intermediary 2 Dulles found that demam unreasonable and impossible to meet Both Dulles and Nasser continued to delay the High Dam negotiations Dulles de clined to answer Nasser's letters Nasser although himself willing to accept the terms as they were was not averse to delaying final acceptance in the hope that a stronger position in the East would bring mollification in the West The State Department was uncertain about proceeding with negotiations Washington • officials decided to wait until Nasser became more agreeable They decided that - delaying tactics should be employed at least for the time being so that we will not be 1n the position either of breaking off negotiations or of giving the Egyptians encouragement to believe that we are anxious to complete the arrangements • • • It is our thought that in view of the possibility that the Egyptians might decide to enter into a contract with the t Soviet Union for the Dam project we should make every effort to develop a situation in _ Sudan whereby a Nile waters agreement between Sudan and Egypt could be blocked 3 In the meantime Israel had turned to France for the arms denied her by the U S The French infuriated by Nasser's aid to the rebel Algerians were anxious to aid the Israelis Under NA TO arrangements and the Middle East Arms Agreement Paris was required to get permission from Washington before sending arms to Israel Dulles informed the French that he would not object to the shipment of twelve Mystere IV jet fighters ordered by Israel 4 But neither the French nor the Israelis stopped there By devious means including twice circulating authorization slips through the Defense Ministry the French sent many more jets and other arms than the U s approved or l U S State Department Telegram #696 to Tel Aviv March 22 1956 2 U S State Department memo of conversation March 28 1956 3 U S State Department memo from Rountree to Hoover April 3 1956 4 Love · cit p 117 -5- UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED knew about Eisenhower wrote in his memoirs later these 'twelve' mystere fighters would display a rabbit· Ii lee capacity for multiplication 1 The U S knew of fifteen such deliveries by mid-April alone On April 5 the Israelis bombed downtown Gaza on market day killing 63 and wounding 102 The Fedayeen retaliated with a five-day wave of terror during which 14 Israelis were killed General Burns the U N mediator pleaded with Washington to restrain Israel from retaliating Dulles saki the U S would support and assist either side which might be subject to aggression The warning was supported by the movement of Sixth Fleet to the Eastern Mediterranean In mid-April Nasser grew alarmed by reports of continuing large-scale shipments of French arms to Israel He announced preparations for a second major arms contract with the Russians The U S reply was not a threat to Nasser but to the Soviet Union Washington informed the Russians that we reserve our full freedom to enter an arms race anytime we wish and while we would be more reluctant to do so large Soviet shipments are tending to force us to do so 2 On April 27 Khrushchev during a visit to Englam announced the Soviet Union would join a U N embargo on arms deliveries to the Middle East Nasser found himself staring at more secret French deliveries to Israel and realized such an embargo would not affect these clandestine movements He turned to the only non- U N power capable of meeting his arms needs -- Communist China On May 16 Nasser recognized the Peking Government He underestimated Dulles' unhappiness at the move As it became more evident that the U S Congress would not approve appropriations for the Aswan Dam out of FY 56 funds Dulles endeavored to keep the negotiations open as he wished to avoid fving Egyptians pretext for announcing agreement with Soviets on basis of U S refusal The State Department informed Cairo that in the circumstances we should utilize for other purposes the funds now set aside for the Aswan Dam and rely upon future appropriations for financing the U S grant contribution to the Aswan Dam when appropriate agreements have been reached 4 ' l Love 21 · cit p 117 2 U S State Department memo from Allen to Rountree April 18 1956 3 U S State Department #2815 to Cairo n d 4 U S State Department #2815 to Cairo n d -6- UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED The State Department was at that time aware that the Soviets were exerting strong pressure on Egypt to conclude the High Dam Deal 1 Perhaps the Russians were becoming anxious about a possible Western withdrawal On the other hand perhaps they were aware of declining Anglo-American interest and saw in a withdrawal their opportunity to step into a Middle East rebuffed by the West Whatever the Soviet analysis Dulles was not going to make a decision on the matter until after Soviet Foreign Minister Shepilov' s upcoming visit to Cairo If the West withdrew the offer Nasser might take a Soviet one if Dulles confirmed the aid Shepilov in Cairo would have a chance to negotiate a better offer President Eisenhower was anxious to maintain the status quo in the Near East He developed a plan which would have important advantages in its demonstration of complete impartiality between the Arabs primarily Egypt and the Israel is The plan was to use a ship in the Sixth Fleet to store appreciable quantities of military equipment and to have that ship cruise in the Ea stern Mediterranean ready for instant dispatch to any nation in the Middle East which might be a victim of aggression 2 By mid-June Dulles found himself again under pressure to move against Nasser The pro-Israeli lobby in the U S demanded abandonment of the Aswan Dam proposal Lloyd indicated Britain's preference for isolating the Egyptian President The Egyptians denied two U S Sixth Fleet vessels passage through the Suez Canal because the masters refused to divulge information they considered classified The U S Government made a - formal protest Then Pineau went to Washington to persuade Dulles to take action against Nasser The French Foreign Minister said The American Government showed itself at the time to be rather hesitant 3 By the end of the month Dulles was getting impatient for a good sign from Cairo Several Egyptian officials approached Americans in Cairo imploring them to get word through that some gesture of understanding or friendship however small from W lsh on before 18 June was desperately needed and might forestall moves toward Soviet bloc _ In July Dulles again came under pressure not to renege on the Dam The Italian Minister said he thought the West should be particularly energetic in teying to win this round in Egypt before the Soviets could get in The Italians were assured that the offer 1 u s State Department #2438 from Cairo Qune 8 1956 • 2 Love El · cit p 290 3Love ibid p 290 4 U S State Department memo from Kermit Roosevelt Qune 14 1956 -7· UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED still stands and only the appropriations were a problem It was also stated that the U s was still waiting for a Nile Waters Agreement with the Sudan 1 The British Ambassador saw Dulles delivering the message that the U K now wanted the Dam to be part of an offer for unified development of the Nile Valley Eugene Black wrote a letter to Egyptian Finance Minister Kaissuny reiterating the assurance that the World Bank will finance the High Dam scheme and urging Nasser to speedily accept the offer 2 On Monday July 16 the Senate Appropriations Committee passed the Foreign Aid Bill with a rider demanding Congressional authorization for funds to be used for the Aswan Dam The next day July 17 it was apparent that Dulles had not yet made a decision He was angry at Congress and pointed out -- while Senators agreed -- that he was still not bound by the rider and could make the loan if he wished 3 Maneuvering and Withdrawal of the U S Offer On July 18 the day before Egyptian Ambassador Hussein was to meet with Dulles Assistant Secretary of State Rountree told the British that no decision on the High Dam had been made yet In London Selwyn Lloyd was still considering the matter If in Dulles' joogment the offer was to be rescinded the British urged him not to be precipi tate but to play it long 4 A Foreign Office spokesman announced at a press conference that Britain stams firm on her offer of a grant to help Egypt build a gigantic dam on the Nile above Aswan - - provided Egypt proves she can afford the project • 5 Dana Adams Schmidt wrote in The New York Times that according to some close observers of the problem If the Egyptian Ambassador indicates that his move is part of a general shift in Egyptian foreign policy toward the West and away from neutralism the administration would be greatly influenced 6 Paul Geren told a London Daily Observer correspondent that the decision had not been made These accounts appeared the morning of July 19 Ambassador Husseilf was to see Dulles at 4 30 that afternoon The Egyptian 1 u s State Department memo of conversation Ortona Baxter July 12 1956 2 Interview with Eugene Black 11 13 69 3 Interview with Lucius Battle October 1969 4 Herman Finer Dulles over Suez Chicago Quadrangle Books 1964 p 47 and George E Kirk Contemporary Arab Politics New York Praeger 1961 p 43 5 nie New York Times July 20 1956 6 The New York Times July 17 1956 -8- UNCLASSIFIED r UNCLASSIFIED Ambassador first made contact with a CIA man and told him that Shepilov' s offer to build the dam was frighteningly good and Hussein asserted on his word of honor that if the U S · U K -World Bank offer is not made firm Nasser will accept the Soviet offer 1 Dulles was anxious to make a cool decision He telephoned his brother Director of the CIA According to Allen Dulles Foster said I've got to see the Egyptian Ambassador 1 t a certain time and I'· •e got to give him an answer on the Aswan Dam Are we going ahead with it or are we not The answer over the phone from Allen was no 2 Then the Secretary met with the President Hoover Robert Murphy and Rountree Dulles pointed out that internal economic conditions in Egypt had changed markedly He also noted that whoever undertook the venture would undoubtedly become unpopular with the Egyptian people due to the degree of austerity that would have to be imposed upon their economy 3 Eisenhower agreed that Nasser was difficult 'am there was a risk that we might in the long run lose the friendship of the Egyptian people He thought that it would be unwise to proceed with the offer Eisenhower later said Of course I under stood they1 d the Egyptians already been warned - - this statement was just giving our own public the information 4 Dulles instructed William Burdett to inform Eugene Black of the proposed withdrawal and press statement making clear that we had not yet finally determined whether or not to release the statement 5 - Ambassador Hussein arrived promptly in Dulles' office Dulles rather liked the Egyptian ambassador Hussein had been a good friend of the West and much to Nasser's chagrin ardently pro-American He and Dulles began with a little friendly chit-chat According to George V Allen who was present the Ambassador eulogized the High Dam emphasized Nasser's strength of vision and said how much he Hussein wanted the U S to do it He showed that he realized we had problems 116 1 U S Department of State memo to J F Dulles from F H Russell 2 Allen Dulles interview in Dulles Oral History Princeton University 1965 p 75 3 u S State Department memo of conversation Sulles Hoover Eisenhower Murphy July 19 1956 4 0wight D Eisenhower Dulles Oral History Princeton University 1964 p 34 5 U S State Department memo of conversation Iliff Burdett July 19 1956 6 Love £e• cit p 315 -9- UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED The Secretary of State was angry at Hussein's declaration of a threat to accept the Soviet offer However Dulles managed to keep a kindly but very cool tone to the conversation He said he realized the implications in the Ambassador's statements and granted at a Soviet offer might look attractive He said the U S has reluctantly concluded that it is not feasible for the U S to take part We have to withdraw our offer Dulles warned Hussein that the EFtians should be accutely aware of the dangers to their hard won independence The Ambassador left silent and unhappy NATIONALIZATION OF THE SUEZ CANAL Dulles' renege on the Aswan Dam came at a time when Nasser was basking in his own successes He had received 99 8 percent of the popular vote in his country's first Presidential election The last British soldier had just left the Canal Zone after 74 years of occupation Nasser was in Brioni with Nehru and Tito drafting a communique on their discussions and decisions on ending the Cold War with Nasser billing the meeting as an international conference of the neutralist Big Three When the Egyptian President arrived in Cairo at 2 A M on July 20 news of the loan refusal was broken to him by Zakaria Mohyeddin Egyptian Reaction to U S Withdrawal from Dam Project Cairo Radio had been proudly calling Nasser the new Saladin of the Arabs and a leader of the Neutralist world The timing of Dulles' decision was resented as an effort to counteract the Brioni talks and remove the place in the sun from the neutralists However more important than this was the slap in the face afforded by Dulles' impugning of the Egyptian Economy Nasser was furious at the suggestion that the Egyptian economy was unsound am its credit questionable Dulles probably reasoned that this implication would deter and embarrass the Soviets from helping Nasser - - He may have been partially correct But to Nasser To create doubt about our economy to create suspicion on the soundness of our financial policies at a time when we are striving hard to raise our standard of living could only be interpreted as a move to destroy world confidence in our economic position They heaped humiliation on top of humiliation They were addressing themselves to the Egyptian people to overthrow me That is why I answered back 'may you choke to death on your fury' 2 Egyptian newspapers and radio began a vituperative campaign of verbal violence against the United States The next day July 20 Eden further insulted Nasser by 1 U S State Department #139 to Cairo Ouly 21 1956 2 Simon Malley And the Answer Was Suez The Reporter September 6 1956 p 32 -10- UNCLASSIFIED • UNCLASSIFIED announcing the withdrawal of Britain's offer to the press before officially informing the Egyptian Ambassador The next blow came from Moscow where Soviet Foreign Minister Shepilov casually denied any firm Russian offer to build the Dam Nasser was staggered by the accumulation of bad news He felt his career and his very life in jeopardy of being cut short by this embarrassment He began a series of long conferences with his Cabinet They calculated the risks of nationalizing the Suez Canal Nasser himself wrote an appreciation of the situation 1 On Thursday July 26 Nasser made a three-hour speech in Liberation Square in which he announced Egyptian nationalization of the Suez Canal He reviewed in great detail the long negotiations for the Aswan Dam Nasser mentioned Ferdinaoo de Lesseps the French builder of the Canal and this was the secret signal which sent his men in Cairo Port Said and Ismailia in motion Stunned Canal company officials were quietly ushered out of their offices as the Egyptians took control Nasser announced that revenues from the Canal would pay for the Aswan Dam He promised compensation to the shareholders froze the company's assets in Egypt and forbade abandonment by company employees Nasser's seizure caught the State Department by surprise Dulles had surmised that Nasser would either go begging to the Soviets or be forced to abandon the dam with the subsequent loss of prestige am some thought his post 2 Informally several Oepartment officials mentioned possible ejection of the Point IV mission or difficulties for the Western business community as well as briefly considering the possibility of a prestige-building attack by Egypt on Israel 3 Foreign envoys in Washington were astounded that Dulles had failed to consider seizure of the Canal 4 Eisenhower when asked if the move had been predicted answered no we hadn't thought about it As a matter of fact we were as astonished as anybody else at that speech • • • when he said he was going to do it We were a bit astonished but we weren't so alarmed as the others were 5 1 1nterview with Kermit Roosevelt August 1969 2 George V Allen Dulles Oral History Princeton University 1965 1966 3 u s State Department memos of conversation Geren Laboulaye July 20 1956 Allen Couve de Murville July 25 1956 4 Finer EE· cit p 172 • 5Eisenhower Dulles Oral History p 36 -11- UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED The 'Ihreat to Western Interests For the British the nationalization was an assault not only on a facility vital to their economy but on their world stature For the United States neither American holdings nor American prestige was directly involved Furthermore despite Secretary Dulles' dislike of Nasser's neutralism and flirtation with the Soviet bloc the State Department was not prepared to give him up as a hopeless case 1 Dulles and Eisenhower although they took quite seriously the threat to Western interests did not go along with the British assessment that Nasser was already a Soviet stooge American interests in the Near East lay primarily in the maintenance o f communications facilities land air and sea routes petroleum supplies am base rights Since the Suez Canal could be used as a means of leverage against the west the U S would have to see to it that the Canal be insulated from its use as a tool of Egyptian politics in the Middle East 2 This meant also that the Russians should be prevented from domination of Egyptian policy to the point where the Canal could be used as a Soviet tooL The U S Navy needed assurance that its ships could pass freely and without revelation o f classified information such as troops carried destination or purpose Admiral Radford pointed out that the Suez Canal from the military point of view ls very important to United States forces It has an effect on our air and naval forces because we get a deal of petroleum products through Suez •• for direct consumption in the area • 3 However the strategic importance was not as great as it was for Britain simply because America's traditional gateway to the Ea st is its own West Coast Radford continued The most important aspect of the Suez Canal •• is that its closure cuts off or greatly reduces oil supplies ••• the great problem from a military point o f view would be the readiness of the NA TO countries to conduct military operations That readiness is related to their POL their petroleum supplies their air force their jet fuel their ships as well as their industry 4 Oil was a major factor in the cold war Dulles told Congress The United States and her allies could not carry on a prolonged 1 George Lenczowskl 'Ibe Middle East in World Affairs Ithaca N Y Cornell University Press 1962 p 514 2 Robert R Bowie Dulles Oral History Princeton University 1964 p 28 3 U S Congress U S Senate Foreign Relations and Armed Services Committees The President's Proposal on the Middle Ea st hereafter re ferred to as Hearings Washington Government Printing Office February 1957 p 420 4 Hearings p 420 -12- UNCLASSIFIED • - UNCLASSlf IED war without Middle East oil • l and two thirds of Western Europe's oil moved through the Canal The State Department at the time of the seizure also harbored a fear of the Nasser mood spreading to flaces such as Syria where U S -owned pipelines could be nationali7 e I or sabotaged The threat to base rights was two-fold First the State Department was of the opinion that any violent French reaction to Suez would jeopardize American bases in North Africa Secondly if Western actions led to Egyptian leanings toward the Soviet Union Russian incursions into the Middle East would be a threat to the Southern flank of NATO could provide a staging area used against Greece and Italy and be an avenue for aggression against India Pakistan and Asia 3 Soviet control of bases in Egypt would neutralize the Western geographic and base advantage in the area and according to Dulles probably result in the loss of allied control of the eastern Mediterranean the Persian Gulf and contiguous areas 4 The Sixth Fleet moved but Washington's lack of consideration of contingencies was clearly evident in the Fleet's position In early July two patrol force destroyers were withdrawn from the Eastern Mediterranean and although on July 7 CNO had put the Sixth Fleet on 24-hour alert for possible movement to the Eastern Mediterranean the situation was considered less volatile by the 11th and the fleet was ordered to return to normal operations - - the alert cancelled The response to the July 26 crisis was sluggish The Fleet was augmented Six destroyer divisions were scheduled to operate in the F astern Atlantic and Mediterranean The Atlantic Barrier Command was e ended Daily intelligence briefings were presented to CINCLANTFL T The Sixth Fleet was again placed on 24-hour notice State Department Consular Officers were put on standby as reporting and shipping control officers for the Navy Admiral Burke CNO told Secretary Dulles that I would move forces to be ready to fight as crises developed because I wanted to make the decision early so that the boys knew what the score was and they would be prepared Nobody would get caught by surprise They were all moving I said 'In order to do that I'm going to make unscheduled moves with the fleet periodically so that people will get used to it ' Which I did 5 1H earmgs p 31 • 2 U S State Department memo of conversation Hoover and Courve de Murville July 27 1956 3 Hearings p 31 4 Ibid •• p 31 5 1nterview with Admiral Arleigh Burke July 3 1969 -13- UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED Two destroyers maintained constant patrol in the Eastern Mediterranean off the coast of Egypt Meanwhile Eisenhower's previously planned arms carrying ship was cruising by the Levant Washington's official reaction to the Canal seizure was to personally criticize Nasser but play down the importance of his move The State Department protested his intemperate inaccurate and misleading statements did not denounce the nationaliza tion as illegal but merely spoke of far reaching implications affecting nations whose economies depend on the products which move through this international waterway The Suez Canal had long been thought of as an Anglo- French private club Its seizure brought a spectacular revival of the entente cordiale between Britain and France Both felt a direct attack on their world stature their position in the Near East their military capabilities and their economic well being To the British the Canal had been a symbol of imperial authority Defense of Suez had been the reason for the fight to maintain a base in Cyprus The arbitrary expro priation by a man regarded as an unpleasant Egyptian upstart evoked the deepest emotions Among F cien and his ministers clarity of thought gave way to atavistic impulse Eden applied to the nationalization the emotive word 'the ft' and immediately ordered plans to be prepared for the military invasion of Egypt 1 Eden himself likened Nasser to Hitler - - a new Rhineland was at hand The Prime Minister's career had been built around his resignation at the failure to act against Hitler F ien felt his role was to thwart aggression deny appeasement and as he himself stated reduce the stature of the megalomaniacal dictator at an early stage 2 The formal British note of protest called the nationalization an arbitrary action which constituted a serious threat to the freedom of navigation on a waterway of vital international importance The French note of protest was so violently worded that the Egyptian Ambassador in Paris refused to accept it The Suez Canal was considered the noble contribution of French civilization and one of its most prized assets While the Aswan Dam had not involved France the reprisal for its denial represented a tremendous loss to her The whole of France was caught up in the Algerian war The long history of French defeats most recently in Indochina had so infused the FJ ench with bitterness and loss of pride that Algeria a part of metropolitan France would not be lost The French were 1 Cross 2_2 cit p 318 2 Anthony len Full Circle Cambridge The Riverside Press 1960 p 480 -14- UNCLASSIFIED - UNCLASSIFIED convincing themselves that the Algerian rebels were receiving their supplies and their orders from Cairo Egypt became the chief enemy and the Algerian crisis could only be solved via Egypt The pervasive French mood can best be expressed by the newspapers of the time How dare they attempt to humiliate usl Suez is our private property If we don't fight Egypt now it will be too late Egypt is our mortal enemy plotting against us We will take no more defeats We will not be pushed around any more by pipsqueaks l Premier Mollet was telling Ambassadors in Paris that Nasser wanted to fasten his own control upon the Middle East in order to force his will on Europe 2 Israeli Anxiety Meanwhile Ben Gurion in Israel was becoming extremely-anxious about Soviet arms in Egypt He was hurriedly ordering fighters from France and planning a preventive war The Israeli Premier had just removed Moshe Sharrett his Foreign Minister perhaps because Sharrett was opposed to such a strike Nasser's move did not directly affect Israel because her ships had been denied passage through the Canal even under Anglo- French ownership In fact Nasser made the conciliatory gesture of allowing Israel-bound ships to go through the Canal beginning August 4 it nationalization was a jolt to the Israelis because it represented the kind of rallying point around which a gain in Arab solidarity could evolve into a coordinated military threat Ben Gurion intensified his efforts to win over or quiet the opponents to war THE IMMEDIATE REACTION Prime Minister Bien was dining at 10 Downing Street with the King of Iraq am Nuri al Said when news of the nationalization reached him F cien immediately called a meeting of the Cabinet and military leaders The American Charged' Allaire Andrew Foster and CINCNELM were invited to the midnight session Foster cabled the State Department Cabinet agreed that recourse to UN Security Council ran too great a risk of matter becoming 'hopelessly bogged down ' Regardless of international legal aspects interested Western governments must consider possible economic political and military measures against Egypt to ensure maintenance Canal freedom of transit through it and reasonable tolls Cabinet decided to have chiefs alert British commanders in Mediterranean to 1 Herbert Luethy and David Rednick French Motivations in the Suez Crisis Institute for International Social Research November 1956 p 63 99 100 • 2 Love - cit p 145 -15- _UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED situation Chiefs were instructed to produce soonest a study of what forces would be required to seize Canal and how they would be disposed if military action became necessary ••• only solution lay in a western consortium taking over and operating the Canal e stablishing itself if need be by military force 1 British- French Military Planning Begins The integrated command for a joint military venture in the Mediterranean was appointed The operation was to be led by a British Supreme Commander with a French deputy under them a British Admiral with a French Admiral as his deputy Rumor had it that Lord Mountbatten was asked to be the Commander but refused Toe job went to Sir Charles Keightley who shuttled as Commander-in-Chief between Cyprus and the planning coordination room underneath the Thames His deputy was_ General Beaulre a little- known Frenchman who spoke English fluently and was equally brilliant in diplomacy and military operations His deputy was Admiral Barjot Commander of the French Mediterranean Fleet - - a prolific writer with great imagination Sir Charles following English military tradition left the task of planning the entire operation to his operational commander Lieutenant- General Sir Hugh Stockwell French and British military chiefs began to make an inventory of military resources available for immediate action The inventory was disappointing Unless the action could have been carried through exclusively by airborne troops there was no alternative to an expedition from Malta Unless we could fly all the forces needed they had to swim The nearest place from which to swim was Malta a thousand miles away Cyprus has no sufficient harbor for landing craft or transports There is no escape from these logistics We had nothing like enough airborne troops for an operation of this kind The French had more but together we could not have mustered a full division with artillery support The follow-up would have taken several weeks to organize even with the most brilliant improvisation 2 The British chiefs of staff reported that without U S Sixth Fleet or other aid an Anglo- French military force could not be mounted for at least six weeks September 15 was selected as the first possible date for invasion The plan was to entail occupation of much of Egypt alter a landing at Port Said 3 The British treasury blocked all Egyptian accounts The Navy cancelled all leaves Arms exports to Egypt were halted F cien announced troop movements The Admiralty announced that certain naval moves had been ordered in case of serious trouble in the 1 Love 22• £ · • p 355 taken from Eisenhower Papers 2 Eden 21 · cit p 479 3 Hugh Thomas Suez New York Harper and Row 1967 p 55 -16- UNCLASSIFIED • • UNCLASSIFIED eastern Mediterranean A British cruiser broke off its courtesy call at Alexandria Warships in three British home ports were put on a state of alert Troop ships were rerouted around the Cape of Good Hope It was reported in Paris that the French Government favored military action at Suez The French Navy put their Mediterranean fleet on a war footing and its ships began to collect at Toulon in readiness for an operation at an undisclosed location Preliminary military studies worried Pineau because they indicated Egypt was surprisingly strong with a good bomber force He demanded Dulles approve a diversion of two or more Mystere IV squadrons from NATO to Israel Mollet blamed the United States for its own weakness and inability to strike more quickly France as a loyal NA TO ally had carried out NA TO directives to build only fighter aircraft leaving heavy bombers to the United States and Britain 1 Robert Murphy recalled I was left in no doubt that the British Government believed that Suez was a test which could be met only by the use of force •••• The British did not like the risk and expense involved - - the government had set aside five million pounds for the venture -- but 'Nasser has to be chased out of Egypt ' The scheme provided for a strike at the Egyptian air force by bombers from Cyprus Malta Aden and fleet carriers The objective was to paralyze the Egyptians knock out Cairo radio am 'chase Nasser from Egypt' while preventing the blockage of the Canal 2 Neither F den nor Pineau would allow negotiations to delay military preparation U S Resistance to Military Measures - _ President Eisenhower met with Allen Dulles Andrew Goodpaster and Herbert Hoover Jr Foster Dulles was in Peru Eisenhower said We must look upon this as an absolute violation of a treaty 3 The Secretary of State urged the need for common sense and judgment This cr isis was fundamentally a legal problem and demanded legal action Dulles was anxious to have Nasser reve se the nationalization and have the Canal inter nationalized with a reaffirmation of the Convention of 1888 governing use of the waterway Washington felt compromised by its ownership of the Panama Canal Dulles kept re emphasizing America's special treaty rights with Panama He wanted neither condonement of Egypt's seizure nor recourse to the United Nations to create a precedent for either nationalization or international interference in Panama • 1 John Robinson Beal John Foster Dulles New York 1957 p 288 2 Love • cit •• p 374 3 Eisenhower Dulles Oral History p 31 -17- UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED ien and Mollet were convinced and Dulles agreed that the Egyptians simply could not run the Canal They had neither the trained pilots nor the financial acumen The leaders were so convinced of this that they failed to see it was not the case According to some officials technically and juridically the nationalization was impeccable •••• There was nothing to do except twiddle our thumbs 1 In fact the maintenance and efficiency of operations were astoundingly good Traffic went through at a greater pace than the year before Toe Egyptian President went to great lengths to assure the world that the Canal was an open efficient waterway run entirely in accordance with international law Whereas all Israeli shipping had been barred from use of the Canal prior to nationalization Egypt announced that she would not bar non-strategic Israel-bound goods The position was reaffirmed when the formerly blacklisted Dutch ship SS Fedala was allowed to pass through the Suez Canal carrying goods from Haifa to Massawa on August 4th 2 On July 28 Robert Murphy flew to London to talk with Eden and Pineau Dulles felt his own presence would suggest U S involvement Murphy found himself at odds with Pineau who accused him of a leak to the press and with both European leaders over his lack of instructions and inability to state U S positions or contributions Toe French and the British were getting more aggressive and persistently attacked Americans for their naivete and Dulles for his refusal to go to London Murphy sent messages to Washington informing Eisenhower that the decision to employ force without delay was getting firmer He felt the British am French thought the U s would be behind them if not in the military venture at least by lack of opposition and ability to take care of the Bear 3 Eisenhower immediately dispatched Dulles to London Dulles thought Nasser would be more impressed with a show of international unity against his venture than with threats F cien _and Mollet were of the opinion that an international conference would ortanize world opinion behind them and therefore make it more acceptable for them to intervene militarily Whether Dulles countenanced the use of force at that time has been endlessly questioned The available evidence leads to the conclusion that he put himself in the position of committing the United States to backing the use of force if the conference method proved fruitless Force was the last method to be tried but the Unit eel States did not exclude the use of force if all other methods failed 4 It was necessary however to get Congressional backing aDi that would depend l Love • cit p 363 2 u s State Department #3021 from Port Said August 4 1956 3 Interview with Robert Murphy November 12 1969 4 F cien 2E· - p 487 -18- UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED on the garnering of public appreciation that peaceful efforts had failed Dulles himself wrote This divergence of initial approach between us and the British and French does not by any means imply that we will not be solidly with them if the conference method breaks down •••• The U S has become inevitably involved when the chips are down 1 Admiral Radford disclosed that the JCS had made planning studies with the British that covered the taking of various types of action jointly down there We'd brushed these plans up that summer - - talked with the British -- so we knew what they had in mind 112 British- French Military Planning Proceeds Although Eden and Mollet agreed to the pursuit of the conference method and private negotiations they continued to play up the military threat The British Government announced a state of emergency and called up reserves the Royal Navy and Air Force ordered sea and air units to the Middle East three carriers were ordered to the Mediterranean - - two sailed before August 7 carrying troops and landing equipment France agreed to deliver aircraft and weapons to Israel the French fleet assembled at Toulon comprising two carriers a battleship a cruiser twenty-one destroyers and six submarines 3 Joint Anglo-French military planning began on August 7 and by August 12 a tentative invasion plan was ready According to British testimony it called for preliminary air strikes against Egyptian airfields followed by paratroop drops and seaborne landings Britain would supply fifty thousand troops France thirty thousaoo Canberra jet bombers would be covered by British naval aircraft and the French Air Force an Anglo- French combined fleet would protect the landings and provide the sea bombardment The entire force would gather rehearsed aoo equipped at Malta and Cyprus by September 15 4 With the assembling of commandos in Malta the beginnings of the evacuation of Egypt by the British and the formation of an army of national liberation by Egypt the Sixth Fleet moved to within 48 hours steaming distance of Suez but wiexplainably cancelled its 24-hour alert l U S State Department #144 to Moscow August 4 1956 2 Arthus W Radford Dulles Oral History Princeton University 1965 p 78 3 Erskine Childers The Road to Suez London McGibbon and Kee 1962 p 209 4 Terrence Robertson Crisis The Inside Story of the Suez Conspiracy New York Atheneum 1965 p 77 -19- UNCLASSIFID UNCLASSIFIED TI-IE ORGANIZATION OF INTERNATIONAL PRESSURE During the months of August and September Eden and Dulles found some common ground in their proposals but both had a private face different from their pubiic ones and both completely misunderstood the other's intentions F clen was convinced that the U S would support - - if not participate in - - an attack on Egypt He therefore was willing to go with Dulles down the path of international conferences and the U N because he needed the time to mount a military venture and because he hoped to organize international opinion behind the move Movement Toward a Conference Dulles on the other hand wished to keep the threat of force alive in order to persuade Nasser but wanted to avoid having to be involved in what he considered a colonialist venture especially just before an American Presidential election To Dulles therefore the conference method was an effort to cool down his Anglo- French colleagues and to avoid using force before garnering world opinion and American public support Dulles was caught in a dilemma He was not fond of Nasser and would probably have backed use of force if it had been done as a reprisal move right after the nationalization but the British and French could not have mounted an attack without Sixth Fleet support for at least six weeks Chief of Naval Operations Arleigh Burke agreed with the British on the necessity of an attack to remove Nasser However any motive other than re trieval of the Canal was to Dulles too c lose an association with the remnants of imperial ism Also perhaps a way could be found to peacefully internationalize the Canal If the British and French had gone in right away Eisenhower would not have opposed the move and may have given Sixth Fleet support 1 But two things prevented an early attack first the British and French greatly overestimated Egyptian military power and second Dulles convinced Eden and Mollet that they must mobilize world opinion in favor of international operation of the Canal •••• A way had to be found to make Nasser disgorge what he was attempting to swallow •••• It should be possible to create a world opinion so adverse to Nasser that he would be isolated Then if a military operation had to be undertaken it would be more apt to succeed 112 In any event Was on assured London and Paris of an atomic umbrella against attack by the Soviet Union 3 I Eisenhower Dulles Oral History p 32 2 Eden - cit p 487 3 Merry and Serge Bromberger Secrets of Suez London Pan Books 1957 p 47 -20- UNCLASSIFIED • UNCLASSIFIED A mutual distrust and personal animosity between Dulles and Eden developed Dulles constantly felt he was being misled and used and made every effort to publicly disavow what he had earlier privately intimated Eden had a faulty bile duct an illness which made him prone to fits of anger - - he was infuriated by what he thought were Dulles' hypocrisy and desire to capitalize on British problems in the Near East This coupled with Dulles' dislike of Pineau' s arrogance an American ambassador in London who was unsympathetic to his Secretary of State and an American Ambassador to the U N who preferred to make his own decisions led James Reston to remark There has seldom been a period in modern history when personality has played so large a part in so many unhappy world events l Dulles F clen and Pineau decided to convene a conference in London in order to work out a plan for and endorse internationalization of the Suez Canal Eden wanted neither Russia nor Egypt at the conference but Dulles felt that their exclusion would make the effort look like a rubber stamp of a previously made tripartite decision He also felt that in order to avoid trouble with the Panama Canal Suez must be treated strictly on the legal basis of the 1888 Convention and that meant inviting all signatories However e U s had not been a signatory and so the conference expanded to include the sixteen principal users of the Suez Canal The invitations went out from London on August 2 To Dulles' mind should Nasser refuse to attend or accept reasonable proposals there would be a broader base for other actions free of the imputation however false in fact that the United States was backing France and Britain for purposes not directly connected with the Canal 2 ' Dulles arrived in London on August 15 He met that evening with Foreign Minister Shepilov who was leading the Russian delegation The Soviets had objected to the conference as biased and illegal but came to protect Egypt's sovereign rights Shepilov was very disturbed over Anglo• French military moves He was prepared to make a great many concessions in order to stabilize the Suez situation Dulles admitted to having liked him He reported to Eisenhower I feel that the Soviets would be open to making some kind of an arrangement with us and perhaps join to impose it upon Egypt if on the one hand it were couched in a way which would not gravely prejudice the Soviet Union with the Arab world and if on the other hand we would more or less make it a two-party affair with some downgrading of the British and the French I doubt whether Soviet agreement is worth having at that price but I shall do everything possible short of 1 Herbert G Nicholas Britain and the U S A Baltimore Johns Hopkins Press 1963 p 117 2 U S State Department #NIACT 144 to Moscow August 4 1956 -21- UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED disloyalty to the British and the French to get Soviet agreement 1 Two other highly credible sources reported that Shepilov promised in return for an Anglo· French commit· ment not to use force Moscow would ••• pull the rug out from under Nasser and might even ••• ee to the neutralization of the whole Middle East 2 But after a second meeting with Dulles the Soviet Foreign Minister's position hardened Thereafter the Soviets made several efforts to disrupt the conference Eden wrote Eisenhower of intelligence which the British received from Shepilov' s meetings in London I have no doubt that the Bear is using Nasser with or without his knowledge to further his immediate aims These are I thinlc first to dislodge the West from the Middle East and secom to get a foothold in Africa so as to dominate that continent in turn ••• the Soviets ••• want to see the abolition of all foreign bases and exploitation 3 The London Conference met at Lancaster House on August 16 am ended on August 23 The tripartite conclusions had been outlined by Dulles on the first day and were adopted by the majority on the last The draft declaration proposed an internationalized Canal assured Egypt a fair return am called for the negotiation of a new convention Eighteen nations signed the declaration The Soviet Union led the dissenters pointing out that Egypt's sovereign rights were not acknowledged Eden knowing Nasser could expect the plan to be flatly rejected by Egypt The proposal was presented to Nasser by Australian Prime Minister Robert Menzies Nasser rejected it Military Preparations Continue On August 24 The day Dulles departed London for home General Stockwell completed his plan ' for Operation Musketeer General Andre Beaufre was shifted from his Al rian command to become Stockwell's deputy and Stockwell began a tour of units in Algeria Cyprus and Malta assigned to the invasion force 4 The British were to lead the operation for various reasons they governed Cyprus they had long-r bombers they knew Egypt am they were better able to win over the Americans l Love 22· £ p 392 2 Edmond Taylor Our Diplomatic Defeats and the Unity of Europe The Reporter October 18 1956 p 18 3 F ien 22· £ · p 505 4 F ien 22· cit p 505 5 Love 22· £ · p 392 -22- UNCLASSIFIED • • ' · c UNCLASSIFIED Operation Musketeer called for an assault landing at Alexandria supported by air attacks and an advance to Cairo through the desert The time-table was as follows 1 31 J ugust - call up reservists 2 September - decision in principle to launch the operation 3 September - British transports leave England 5-6 September - concentration of naval forces in Malta Signals and laming exercises 8 September - French parachute troops leave for Cyprus 10 September - final decision on date of landing 11 September - French transports leave Algiers 15 September - start of air action 1 7 September - landing Alexandria had many advantages it was the only modern port capable of handling such a fleet it afforded a quick foothold in Egypt and it provided a more secure route to Cairo than did Port Said Alexandria also had several drawbacks the Delta could be used as a guerilla base a forced crossing of the Nile would be difficult the secondary beach landing was dangerous because of submerged reefs the possible presence of Sixth Fleet ships anchored next to Egyptian ones would provide a risk of incidents 2 By September 4 the attack was postponed from September 15 to September 25 or 26 probably because Eden had decided according to Nutting to first ''go through the U N hoop if Robert Menzies failed to get Nasser's approval of the London agreement General Stockwell wrote later we were ready by September 8th to go in on the 15th 3 Also Alexandria was abamoned in favor of an attack on Port Said This decision was to postpone the iancting even more as all the plans had to be revised Port Said would require more landing ships and aircraft • - which were not available The French were short of LST' s the British of LCT s The roads inland were perfect for an Egyptian ambush There would be a shortage of water l Brombergers 22· £ · p 49 2 ll id p 35 59 3 Love 2£· cit •• p 424 -23- UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED Admiral Arleigh Burke was aware that the British did not have the landing craft and the Sixth Fleet did He told Dulles For God's sake let's give them the craft -- give them ours They're over there They've got to make this thing successful 1 According to Burke Dulles replied that he could not do it However the U S did furnish spare parts for French planes American forces in France furnished the British and French with new anti-tank guns The new U2 reconnaissance aircraft photographed the Near East and throughout the entire crisis furnished the British with photographs of Egypt 2 The State Department had already begun to institute emergency precautions in the Near East By August 4 U S Embassy Cairo was on 24-hour alert had begun running communications tests with Alexandria and awaited a technician for installation of a transmitter at Port Said On August 18 C NO had requested that particular attention be devoted to developments and intelligence related to the problem to incll Kle in addition to the usual reports status boards and plots on the strength and disposition of the armed forces concerned including those of Great Britain and France • 3 The tension was building slowly Franco-British troops arrived in Cyprus and Malta Syria mobilized The French were further arming Israel Egyptian General Amer announced that the Army was ready to repel an attack The second batt llion U S Marines had its tour in the Mediterranean extended On August 6 Nasser had begun to witlxlraw half of Egypt's 60 000 man garrison in Sinai Two full divisions and an armoured brigade were pulled back to defend Cairo its approaches and the Canal This presented Israel with a unique opportunity Ben Gurion asked the French for increased arms supplies am on August 7 a secret accord was concluded The Israelis coupled their pretexts for attack with censure of the U S The American Ambassador inferred the Israeli view was If Nasser gets away with this he would become much more powerful and prestigious This would pose a great threat to Israel The U S is trying to prevent France and the U K from trying to reclaim their property from Egypt by force Will she move a finger if Egypt attacks Israel 4 Ben G irion then decided to intervene by a preventive attack scheduled for early November when the U S would be involved in elections 5 1 Burke interview Quly 3 1969 2 Thomas 21 • cit • p 70 3 U S Navy memo from CNO to Director Naval Intelligence August 18 1956 4 U S State Department #90 from Tel Aviv August 16 1956 5 Eisenhower Oulles Oral History -24- UNCLASSIFIED • ' l UNCLASSIFIED Assuming the certainty of failure of the Menzies mission Eden and Mollet began to plan their next moves The question as Eden saw it was how long we could pursue diplomatic methods and economic sanctions which very likely would not succeed before the possµ ility of military action slipped from our grasp 1 The British wanted to refer the issue to the Security Council and to exert financial pressure upon Egypt Dulles was opposed to both A New Dulles Plan Bien and Mollet decided on September 10 to establish a pretext and go on with the invasion as planned The pretext would be Nasser's inability to run the Canal The proof would be the paralysis resulting from a recall of the Suez Canal Company's pilots The walkout was scheduled for September 14 15 aoo the invasion force was to begin moving on the 15th The plan was changed to direct paratroop action and as Pineau said We get the Canal Nasser goes Why waste time on a protracted campaign to capture Alexandria and Cairo first 2 But the meeting was interrupted by a phone call from Dulles and an excited explanation of his newest proposal The Secretary of State had spent the weekend trying to think of a way to keep Britain and France from either going to the U N or following the September invasion plan Dulles worked out a program whereby the users of the Canal would ban together hire pilots manage the Canal collect the dues and use the convention as an instrument of power to force Egyptian compliance Those who worked with Dulles later acknowledged that he dki not firmly believe in the Suez Canal Users Association SCUA that it was not well thought through and that to Dulles it was merely another stalling device It was probably the week following the September 10 decision for SCUA that Dulles became inwardly as well as outwardly opposed to the use of force At the beginning of the week even force he did not rule out as an ultimate resort and once more he recognized the Anglo-French right to maintain the threat of using it 3 But many points came to Dulles' attention in the following three days Tile Afro-Asians were gaining sympathy for Nasser aJ¥i lumping the u S in with colonialists -- a characterization which was abhorrent to Dulles Italy was hinting at opposition to any armed intervention A growing group of nations India Pakistan Indonesia Ceylon etc was accusing the French aJ¥i British of sabre-rattling In short the international support which Dulles had counted on was not materializing His own changes in position am frail schemes 1 Eden - £ · • p 507 2 Christian Pineau Dulles Oral History Princeton University 3 Kirk £2· £ p 69 -25- 1CLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED were only adding to the strength of Nasser's position Eisenhower saw that the U S elec torate would now not s pport force and in the face of a presidential election demanded that Dulles use sobering arguments with America's allies To these points an economic argu ment was added An American task force had discovered that Europe's petroleum needs could be filled at not too great an expense without the Suez Canal and to Dulles this meant the Anglo-French argument that they could not yermit their economic survival to be at the mercy of Nasser was no longer a valid excuse Dulles was changing his mind and his attitude became more hardened by the widening of the personal gulf between him and Eden F den had turned to Eisenhower and written a lengthy letter describing Nasser's Hitler-like ambitions his intention to take over all Near East oil supplies as well as Saudi Arabia Jordan Syria _and Iraq and his submission to Soviet influence Eisenhower was deeply disturbed by this emotionalism and cabled F clen that this was a picture too dark and ••• severely distorted 112 On September 11 the President went so far as to imply that France and Britain were the aggressors and that the U S would not be a party to agression 3 Israel Breaks the Ice On the day Dulles announced SC JA September 12 Israel mounted a major raid into Jordan and Anthony F c len told his Generals to postpone their military venture to October 1 Moshe Dayan speeded up Israeli pilot training to keep pace with the arrivals of French Mystere IVs The British and French military leaders again revised Plan Musketeer They began trying to overcome the difficulties presented by lack of landing craft Port Said was to be taken by the landing of tanks from LSTs and a forced entry 'Ibis posed risks of ship losses by gunfire and serious damage to the port An attempt was made to circumvent the necessity for an opposed landing Air operations were to be extended until the Egyptian will to fight was broken life was paralyzed and the government incapacitated A targeting committee was formed The plan was set for the stationing of the amphibious fleet in Cyprus with personnel to be brought there as air action began and thereafter the landing operation would be launched from Cyprus and backed by ships moving from Malta and Algeria The new landing date was set for October 8 The series of postponements was taking its toll on the morale of waiting troops Washington was showing scattered signs of nervousness Phase I evacuation alert was instituted in Egypt Jordan and Syria -- evacuation would be made with only the use of commercial transport The Seventh Fleet was alerted for reinforcement of CINCNELM 1 Robertson 21 · cit •• p 112 2 Love 22• cit p 419 3 Robertson 22· cit • p 118 -26- UNCLASSIFIED • UNCLASSIFIED forces in the event of increased tension or emergency in that area The Marin Afr Ground Task Force in Izmir Turkey began upgrading their requirements for support of CINCSPECOMME OP Plan 215-56 which provided for unilateral action in the Near East in the event of Arab- Israeli hostilities An airborne regimental combat team and service support units were alerted in Europe Several U S Air Force planes were temporarily stationed in Adana Turkey l The U S Embassy in Paris reported that agreement between len Lloyd Mollet and Pineau had been reached that military action would not be resorted to unless a traffic through the Canal was almost totally interrupted and b there were serious riots or other similar actions in Egypt which would convince British public opinion of the necessity for military action It was decided that both France and Britain would maintain their military forces in the Eastern Mediterranean 2 Whether or not Washington was being misled is questionable However the State Department took the pledge at face value and it became one of the last confidences of military intention The gulf widened Dulles was becoming more and more alienated from Eden and Mollet He noted on September 19 my general impression is that the British and the French have quite isolated themselves even from what are naturally their closest friends 3 Whereupon by September 19 the Secretary of State vowed disassociation and began to thwart Franco- itish moves The French reacted very strongly to Dulles' attacks Mollet introduced what in retro- pect was extremely interesting and important blackmail France thought the United States ws s leaning toward the idea of Fortress America and away from Europe Mollet trans mitted a message to Dulles through Ambassador Dillon in Paris The Russians ••• were prepared jointly with Nasser to bring peace in Algeria on French terms provided that France cooperated with the Soviet Union in Europe Moscow did not ask that Paris leave NATO but only that France be less faithful to the United States and Britain-- becoming semineutralist 4 Washington was warned ·that this was extremely hard fox any French leader to turn down as the promise of peace in Algeria was the most important and most pressing goal of all French leaders Dillon added since Nasser's seizure of the Canal there have been periods when U S policy was applauded and periods when our policy was 1 u s State Department Memo of Conversation Admiral Herbert Riley and Fraser Wilkins September 24 1956 2 U S State Department #1485 from Paris September 27 1956 3 U S State Department John Foster Dulles #2 from London September 19 1956 4 Gerson - cit p 288 •27- UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED suspect However there has thus far been no final determination re U S ••••• French now feel U S have let France down Serious problems in Franco-American relations will be posed Whether French will react with attacks on NATO and overall alliance with U S wicertain but this is a possibility Mood is one of great frustration multiplied by exaspera tion with division British opinion There may well be rather nasty period ahead l 1 One of the significant aspects of the Suez Crisis is that whereas there were great divergencies at the summit the three NATO allies worked closely among the intelligence services Close ties were established between the intelligence officers in London and Paris which enabled Washington to remain relatively well informed about Franco-British moves Admiral Radford later admitted that these channels had brought word of French direct support of Israel - - they were supplying Israel with equipment of various kinds and particularly sending them jet fighters Doing this latter they were violating an agreement with us because we had financed the building of those fighters for French NATO use only •••• We had all this dope The French were lying to us just baldly 2 France and Israel were growing ever closer and their representatives began coordinating a military venture wherein Israel would attack Egypt during the U S presidential elections and France would support the move The British felt they could not make a move which was visibly connected with Israel The Israelis wanted Franco British support only after they had taken Sinai and won an Israeli victory The Soviet Factor On September 14 Ambassador Bohlen in Moscow cabled Washington about Soviet moves and intentions Bulganin had sent Mollet a threatening am insulting letter The letter warned of dire consequenees from the use of forces such as those in Algeria to intimidate or subdue Egypt Paris did not take the warning any more seriously than all of Moscow's usual invectives Bohlen thought the French had overdiagrammed the sentence structure and missed the message He pointed out that France while the weakest link in the Western chain is therefore the primary target ••• and J is underesti mating the seriousness of the Soviet attitude on Suez They will support Egypt 1 morally and diplomatically 2 with arms and 3 covertly - - perhaps seming volunteers • 3 1 U S State Department #1387 from Paris September 24 1956 2 Radford Dulles Oral History p 76 3 U S State Department #273 September 30 1956 from New York -28 UNCLASSIFIED • • UNCLASSIFIED Four weeks later the French general staff began an analysis of political risks and the possibility of intervention by the Soviet Union and also by the United States f eneral Beaufre wrote of the appreciation In the event of direct intervention by the United States • we might have to face diplomatic action with UNO support at the worst this might go as far as military action in the form of a blockade I was thinking of the Sixth Fleet In the event of intervention by the USSR we should certainly be met by a political counter-offensive throughout the Near East perhaps by submarine blockade supposedly Egyptian and more or less direct air intervention At the worst the USSR might intervene directly herself accepting the risk of world conflict ••• We must have available the necessary offensive resouryes to ••• crush all resistance rapidly Our sole chance lies in achieving a fait accompli Negotiations Fail On September 19-21 the eighteen powers again met at Lancaster House -- this time to draw up plans for SCUA The Second London Conference turned out to be a bitter disappointment to Eden and Pineau both had hoped it would give SCUA teeth and force a convoy through the Canal Dulles turned it into a much more peaceful and conciliatory group After Dulles left for London Airport Pineau went to see Eden at l O Downing Street where their bitterness boiled over The two decided to take the crisis to the U N Security Council -- a move which Dulles had vehemently opposed Eden said Dulles will be furiousf The prime minister sent a telegram to Washington to inform the Secretary of the decision before the press did but Dulles had stopped off in Bermuda for a swim He had been thwarted and was indeed furious The State Department had been against referral to the Security Council for several reasons A Russian veto was inevitable Dulles thought that going to the U N was just a device for obtaining cover t use force If any resolution were put forward banning the use of force the United States would not join in an Anglo- French veto The United Nations slowly and grudgingly began preparing to discuss the Suez question Both Egypt and the Franco-British 'alliance' put forth a resolution After two weeks of getting organized on October S the Security Council began hearings on Suez the day Eden collapsed in exhaustion and went into the hospital Egyptian representative Fawzi dismissed all Anglo-French proposals Finally on October 12 secret Anglo-French Egyptian talks with Hammarskjold produced six working principles which were agreed upon President Eisenhower announced it looks like here is a very great crisis that is behind us The next day the Soviet Union vetoed the Anglo- French resolution the secret talks were abandoned and Eden declared force is the last resort and it cannot l Andre Beaufre The Suez Expedition 1956 New York Praeger 1967 p 73 -29- UNCLASSf IED UNCLASSflED be excluded ••• peace at any price means to increase step by step the dangers of universal war Pineau said there was no basis for negotiations am Lloyd added we have done all we can fen later wrote that beaming through rose-coloured glasses the Americans acclaimed the sue principles but these just flapped in the air 1 nIE DISINTEGRATION OF PEACE IN nIE NEAR EAST On October 12 French and Israeli military leaders met in Paris to plan a coordinated attack on Egypt The Israelis had been planning to attack either Jordan or Egypt and began making requests of the French for equipment Moshe Dayan had secretly gone to Paris on October 1 after the Israeli decision to attack Egypt had been made There Dayan made a request for 100 tanks 300 half-tracks 1 000 bazooka rocket launchers and a squadron of transport planes 2 The next day Dayan alerted his General Staff to prepare for the conquest of Sinai Israel Moves On October 5 the Israeli military completed their final plan for the invasion -- Operation Kadesh They then cultivated a crisis with Jordan as a diversion Israel withdrew from the Jordan• Israel Mixed Armistice Commission on 3 October and on October 5 began to prohibit UN Military Observers from investigating incidents on Israeli territory The Jordan cover plan was to leave the impression that if Israel attacked anywhere it would be into Jordan The plan worked -- on Dulles as well as Eden Several massive reprisal raids were launched These were climaxed by the most massive raid since the Palestine War the killing of 48 Jordanians in Qalqilya on October 10 The Anglo-Jordanian treaty almost went into effect and the RAF were alerted en sternly admonished Ben Gurion not to strike Jordan again A conflict was barely averted in which Israel and France would be aligned against the strange entente of J rdan Russia Britain and Egypt King Hussein was nervous about a full-scale Israeli invasion the popularity of Nasser in election-boum Jordan and the stability of his own regime Eden am Nuri al Saki seized upon this issue with a recommemation that Iraq seo i troops into Jordan both to support the Army and to prevent an election swing toward Nasser on October 21 Both the U s and Israel were consulted and approved the Eden- Nuri plan 1 F den 22· cit • p 563 2 Love 2£• £ • • p 442 -30- UNCLASSIFIED • UNCLASSIFIED Then quite suddenly Ben Gurion changed his mind and withdrew his approval of the Iraqi troop movement Israel was quite prepared to forgo or postpone the war against Nasser and instead take Western Jordan and Jerusalem if Iraqi troops entered the country 1 Dulles declared that as Iraqi troops served the basic interests of the U S in that it was preferable to permitting Egypt or the Soviet Bloc to gain influence He admonished Israeli Ambassador Fhan saying it is difficult to see ihow the funda mentals have changed unless Israel desires the fragmentation of Jordan and its annexation 112 But Eden capitulated and asked Nuri not to send the troops in British- French-Israeli Collusion The Israelis began to take the French into their confidence about the planned attack on Egypt The French were delighted to be of any assistance and to the Israelis French military aid was essential - - Israel needed naval cover and destruction of the Egyptian Air Force and France promised both The plan was to follow a three-day mobilization with a blitz attack followed by a return to Israel for expected attacks by Jordan and Syria The French were needed both militarily and politically because they could neutralize Britain and prevent her and possibly Jordan's intervention against Israel Meanwhile the French were to invade Egypt at Port Said It occurred to French Defense Minister Bourges-Maunoury on October 12 that any Israeli invasion would endanger the Canal and therefore both the French am the British would have a ready-made excuse to separate the combatants Mollet called Whitehall on the 13th and sent General Challe to London the next day to explain the plan According to British Colonial Secretary Nutting Challe outlined the planned Israeli attack and the French proposition that a Franco-British force enter Egypt claiming to be separating the combatants and extinguishing a dangerous fire while actually seizing control of the entire waterway • 3 On October 16 E'den and Lloyd flew to Paris where after five hours the joint intervention was agreed upon 1 2 Love 2 2· £ · p 449 U S State Department memo of conversation Eban Dulles October 15 1956 3 Anthony Nutting No Em of a Lesson The Story of Suez London Constable 1967 p 91 -31- UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED Thereafter Eden re fused to acknowledge that Britain ·was allied with Israel He never wanted to dirty his hands by making any direct arrangements with the Israelis so the French did all the coordination and informed Eden F clen' s hostility toward the Israelis µearly caused the collusion to break up several times He has never admitted and only implied by omission any knowledge of or connection with the Israeli move Militarily the ventpre suffered tremendously from this idee fixe of the British Prime Minister · It was this day October 16 that the strange conspiracy of silence began between the Atlantic partners From that moment until the outbreak of war the French and British completely cut off Washington at all levels from the routine exchanges of informa tion There was no British Ambassador in Washington from October 11 until November 8 Dulles' biographer notes There was a blackout of news disturbing to official Washington Ambassador Dillon in Paris called it a clam-up Eisenhower remembered all communications just ceased between us on the one hand and the French and British on the other But we our intelligence people were watching and we could see what was coming up in lsraeL But we didn't know what was going to be the target or the timing ••• Am so we kept on the watch and were not caught completely off guard But the fact was that we didn't know what the British and French were going to do We kept constant surveillance over the Israeli mobilization We coukln't figure out exactly what was going to happen 1 The U-2 flights showed then that the Washington- approved 12 Mystere IV jets to be supplied by France to Israel had multiplied to sixty Eisenhower received this information and intelligence about Israel's proposed mobilization on October 15 His Memoramum for the Record indicated the success of the Jordan Diversion ' Ben Gurion's obviously aggressive attitude' is aimed at hastening the disintegration of JoJ dan so that Israel coukl 'occupy and lay claim to a goodly portion of the area of that nation' while the ••• Administration's ha Dis were tied by the electoral campaign 11 2 Eisenhower recalled telling Eban you go out and tell Ben Gurion if any of his moves are being made because he thinks we will in effect have to support him just because we're going to have an election you tell him first that I don't give a damn whether rm re-elected and secondly that we're going to do exactly what we've been saying keep the peace and that's that 3 l Eisenhower Dulles Oral History p 38 2 Love I · £ p 454 3 -· p 454 -32- UNCLASSIFIED • UNCLASSIFIED The military plans for the joint attack were thrown into confusion because of ien' s refusal to make any preparations before the Israeli offensive The British invasion fleet could not arrive until thirteen days after Israel's move owing to the slow speed of the minesw epers and landing craft Finally two days_ were gained by having the British armada involved in a routine exercise when the Israelis attacked The Cyprus base was considered incapable of handling the expeditionary force and the main body would have to move in from Malta In Algeria the French began loading under cover of amphibious exercises Warships left Toulon ostensibly for Bizerte 1 Israel Moves Faster Than Planned In all probability - - though this has never been established - - the original plan was to attack after the American elections It seemed possible that the British and French would be more likely to get Sixth Fleet and diplomatic aid after Eisenhower had received his mandate However Washington began on the 15th to warn the Israelis not to make any move in any direction Eisenhower was opposed to giving Israel any support -- qJplomatic or otherwise -- and indeed promised active opposition The Israelis re qonsidered They convinced themselves that Washington could not oppose the attack if i were made before the election The coooitions of military preparedness point to the conclusion that the Israelis suddenly advanced the date of their attack and caught the other two members of the triumvirate deshabille The accounts of fen and Nutting do not agree but Eisenhower remembered When they finally started the move was not coordinated But I'm sure of this I think the Israelis probably jumped the f111 on them and that the others were caught somewhat unprepared at least the British This point is corroborated by a telegram from Douglas Dillon in Paris -- a message which was delayed en route to Washington It was the only warning of imminent action and was sent on October 19 Jacques Chaban-Delmas a Minister of State reported to Dillon his good friem that the French and British were jointly plotting a military venture against Nasser Dillon recalled I guess I was the first person to learn of the plans for military action and reported it to State some days before it began The military action was scheduled to begin a few days after our election -- something happened in the period in between -- I've never known what -- and it was speeded up by about a week CIA agreed with me 3 I Beaufre 21 · cit p 81 and Brombergers - cit p 64 2 Eisenhower Dulles Oral History 3 C Douglas Dillon Dulles Oral History Princeton University 1965 p 32 -33- UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED Ben Gurion rushed to Paris on October 22 to ensure Franco-British support He was so unsure of F den that he demanded a commitment in writing The collusive plan was written down aoo signed in triplicate at Sevres on October 24 No one else has ever been allowed o see the Sevres accord and only Mollet has attested to its existence On the same day as the Sevres accord was being signed Russian troops moved into Budapest to crush the Hungarian revolt 'Iwo crises at once were difficult for Washington and both could not be dealt with thoroughly and effectively No longer couJd Dulles focus his undivided attention on the Near East Time in Washington was at a premium for it was two weeks before the election and both Dulles and Eisenhower had to campaign For the Israelis Hungary meant that the possibility of intervention by the Russians had lessened A few warnings of impending hostilities reached Washington U N Representative General aims informed Hammarskjold that the Israelies had blocked all u N efforts to investigate incidents and added There is nothing to keep Israeli military forces from grossly exaggerating circumstances of any incident to provide occasion for retaliation l The American Ambassador in Tel Aviv cabled Washington that the focus of activity might very shortly shift from the Jordanian border to Egypt If Nasser won out shortly on the Suez issue Israel might then take military action to free the Straits of Tiran I think the French would be interested in having a blow struck at Nasser from this side 2 Dulles called in Abba Fban and said it would not be unnatural for Israel to believe that opportunities might arise in which it could acquire additional territory to augment its meagre area •••• It is important that the U S am· Israel should find ways to work together and it would be disastrous it the Israel Government took action which might seem to put it on the wrong side of the general armistice agreements between Israel and its Arab neighbors am of the u N Charter 3 Ben Gurion then made a bargain with the British and French He had previously demanded that he be given cover from the start of hostilities Eden bad refused and said Britain would only take up arms after a ceasefire ultimatum bad been delivered to Israel aoo Egypt and they had refused Ben Gurion compromised if he could get forty-five additional planes and French pilots to fly them he would let Britain defer the pulverization 1 U S State Department #432 October 29 1956 from New York 2 u S State Department #229 October 24 1956 from Tel Aviv 3 U S State Department Memo of Conversation Ellan Dulles October 15 1956 -34- UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED of Egypt's air force until Nasser rejected the ultimatum 1 The three squadrons of jet fighters left France immediately for Kydda and Hatzor Israel two squadrons of Mystere IVs and one of F-84 Sabrejets -- all with French pilots The American Ambassador in Tel Aviv reponed simply there has been unusual diplomatic activity between Israel and France 2 On October 25 Jordan announced that she had joined the Egyptian-Syrian military command The same gay 100 000 Israeli reservists were called up Foreigners began to notice the disappearance of waiters and taxi drivers The next day Washington received its first repon of the secret move There has been IDF call up on considerable scale of reservist and civilian vehicles There is a good deal of speculation that 'something big may happen' ••• and reference has been made to community of interests with French 3 That same day in London General Keightly promised he could achieve a landing on November 6 and sent orders to have a practice loading-and-embarkation drill in Malta on October 29 The French Fleet had already dispatched its first convoys and twelve Constellations carried three regiments of paratroops to Cyprus Word began to spread through the British invasion force in Malta that this was not Exercise Boathook but the real thing t In an effort to save his prized targets Nasser began moving Egyptian armor into the western desen and Egyptian planes were flown into Saudi Arabia At least one author believes the flights were at Soviet suggestion Most of the Soviet-built aircraft Y ere moved from airfields near Alexandria first to Luxor and later to Syria via it is l believed Saudi Arabia It is clear that the Soviet authorities took a decision not to allow the Egyptians to use this force of forty• five modern aircraft and at the same time not to risk its capture or demolition by Egypt's opponents 4 Washington Reaction In Washington Dulles said in staff conference it's ve-ry strange that we have heard nothing whatever from the British for ten days We must try to fim out what they and 1 Love 22· £ · • p 465 2 U S State Department #229 October 24 1956 from Tel Aviv 3 U S State Department #415 October 26 1956 from Tel Aviv 4 Ivar Spector The Soviet Union and the Arab World Seattle University of Washington 1959 p 186 -35- UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED the French are up to Allen Dulles recalled his brother saying something' s cooking here I haven't heard anything about it They haven't told me •· 1 The best account of Washington's reaction is a State Department summary On October 26 we learned of an Israeli mobilization which initially did not appear to be unusual because in periods of tension the Israelis often order partial mobilization it the following day it was realized that the mobilization had reached substantial proportions and appeared to be far in excess of any measures required for normal defensive opera tions The President thereupon sent a personal message to Ben Gurion expressing his concern and urging that there be no forcible initiative on the part of the Israeli Govern ment which woukl eo ianger the peace The following day October 28 the President noting the continued Israeli buikl-up again got in touch with Mr Ben Gurion setting forth in strong terms his concern and again asking the Israeli Government to do nothing which would eo ianger the peace The President made a public announcement to this effect 112 Eisenhower's messages to Ben Glirion and similar phone calls to F c len grew out of CIA reports that by October 27 indicated the Israeli mobilization was for war and by the 28th that the direction was to be Egypt Ben Gurion acknowledged partial mobilization but called it a precuattonary measure ••• prompted by a variety of factors including a renewal of Fedayeen raids the Egypt-Syria-Jordan alliance Jordanian threats to destroy Israel and the marshalling of Iraqi forces on Jordan's border 3 On October 28 Dulles again called in Abba Eban In the meeting with Dulles Bhan adamantly maintained that Israel's preparations were wholly defensive and that absolutely no offensive action was even being considered He added that the mobilization was not massive and only some units had been called up Dulles said according to his information Israel was being totally mobilized He said he thought that at no previous time had Israel been as safe as it was today The Jordanian situation had deteriorated with the growing weakness of the Government of Jordan Iraqi troops had not moved into Jordan as previously planned Egypt was presently engaged in a dispute with Britain aoo France Israel was not endangered and might calculate that this was the best moment to move If Israeli intentions were defensive every factor in the situation would seem to indicate that Israel should not be as concerned On the other hand if Israeli intentions were aggressive Israel might calculate there were factors in the situation which would make 1 Allen Dulles Dulles Oral History p 72 2 U s State Department Background Memo n d 3 Love 3 · - p 474 -36 UNCLASSIFIED ' • UNCLASSIFIED it desirable to Israel to strike 1 Eban again reassured the Secretary of State that his government had no intention of taking any action Toe _State Department issued evacuation directives to embassies in Syria Jordan Israel and Egypt Toe decision was made on October 28 not to divert the U S SiXth Fleet from normal port calls The evacuation of non-essential Americans was to be carried out by commercial air transport The Fleet was only alerted to the possibility of future evacuation operations In another attempt to find out what the Israelis were up to Abba Eban was called back to the State Department on October 29 Eban stated that the Israeli mobilization has been purely precautionary and protective •••• The United States need have no concern if it is able to restrain the Arab states No danger has arisen from Israeli defensive measures Toe American press is distorting the situation by saying there is a danger 2 Interrupting Eban Fraser Willcins entered the room with press tickers reporting Israeli forces had launched a massive invasion of Egypt at 1415 hours Eban walked out 3 · ARMED CONFLICT For Dwight D Eisenhower October 20 1956 was the start of the most crowded am demanding three weeks of my entire Presidency The Suez War began on top of the Hungarian Revolution arxl the American Presidential elections Israel's attack on Egypt came on October 29 -- the seventy-eighth anniversary of the signing of the Constantinople Convention respecting free navigation in the Suez Maritime Canal Israel Advances Israel's four axes oJ advance went into high gear Assured of air cover Dayan was prepared to take unusually great risks At 700 hours on the 29th one of Israel's battalions parachuted into Mitla Pass His 20200 brigade less this battalion moved overland and in 20 minutes took the frontier post of Kuntilla on the road to Mitla Farther north three brigades struck Egyptian defenses at Abu Agheila on the road to Kantara From Eilath another column started down the Gulf of Aqaba towards Sharm el Sheikh An Israeli communique announced Units of the Israel defense forces have penetrated arxl attacked Fedayeen bases in the Kuntilla and Ras el Naqb area and have taken up positions to the west of the Nalchl road junction towards the Suez Canal This operation l U S State Department memo of conversation Dulles Eban October 28 1956 2 U S State Department memo of conversation Rountree Eban October 29 1956 3 Ibid -37- UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED was 1ecessitated by the continuous Egyptian military attacks on citizens and on Israel land and sea communications the purpose of which was to cause destruction and to deprive the people of Israel of the possibility of peaceful existance 1 Off the coast of Israel three French destroyers Kersaint Bouvet and Surcouf began to protect the sea approaches to Haifa and Tel Aviv The British aerial watch on Egyptian airfields began Thirty-six French Mysteres and 36 F- 84 Thunderstreaks normally at St Dizier and Dijon as part of the French NATO component flew to Israel where they were rapidly serviced for combat action the next day 112 On Cyprus French transport planes were loading supplies to be dropped at Mitla Pass for the Israeli troops A thousand miles away at Malta two British destroyers Daring and Defender moved out of Silema Creek to lead the British invasion fleet The British had 100 warships including five aircraft carriers three cruisers seventeen landing craft 300 aircraft and several submarines The French had a smaller force of one battleship two aircraft carriers fourteen minesweepers ten amphibious craft 200 aircraft and two submarines 3 Between the two there were over a hundred freighters troopships and auxiliaries carrying twenty thousand vehicles am a hundred thousand men - - more men than Wellington had at Waterloo The Egyptian President was led to believe that this was just a large-scale reprisal raid He had not received the message reporting Israeli parachute drop on the Mitla Pass American Ambassador Hare went to see Nasser and fown him calm relaxed and unable to understand what all the turmoil was about The Ambassador asked for assis tance in evacuations and Nasser while assuring help seemed to think evacuation quite an extreme measure Hare reported to Washington wished to get first hand impression of Nasser's reaction who if he was not genuinely puzzled put on a good act 4 In Washington Assistant Secretary Rountree told Egyptian Ambassador Hussein that · the U S planned to take appropriate action through the Security Council Hussein registered the complaint that perhaps the U S had not done enough to restrain Israel 5 1 Middle East Affairs December 1956 p 472 2 Childers 21 · £ · • p 288 3 sir Charles Keigbtley Despatch London Gazette March 1957 p 5327 4 U S State Department #1193 from Cairo October 29 1956 5 U S State Department memo of conversation Rountree Hussein October 29 1956 -38- UNCLASSIFIED f UNCLASSIFIED Dulles described his plan to several Near East Ambassadors We suggest the U s U K and France inscribe Israel's attack at once on the Security Council agenda seeking action to exclude the giving of any assistance to Israel if it turns out as seems to be the case that Israel is the primary aggressor He added the important thing is to keep the matter localized and prevent its growing into a general conflagration with the Russians coming in 1 In London Ambassador Aldrich asked Selwyn Lloyd if the British knew anything about the Israeli attack or planned any moves Lloyd said emphati cally that the British knew nothing and planned nothing Eisenhower learned of the Israeli attack just as he was about to make a campaign speech in Richmond Virginia He made the speech and returned to Washington for a 7 p m meeting with John Foster Dulles Wilson Radford and Allen Dulles The Secretary of State aired his suspicion of Anglo- French collusion and possible intervention with Israel Radford's discussion of that meeting is probably accurate The decision taken I thought was a masterpiece We sent to the British and French - - knowing that they were in cahoots to do something but not exactly what -- a message that we the U s would stand by our tripartite agreement to defend the victim of aggression without na ing who we thought that was In order words and this as I understand the discussion was done on purpose if they wanted to come back and say 'thank you very much we certainly agree with you and we think the Israelis are the victims ' we could agree with them or disagree If we disagreed nothing could be done to settle the argument for at least three or four days By that time the Israelis would have cleaned up on the Egyptians I do not think we would have been too unhappy if that had happened 2 A White House meeting was held to discuss possible U s military moves in the _ Mediterranean The possibility of Soviet intervention was considered Without that however U S direct intervention was considered undesirable am for the moment our naval forces would be placed in a position to evacuate American citizens if that was necessary 3 The entire Sixth Fleet was then proceeding to Souda Bay Crete and received orders to prepare for the evacuation of Alexandria and Haifa Two task groups were deployed for these operations The Israeli columns continued to march across Sinai After a dawn battle on the 30th the 202nd managed to disperse the defenders of El Thamed on the southern axis There was another battle at Abu-Aghelia on the main Cairo-Jerusalem road but there 1 U s State Department memo of conversation Dulles am the Ambassadors of Pakistan Turkey Iran Iraq October 29 1956 2 Radford Dulles Oral History p 76 3 Sherman Adams Firsthand Report New York Harper and Brothers 1961 p 256 -39- UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED the Egyptians were standing fast In the Mitla Pass the Israelis had misread their position and came under fire when they began to head toward the Suez Canal As Sharon's brigade moved to reinforce the men at Mitla it was attacked by Egyptian Migs In Cairo Nasser was reacting calmly still thinking the battles in eastern Sinai were not an invasion Egyptian army communiques reported enemy contact at Kuntilla Thamed and Nakhl but they claimed the Israelis were being wiped out and Egyptians were engaged in mopping up operations Nasser's attitude according to Hare was in part a pose in conformity with GOE policy of playing down any tensions which threaten to develop into situation British- French might seize upon to enter Egypt with force Also appears to be basic confidence that Israelis have no intention to engage in all-out war at this time 1 The Egyptian Council of Ministers met am only then began to realize the extent to which the Israelis appeared to mean business 2 They decided to strengthen Egyptian defenses by the dispatch of reinforcements to Sinai Tue 6th Battalion was delayed ·at the Suez Canal but later arrived at Mitla Egyptians marshalled their armor at Bir Gifgafa and reinforced their troops at Abu Agheila Nasser made a small attempt at getting his air force up t had only 30 operational Migs 10 operational Ilyushins and about 40 trained pilots Only a few of these got into the air and the Israelis shot down three Migs on October 30 Britain and France Make Their Move F den called a Cabinet meeting at which there was a long and bitter discussion The Prime Minister then went before the House of Commons where he outlined the threat to the Suez Canal the Israeli spearhead is not far from the banks 4 He then read the Anglo- French ultimatum to Egypt aDi Israel which asked the combatants to cease fighting and withdraw their military forces to a distance of 10 miles from the Canal within twelve hours The Egyptian Government was asked to agree to Anglo- French forces moving temporarily into the key positions of Port Said Ismailia and Suez Failure to accept the ultimatum would entail the intervention of British and French forces in whatever strength may be necessary to secure compliance It is well to note that Wlder these terms the Israelis could advance to within 10 miles of the Canal as they were not there yet Sinai was to be handed over to the Israelis -- Nasser's front line was to be fixed 100 miles behind his frontier Israel's 90 miles in front of hers This would mean cutting off a large part of Egypt as well as those troops still in Sinai The 1 U S State Department #1223 from Cairo October 30 1956 2 U S State Department #1216 from Cairo October 30 1956 3 Childers 22· cit p 283 4 Love 22· - p 507 -40- UNCLASSIFIED ' - UNCLASSIFIED most transparent demand was the 'temporary occupation' of the Egyptian side of the Canal whether or not the ultimatum was rejected Egypt lost both ways One State Department official called it ''the most brutal ultimatum in modern history 1 The President learned of the ultimatum on the press tickers Eisenhower thought it a deliberate British deception am was deeply offended that his colleagues had secretly made such a move Allen Dulles later said I know my brother was terribly surprised and terribly hurt •••• Foster was really very deeply hurt that the British and French had gotten together on this secretly 2 Their surprise was real as can be demonstrated by a State Department memo which suggested we should make an all-out effort to ascertain what if any agreement exists • • • If for example we should discover that there is a Franco-Israeli or even a Franco-Anglo- Israeli understanding or agreement our technical position under the tripartite declaration would be much affected • • • We should use every diplomatic and intelligence source to obtain this information 3 ' That same day October 30 Dulles called in Coulson the British Charge am told him The ultimatum issued to Israel and Egypt is a brutal affair On the one ham Egypt was called upon to surrender the Canal am a very large part of its territory and on the other hand Israel is allowed to keep the territory which it has occupied in the Sinai Peninsula This action is a great tragedy both as it concerns our relations with France and England and as it concerns the world situation The intended action in Egypt may well obliterate the success we have long awaited in Eastern Europe The British Government has recently kept us deliberately in the dark about its plans • 4 Eisenhower instructed Lodge at the U N to block Anglo- French military action with every means at his disposal Angered at the British and French delegates and himself ardently anti- colonial Lodge insisted in the Security Council that the American resolution be brought to a vote The resolution asked all U N members to refrain from either using force or aiding IsraeL The Soviets were the first to vote in favor of the resolution Britain and France exercised their first veto in U N history Then the two co- conspirators joined in vetoing a Russian resolution The Security Council was p_aralyzed l Paul Johnson The Suez War Lomon MacGibbon am Kee 1957 2 Allen Dulles 21 · cit • p 504 3 U S State Department Letter to Hoover from Rountree October 30 1956 4 U S State Department Memo of Conversation Dulles Coulson October 30 1956 -41- UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED The ultimatum was immediately accepted by Israel on the night of October 30 Egypt re fused many hours later Eisenhower sent an urgent personal message to ten and Mollet appealing against any resort to armed force Meanwhile in Malta the British 6th F attalion began loading their Centurion tanks on landing ships Already on board were the 40th and 42nd Commandos with their tracked amphibians Toe U S Navy set maximum readiness in all U S fleets and made several redeploy ments in the event the Sixth Fleet needed to be strengthened including moving a WESTPAC amphibious group and Marine battalion to the Indian Ocean An attack carrier striking force was alerted in Norfolk The DEW line was activated SITR EPS were initiated And a HUK group left Rotterdam and sailed toward the Mediterranean In Alexandria Counsul General Bar Washburn heard in code on his radio that Sixth Fleet as requested by Cairo was coming into Alexandria Washburn quickly found the Egyptian governor and requested permission for the already incoming task force to enter the harbor Permission was eventually granted 1 Before dawn on the 31st the British landing ships had set sail from Malta Behind them two aircraft carriers were taking on board the 16th and 45th Commando Brigades -- those who would pioneer the helicopter paratroop drop Toe ultimatum was to expire at 6 a m Egyptian time but there were two Naval engagements before that expiration A combined Anglo- French Naval force had been patrolling in the Gulf of Suez south of the Canal the cruiser Newfoundland destroyer Diana frigates Crane and Modeste the French minesweeper Jasmine and the escorts Gazelle and La Perouse The Newfoundland spotted an Egyptian merchant convoy heading north with a darkened ship following Toe British turned on their search lights a oo found the ship to be the Egyptian frigate Domiat The cruiser flashed stop or I fire The Domiat turned on the cruiser full speed The Newfoundland fired and the Domiat capsized 2 One hour before the ultimatum expired the French cruiser Kersaint fired on the Egyptian destroyer Ibrahim el Awal off the coast of Haifa The presence of a ship from Sixth Fleet TF 62 in the harbor caused some confusion French Commander Barjot cabled headquarters Have crippled Egyptian destroyer But not entirely sure Egyptian If this should prove a mistake it is not a deliberate attack ••• on the Sixth Fleet • 3 1 Interview with Bar V Washburn May 14 1969 2 A J Barker Suez The Six Day War Faber 1964 p 104 3 Thomas 21 · - p 128 -42- UNCLASSIFIED • • f UNCLASSIFIED Operation Musketeer was set in motion General Keightley gave the order for action at 5 a m London time on the 31st The Malta assault fleet had set sail but was still 500 miles from Egypt am moving at 10 knots -- the speed of its slow laming era ft Other ships se sail from Algiers Marseilles and some from Southhampton The French cruiser George- Leygues bombarded the Egyptian defenses at Rafa French fighters established their umbrella over Israeli cities Tilrough Ambassador Aldrich in London Eden discovered the RAF was about to bomb Cairo airport and American Ambassador Hare was begging a delay The convoy of American evacuees was driving along the airport road on the way to Alexandria British Defense Minister Head called Keightley who radioed and recalled the planes There followed a ten-hour delay in the bombing of Egypt 1 Even the most optimistic onlookers were surprised at the extraordinary success of the Israeli onslaught The Kuntilla column took Nakhl am went on to join the paratroops at the Mitla Pass The Israeli 7th Armored Brigade hooked around and Abu-Agheila was taken one hour later The Israeli columns left and continued down the road toward r lsmailia Egyptian reinforcements met them on the way Israel had command of the air - I in· Sinai but Ben Gurion feared ian infantry reinforcement and use of Migs Furious at the British delay he wanted to pull back his paratroops at Mitla but Dayan dissuaded him In Egypt the people were being told of their great victories in Sinai everywhere the Egyptian army and air force was victorious Nasser however learned of his true position His troubles were compounded by the Anglo- French ultimatum which he frankly could not believe His armored brigade and other reinforcements were still being sent against Israel in Sinai He decided to gamble -- a diplomatic victory would annul all the military gains his enemies had made or would make He was certain that the U S am Soviet Union would support him 2 Yet he recalled his beleagured troops from Sinai to Suez in order to have some small means of repelling the invading forces if diplomatic efforts failed Nasser then called in Ambassador Hate am gave him a message for Eisenhower Egypt has decided to defend her sovereignty and territory against Anglo French aggression in addition to defending her sovereignty am territory against Israeli aggression The Egyptian Government has decided to ask for U S support against Anglo-French aggression 3 Nasser when asked said he did indeed mean military support in case of military aggression am added that he had decided to ask the u s in preference to the Soviet Union 1 Interview with Raymond Hare August 1969 2Robert St John 'lbe Boss 1he Story of Gamal Abdel Nasser New York McGraw- Hill 1960 p 263 3u s State Department #1240 October 31 1956 from Cairo UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED The U S Reacts Washington assured Nasser that the U s would endeavor to help the Egyptians through very diplomatic means primarily in the u N Eisenhower prepared a speech telecast that evening in which he pointed out that the U S had neither been forewarned nor consulted by its allies and therefore had the right to dissent from these actions ••• taken in error It is -- and will remain -- the dedicated purpose of your government to do all in its power to localize the fighting and to end the conflict 1 The U S Sixth Fleet was in the Eastern Mediterranean On October 31 Dulles considered having the fleet actively obstruct the Anglo-French armada However he decided that he could not do this except by shooting at his NA TO allies In effect the fleet was a passive obstacle as its task forces were in Haifa where they caused anxiety and in Alexandria where they inadvertently prevented aerial bombardment· of the harbor and protected the Egyptian navy When CINCNELM Admiral Boone arrived in Turkey activating his CINCSPECOMME command the State Department deckled to let Defense announce that his transfer was related only to the evacuation of U S personnel and not to the possible intervention of U S military forces in the area Dulles Eisenhower and Lodge made every effort to stop the allied powers through the U N F clen and Mollet were not prepared for such active U S opposition Pineau later said we thought there would be official condemnation but that practically we would benefit for a time from a certain neutrality 2 Britain and France Attack The delayed Anglo- French air offensive began at dusk on October 31 1 vo hundred Canberras Venoms and Valiants along with forty French Thumerstreaks operating from the aircraft carriers Albion tlwark and Eagle and from Malta and Cyprus swept from a discreet height of over 40 000 fe over four Delta and eight Canal airfields Three waves of bombers swept over Egypt before midnight Civilians were warned by Cyprus Radio bombing was accurate and Egyptian casualties were few Nasser ordered a general retreat 'Three British Venom and two French 'Ibunderstreak squadrons as well as Seahawks from the British carriers strafed Egyptian airfields with rockets cannon aDi machine guns More than 50 Egyptian aircraft were destroyed and 40 others seriously damaged 1 Love • £ p 519 2 Cbristian Pineau Dulles Oral History Princeton University 1964 p 22 UNCLASSIFIED • c r UNCLASSIFIED The Egyptians announced that British bombs had sunk a blockship in the Suez Canal Egypt broke relations with Britain and France On November 1 in Alexandria 3 ships of the Sixth Fleet Chilton Thuban am Ft Snelling began loading evacuees through a Marine-manned evacuation center This task group was prepared to take those measures necessary to provide for the safety of the evacuees and landing force personnel and to complete the evacuation using force if necessary Nationals of 29 countries were loaded on these ships French nationals tried to be evacuated also but Egypt would not give them permits to leave the country In total the task force evacuated 1240 U S citizens and 569 foreign nationals Off the coast of Israel USS Cambria was ordered to the Gaza Strip to evacuate U N supervisory personnel and preparations were made for an assault landing if necessary In Jordan 25 Americans having been denied travel across Israel for evacuation by Sixth Fleet went to Beirut by car when the road was reopened CINCNELM arrived in Turkey and took command on Pocono The HUI group from Rotterdam arrived in the Mediterranean At this time the main body of Sixth Fleet was in the way of the approaching Anglo- French armada U N Involvement am Cease-Fire Resolution In New York the General Assembly debated the Suez Crisis For Dulles November 1 was an extremely awkward day He was to move against his allies It was in many ways the hardest decision •• that the President and I ever had to take 1 Dulles delivered one of his most famous speeches late that night from the rostrum of the United Nations He announced that he came with a very heavy heart to urge all parties to agree to a ceasefire stop military movements and withdraw behind armistice lines pelXling the reopening of the canal ' 2 Allen Dulles later recalled the toughest decision my brother had -- and I know one that really tore him to pieces -- was when he had to go into the U N and practically demand that the British am French witlnraw I don't think he had any question in his mind as to what was right if we were putting any faith in the u N •••• He was very conscious of the effect this would have on relations with Britain arxt France 3 A long and bitter debate followed Dulles' speech am lasted into the early hours of Friday morning November 2 1be Security Council met simultaneously ard there the 1 Gerson 22• £ • • p 296 2 Gerson 22· • p 296 3 Allen Dulles 22• • p 73 -45- UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED U S ardently opposed the Soviets' invasion of Hungary Finally Dulles' resolution was brought to a vote in the General Assembly It was passed 64 to 5 -- the greatest majority in U N history Egypt promptly accepted the cease-fire By the early morning hours of November 2 the Egyptians had completed their evacuation of Sinai leaving troops cut off in Sharm al-Sheikh and the Gaza Strip Nasser asked Ambassador Hare to convey his appreciation to the President and said that at last he recognized that the U S had been sincere in warning that the British and French might embark on a policy that did not have American approval Other Arab countries were rallying around Egypt Syria informed Washington that she had placed her armed forces under Egyptian command and that she was breaking relations with Britain and France Syrians cut the International Petroleum Company' a IPC oil pipeline Jordan broke relations with France as did Iraq Nuri agreed to a meeting of the Bagmiad Pact excluding Britain Wholesale burning and looting of British property broke out in Bahrein Eden was studying the u N cease-fire resolution am trying to see a way out an honorable retreat Pineau immediately flew to London and bouyed up the failing Eden's resolve Eden was too weak physically to stam firm against his opposition Mollet was trying to speed up the landing Admiral Barjot wanted the invasion to begin in three days on the 5th Part of the French fleet was 18 hours ahead of the Royal Navy and with the diversion of the Jean Bart battleship the Foudre dock-carrier aoo LSTs the French Fleet will start the operation without waiting for the Royal Navy l Admiral Dunford-Slater was against this plan Toe main forces of the Franco British armada were coming together in a Y formation making five columns -- yet still three days sailing time from Egypt The armada was slow as it kept the pace of its landing craft -- not even 10 ots Egypt was being bombed by corsairs from the French carriers Lafayette_ and Arromanches In Alexan lria harbor the Sixth Fleet Task Force 61 prepared to depart with its 1 528 evacuees Egyptian Admiral Solomon Ezzat started a rumor that Alexamria harbor bad heeo mtned by the British 1be American Task Force comma mer cabled Ezzat to stop the rumor Meanwhile Nasser ordered an old Egyptian minesweeper out of mothballs to lead the flotilla out 2 The Stxth Fleet back-up ships as well as the l Brombergers - cit p 76 2 Interview with Bar v Washburn May 14 1969 -46- UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED now north-bound evacuation group were running afoul of the British and French who were envious of their power but put-out by their presence The inconveniences of acting without our most powerful ally wrote one British author were ••• becoming evident The U S 6th Fleet helping to evacuate U S civilians in Alexamria was staooing in the middle of the British carrier zone 1 Admiral Dunford-Slater asked Admiral Brown to move Brown refused At Gaza Sixth Fleet ships were lying in wait to help the U N advisory team At 7 30 a m •• the USS Cambria anchored 1000 yards offshore am evacuated 25 members of the U N team Also on November 2 Egypt began sinking blockships in the Canal The British cruiser Newfoundland pulverized an Egyptian frigate in the Red Sea Two Soviet submarines were sighted coming through Gibraltar into the Mediterranean and the Soviets began moving into Hungary At noon on Saturday 3 November len announced the Anglo-French reply to the General Assembly's cease-fire resolution They had rejected it The Prime Minister s k1 operations would continue until Egypt and Israel accepted a U N police force am the U N had decided to constitute and maintain such a force until the Suez problem was settled and an Arab-Israeli peace was reached The British and French required that their forces remain stationed between the combatants until the U N force arrived While len was speaking ''hostilities in Sinai ceased Khan· Yunis surrendered and Egyptian-Israeli fighting stopped for a period of three days The Egyptian army withdrew from Sinai As Eden was speaking Ben Gurion decided to accept the cease-fire resolu tidn and the Israeli cabinet declared this to Hammarskjold It was on November 3rd that Dulles entered the hospital for a cancer operation While he was there a month am Herbert Hoover Jr became acting Secretary of State Dulles kept up with the crisis and continued to play his hand strongly In his new capacity Hoover received a message from Mustapba Amin one of Nasser's advisors through the CIA Amin noted that the ''position of the u S is now at its highest peak but it will not remain there if Egypt is completely defeated am that the Nasser government is completely disillusioned with Russia and that the U S can have anything it wants so long as we act promptly 2 1 Thomas EE · £ • • p 141 2 CIA Memo to Hoover November 3 1956 -47- UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSflED While the French Government announced it would not accept the cease-fire Pineau went to London to try to convince the British to speed up the joint landing The air-borne assault was advanced twenty-four hours The Franco-British paratroopers in Cyprus were ale_rted Head went to Cyprus taking instructions to keep damage at Port Said to a minimum and to cancel all plans to move on Cairo 1 The last bombers to fly over Egypt were to go that evening November 3rd Also on that day Syria announced the movement of her troops into Jordan On November 4 while the Soviets were attacking Budapest in full strength Moscow protested the Anglo- French blockage of shipping lanes in the Mediterranean and Red Seas An intelligence source reported that the Soviets requested permission for six warships including a cruiser and at least three destroyers to transit the Turkish Straits from the Black Sea 2 Communist China too warned the U K and France to halt military operations in Egypt and promised aid to the Egyptians if the war continued Iraq Syria and Jordan expecting an Israeli attack fully mobilized At the U N Hammarskjold announced that he had received offers of military contingents and asked for the establishment of a command for the U N force This was passed 57-0 by the General Assembly Britain am France Continue Attacks The seaborne part of the Anglo- French expedition was sailing east from Malta General Stockwell sailed from Limassol on his headquarters ship the Tyne with the second group of paratroopers At about the same moment CNO Arleigh Burke was called in to see Dulles The Secretary asked where the Sixth Fleet was _ Upon discovering that the main body of the fleet was northwest of Cairo Dunes asked if we couldn't stop the Anglo- French invasion Burke assured Dulles that the only way to stop them was to shoot While the meeting continued a message was sent to Admiral Brown COMSIXTHFL T to be prepared Brown replied Who's the enemy am Burke sent back Don't take any guff from anybody Toe discussions in Washington continued 3 As the Anglo- French armada continued toward Egypt the USS Cutlass SS 478 maintained a watch on all air am sea traffic from Cyprus while Hardhead SS 365 did the same for the area near Alexandria 1 Love • 22 · £ · • p 578 2 U S Navy #071827 November 7 1956 from Ankara 3 Interview with Arleigh lrke Ouly 3 1969 and Naval messages UNCLASSf IED · UNCLASSIFIED Washington received the message from Cairo that Egyptian officials wouW welcome Sixth Fleet aid as it was the only force capable of acting in the capacity of an interim U N police force l By the evening of the 4th the French Navy had formed two columns with three LCTs in each including Le Laita Le Cheriff La Ronce am La Foudre Three navy escorts joined the convoy - - Le Berbere Le Touareq and Le Soudanais The convoy carried the first paratroop group scheduled to jump the following morning In the early morning hours of November 5th 600 British parachutists landed at GamU Airport 10 kilometers west of Port Said Then 487 Frenchmen landed on the beach south of Port Said This was the first helicopter-borne amphibious assault ever made It took 90 minutes and helicopters began bringing back casualties before the landing was completed The helicopters dropped water batteries and other supplies within an hour All this ••• demonstrated as nothing else could have done the full and startling poten tialities of the combination of carriers helicopters and parachutists 2 - A secom wave of Anglo- French landings occurred at 1 45 p m and the Egyptian commander El Moguy agreed to discuss the terms of surrender The British misunder stood am thought Nasser had surrendered The cease-fire talks failed according to the American consul in Port Saki '1 ecause the Egyptian delegation insisted on referring all questions to the government at Cairo which would not agree to come to any kind of terms unless the Anglo- French forces completely withdrew 3 Fighting in the streets esumed that evening The Specter of Soviet Involvement In the afternoon of November 5th the Suez Crisis took on a new dimension Soviet Premier Bulganin sent notes to the governments of Great Britain France and Israel The warnings differed in severity and explicitness In the note to Israel the Soviets pointed out that the very existence of Israel as a state was in jeopardy London and Paris received the ultimatum In what position would Britain Prance have found herself if she had been attacked by more powerful states possessing every kind of modern destructive weapon ••• such as rockets •••• We are fully determined to crush the aggressors am restore peace in the Middle East through the use of force The only 1 U S State Department #1314 November 14 1956 from Cairo 2 Bernard Fergusson The Watery Maze New York Holt Rinehart Winston 1961 p 397 3 American Consulate Port Said Despatch November 13 1956 -49- UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED direct mention of atomic weapons was in a note to Washington The Soviet Union and the United States are ••• the two great powers which possess all modern es of arms including the atomic and hydrogen weapons Bulganin suggested that Russian warships cooperat with the Sixth Fleet to bring hostilities to an end They also proposed to the Security Council a joint Russian-American military force which would intervene if the j nglo- French operation was not halted within twelve hours Eisenhower• s reaction to the Soviet threats was that if those fellows start something we may have to hit em -- and if necessary with everything in the bucket 1 According to Sherman Adams Eise ower called the suggested American-Soviet intervention •unthinkable' and dismissed the proposal as an attempt to divert world attention from Hungary where _ the Preside charged the Russian Army at tbis very moment is brutally repressing the uman rights of the Hungarian people 2 The threat of Soviet attack against Britain am France prought in the North Atlantic Treaty Some authors have thought that NATO would only apply if the Soviets attacked a member country• s homeland but in a conversation between Robert Murphy and Alphand the French Ambassador in Washington it was noted that the Treaty arrangement did indeed cover the situation and 0 if_the Soviets should intervene against British and French troops NA to obligations w come into play In the same conversation Mr Mul 'phy said of the Russian pr op9sal 'Ihat we had not completed our analysis of this message but that it seems to indicate one of two things 1 a diversionary action to take away attention from the situation in Hungary and 2 a real intention on the part of the Soviet Union to intervene in the Middle· East Our impression is that their action was motivated by the first alter native but we cannot afford to exclude the possibility that it is the second- 3 ' CINCPACFLT in an intelligence summary noted possibilities exist Soviet armed intervention in ME am all that it implies although as yet no evidence unusual dispositions Soviet forces 4 C CNELM reported 4 q-124•s am 12 C-119's were being put on alert in Europe The next morning November 6 Nasser asked the u s or Sixth Fleet aid in order to forestall Soviet intervention Nasser believed only the intervention of the U s Sixth Fleet can preserve the_ position of the U S in Egypt and take the ini ve away from -the 1 Eisenhower Dulles Oral History 2 Adams 22• cit p 258 3 - U S State Department Memo of Conversation Alphand Murphy Novembers 1956 4 u s Navy #060436Z C CPAC LT November 6 1956 -so UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED Soviets Nasser added that to reject publicly a Soviet offer of aid would brand him as a traitor to Egypt However he stated categorically that he has not asked for Soviet assistance ••• consider significant fact this message repeated and urgent request for Sixth Fleet intervention 1 Eisenhower indicated he would continue to work in Egypt's interest through the U N From Paris U S Ambassador Dillon reported Eastern European experts in Foreign Office believe it more likely that U S S R will abstain from direct intervention possibly supplying volunteers and materiel to Arabs if conflict is prolonged in Egypt They regard Soviet proposal to U S for joint action as gambit intended to demoralize Western nations frightening them with specter of U s -Soviet collaboration which would spell end of Western Alliance French greatly relieved at U s rejection of Soviet proposal 2 Reports started coming in during the afternoon of November 6 of Soviet military movements CINCNELM requested any available information including times types and especially direction to confirm report U K Government received by telephone from Ankara 061330Z jet aircraft over-flying Turkey and RAF alerted Have made flash report this incident 3 A report from London noted a British Foreign Office source said appears Soviets likely if they have not already begun to move air units into Syria 4 The American Ambassador in Moscow made this estimate Short of deliberate military operations Soviet capabilities to exert military influence Suez situation include 1 clandestine movement of token volunteer forces by air or submarine 2 overt movement by Naval escorted shipping of volunteers and or supplies 3 Adriatic based clandestine submarine action against Anglo- French forces under guise as Egyptians 4 long range submarine attack south of canal disguised as above 5 overt Naval visit to any Egyptian port threatened by Anglo- French action 6 movement bomber and fighter aircraft to or through Syrian bases for employment by volunteer crews ignoring overflight considerations of Iran Iraq 'Turkey or Greece •••• Foregoing estimate by service attaches of Soviet military capabilities are confined to operations in direct support F gypt and do not include possibility actions more serious nature which would involve worJd war such as open bombing Cyprus or Anglo French troops Suez Canal Furthermore it does not of course attempt to answer question whether or not Soviets will take any military action •6 l CIA Memo to Hoover November 6 1956 am State Department #1350 to Cairo November 6 1956 2 U S State Department #2232 November 6 1956 from Paris 3 U S Navy #061624Z CINCNELM November 6 1956 4 U S State Department #2510 November 6 1956 from London 5 U S State Department #1093 November 6 1956 from Moscow -51- UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED In intelligence circles rumors began flying large-scale redeployments of Soviet ground forces reported along Turkish border Soviets going into Egypt carrying 'special' weapons 1 CNO's estimate was that the U S s R a will almost certainly not attack metro politan U K or France b will probably not employ Soviet forces on a large scale in Eastern Med c may make small-scale attacks by air or sub against U K and French forces in E Med d will continue to furnish military aid in the form of material technicians and logistics to Syria they will probably semi volunteers 2 Further that if u S S R should carry out threats of armed intervention in J Egypt it could use war13hlps and aircraft it maintains in mack Sea area for initial attacks These warships consist of 2 OB 2 CA 6 CL and 52 destroyer and escort types •••• Soviets have about 2 000 Jet fighters and about 500 jet bombers located in areas on or near mack Sea BULL BADGER BISON and BEAR aircraft based Western U S S R could cover entire Med area 3 The U S Atlantic Fleet was put on alert In Egypt the Allied assault landing force was cleaning up snipers mortars and machine guns At least one naval historian reported that American warships were in port at Alexandria and Port Said causing difficulties for the Anglo- French invasion fleet Those at lexandrta were actually moored alongside Russian-built Egyptian destroyers but French naval aircraft nevertheless succeeded in setting fire to one of the Egyptian ships 4 Whereas Egypt and Israel had both accepted the ceasefire fighting continued in Port Said and Alexa octrta That evening Port Saki surrendered and an armored column set off south to Suez Britain and France Accept Ceasefire The main Franco-British force was seventy-five miles from the Canal when that evening November 6 the British cabinet met to vote· on continuation of the war Eden lost and acceded to the wishes of the cabinet setting the end of British military operations at midnight that night 'Ibis upset the French who felt the Canal was within grasp Anthony Nutting explained why the British chose to stop Although these Russian threats and gestures closely preceded the fiDal ceasefire at midmpt on November 6 it ls fair to say that they bad no more lnfluence on the decision of Britain and Prance to stop 1 Charles J v Murphy Washington and The World Fortune V 55 January 3 1957 p 79 2u s Navy #062103Z CNO to all November 6 1956 3u s Navy #062125Z CNO to all November 6 1956 4 Paul E Garbutt Naval Challenge 1945-1961 Loooon MacDonald 8t Co 1961 -52- UNCLASS1FIED • • 4 • UNCLASSIFIED fighting than had our intervention in Egypt upon the Russian decision to crush the Hungarian revolt at all costs Far more decisive were the political and economic pressures that were building up almost hourly upon the British and French Governments -- the closing of the Canal and stoppage of Middle East oil shipments the run on the pound the fury of the Americans and the hostility of the commonwealth 111 When the Anglo- French ceasefire was announced Indian Prime Minister Nehru sent a personal message to Eisenhower proposing with majority Afro-Arab-Asian support that the U S Sixth Fleet should be sent to Port Said at once to enforce as the vanguard of a U N force the ceasefire resolutions Nasser said he would allow U S Marines to land 112 Crisis Within a Crisis Begins During the next few days Soviet intervention began to look more and more probable to the U S Navy On November 7 the U S S R began recruiting 'volunteers' to aid Egypt It was reported that the Soviets were about to transit 6 warships through the straits from the Black Sea 3 The crisis had changed Whereas most of the world was heaving a sigh of relief at the Suez ceasefire the Soviets continued their sabre-rattling and Western intelligence circles continued to pick up evidence that the Russians meant business Most if not all historians see November 6 as the em of the crisis and the beginning of a winding-down period In fact the crisis measured in terms of military preparedness and fear of world war had not yet reached its peak On November 7 Task Force 26 consisting of Forrestal F D R Des Moines DESRON 26 and DESDIV 322 sailed from CONUS am operated in the Eastern Atlantic as a stam-by task force Submarines were to be deployed to reconnaissance patrols in the North Atlantic for surveillance Soviet Naval Forces The message emed main tain readiness to execute emergency war plans 4 A message sent to CINCPAC FLT ended with the same sentence am began prepare to sail carrier task force earliest from CONUS to WESTPAC am carrier task force from WESTPAC to chop MIDEASTFOR area • 5 1 Nutting 21 • £ • p 144 2 Robertson - £ · p 263 3 U S Navy #071827 CNO to all November 7 1956 4 U S Navy #070451 CNO to all November 7 1956 5 U S Navy #070459 CNO to all November 7 1956 -53 UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED The State Department noted that Iraqi Syrian and possibly Saudi Arabian forces had entered Jordan and a tense situation exists along the Israeli-Jordan border 111 The next day November B brought more tension Reports came through that a British Canberra was shot down over Syria at 45 000 feet tending to confirm that Syria has Migs probably manned by 'volunteer' pilots ••2 Communist China announced it had 280 000 volunteers for Egypt while the Soviets report their volunteers were signing IUp in large numbers It was also on November 8 that Israel announced she would not allow the U N Peace Force on Israeli soil and General E L M Burns arrived in Egypt to discuss Nasser's terms for the U N Emergency Force UNEF Early in the day of November 8 the U S Atlantic Fleet began to detect report track Soviet or Satellite forces including merchantmen •• using defensive armament only • 3 As the day wore on the Canberra shootdown was reported as were the Chinese volunteers Four Soviet jet aircraft were reported to be at the airfield ft Aleppo Syria and Soviet personnel were reportedly tts1o1ng the Syrian air force A Polish sub was sighted en route to the Med and a Soviet sub and 4 DDs were reported as comiog through the Turkish straits Fuutlly the order went out to COMIDEASTFOR In event that contact attacks counter attack using every available means to destroy 5 Then later that day all U S Fleets were put on wanime alert While Egypt was begtnnfng to clear the canal Anglo-French troops were still arriving in the area The Sixth Fleet shifted to an operating area southwest of Crete in order to improve readiness posture for general emergency 6 Two U S carriers were in the eastern end of the Mediterranean Great Britain announced on November 9 that she was planning to withdraw some units from Egypt and to redeploy them to Malta and Cyprus replacing assault units with regular infantry Egypt noted that she was keeping her military forces on ready status l U S State Department_ Status of Near Bast Crisis memo by S W Rockwell November 7 1956 2 U S Navy #081822 CINCNELM to CNO November 8 1956 3 U S Navy #081353 COMANTISUBLANTto CTG 80 2 November 8 1956 4 U s Central Intelligence Agency Memo November 8 1956 5 u S Navy #081642 CINCNBLM to COMIDBASTFOR 6 U S Navy #081822 CINCNBLM to SBCSTATE -54- UNCLASSIFIED I UNCLASSIFIED On November 10 the U S S R announced that trained Soviet volunteers would be sent to join the Egyptian armed forces unless the aggressors withdrew from Egyptian territory Ambassador Bohlen in Moscow thought propaganda campaign gives no real indication as to any possible Soviet courses of action Middle East question but in circumstances cease fire it is probable any assistance will not be directed to Egypt but would be more likely Syria and possibly Jordan and Iraq with Israel rather than Britain 'arxi France as principal target It may well be Soviet intention support through arms and personnel guerilla and other action against Israel from Syrian arxi Jordan borders 1 During the next four days tension remained at the same level Ambassador Bohlen • in Moscow reported Greek charge told me yesterday that llganin and Khrushchev had told Greek mayors here on November 6 that Soviet government 'interded' to ask per mission of Greek government to overfly Greek territory for transport volunteers Middle East 2 The Government of Turkey felt greatly threatened by the Soviets and requested Sixth Fleet material aid ALUSNA Ankara reported 'Turkish trors were reportedly placed on coooition 1 with all personnel at stations 24 hour basis Once again the question of NA TO obligations was brought up With the possibility of Soviet intervention in the Mediterranean heightening Lord Mountbatten inquired of _the CNO just what would be the U S obligation umer the NATO Treaty should the Soviets c ttack British or French troops Admiral Burke thought his reply spoke for itself Task Force 26 with 2 CV As is at sea with its ultimate op area dependent upon future circum- _stances 4 The U S • Atlantic Fleet was given this directive· General situation of heightened international tension requires increased readiness in the Atlantic Fleet General plan is this fleet will form a carrier force at sea for training operation in order to improve readiness in fleet units involved 5 Further COME ASTSEAFRON sent this message In view of current international situation CNO and CINCLANTFL T have augmented normal surveillance systems •••• COMEASTSEAFRON desires that activities be ready for any emergency but no publicity be given to the state of readiness 6 l U S Department of State #1157 from Moscow November 10 1956 2 U S Department of State #1176 from Moscow November 13 1956 3 U S Navy #141400 ALUSNA Ankara to CNO November 14 1956 4 U S Navy #120229 CNO to CINCNELM REAR for Mountbatten November 12 1956 5 U S Navy #152240 CINCLANTFLT November 15 1956 6 U S Navy #131724 COME ASTSEAFRON November 13 1956 -55- UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED The State Department began a reappraisal of the Middle East situation with a view to both increasing U S prestige in that area and to effecting a more permanent settlement of the Arab-Israeli problem They noted that There are signs that Israel does not intend to_ withdraw from Gaza or the islands of Tiran and Sanafir in the Gulf of Aqaba The Israeli-Jordan-Syrian border remains tense •••• Western prestige in the Near Ea st has been harmed while that of the U S S R has risen the United Kingdom and Prance are bogged down in a half-completed operation in Egypt Israel likely will continue ada mant while the Arabs considering themselves victims of Western-Israeli aggression and rallying round an unchastened Nasser are in no mood to make concessions once the United Kingdom and French forces withdraw Nasser will reassume control of the Canal and the unblocking of the latter will depend upon Egyptian cooperation In the background is the possibility of renewed hostilities with or without Soviet instigation Although we are faced with a critical situation in the Near East for some time to come we may take hope from the fact that sometimes in an atmosphere of crisis and basic change it is possible to achieve solution of problems which otherwise wou1d not be feasible Also the U N which has achieved an increase in stature in this crisis may be able to play a more useful and constructive role in the future 0 1 The U N was moving quickly in the assembling of its force General tms went to Cairo to settle with Nasser the terms for entry of UNEF while at the same time the initial UNEF contingents arrived in Italy The U S Navy was given primary responsi bility for the logistics and support of UNEF On November 14 CINCNELM met with U N Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold aboard a Sixth Fleet ship Mr Hammarskjold noted that time and the logistics of getting UNEF on station were of critical importance to the political effectiveness of the force He was relying on the Sixth Fleet as his most necessary instrument of support 2 The first contingent of UNEF departed Naples and arrived in Egypt at Abu Suweir airfiekl on November 15 Other units arrived subsequently and were stationed in Port Said between Egyptian and Anglo- French positions until December 22 when the last British soldier departed Thereafter UNEF remained at the Israeli-Egyptian border until 1967 when Nasser requested they pull out Soviet Intentions Are Reassessed While rumors of Soviet movements continued during the week and included the message through intelligeJlce channels that Soviet forces were mobilizing on the Turkish 1 U S Department of State Memo to Hoover from Rountree November l f 1956 2 u S Navy #131630 CINCNELM to CNO November 13 1956 -56- UNCLASSIFIED J UNCLASSIFIED border U S Ambas8ador Bohlen in Moscow was beginning to question whether or not these were based on fact The British Foreign Office was also becoming skeptical and put out an appreciation of the situation It would seem valuable to quote the British memorandum in full as it is a good as well as accurate and sober summary 1 Many rumours have appeared in the world press to the effect that material reinforcements are arriving or are about to arrive in the Middle East from the Soviet Union Soviet Government has itself given verisimilitude to these rumours by menacing tone of M Bulganin's letters of November 5 to Prime Minister M Mollet Mr Ben Gurion Mr Eisenhower and Mr Nehru and by Soviet Foreign Ministry's more recent threat to permit Soviet 'volunteers' to go to Egypt if Anglo- French forces are not immediately withdrawn 2 Most important rumour alleges that Soviet aircraft have arrived in Syria Others suggest that unidentified aircraft have flown over - Eastern Turkey that Soviet authorities have applied to Turkish Government for passage of ships through the Dardanelles under terms ' of the Montreaux Convention and that application has been made to Greek Government for permission for Soviet transport aircraft to t stage through Greece There is no reliable evidence to support any of these rumours 3 There is also no reliable evidence that fresh supplies of weapons tll' or any 'experts' or 'volunteers' have reached Egypt from Soviet Bloc since cease-fire It appears that part of Egyptian Air Force was flown out of Egypt for safe-keeping in friendly Arab states during Anglo- French bombing offensive Movements of these aircraft may account for some of the rumours mentioned above 4 Toe Soviet Government may have been disappointed in the relative inactivity of other Arab states while F gypt was under fire The sequence of events suggests that on Novembers after landings at Port Said the Soviet and Chinese Governments judged that some vigorous initiative was necessary in order to keep up Egypt's resistance stimulate Arab Afro Asian group to make more pre emptory demands for cessation of hostilities and shake Western nerves Since that date the Soviet Government has continued to mix vague threats to Britain France and Israel with vague promises of help for Arabs while demanding that the United Nations should take rapid and effective and if necessary forceful steps to secure withdrawal of Anglo- French forces from Egypt In general Soviet aims seem to be to encourage Arab and Afro-Asian states to make -57- UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED extreme demands on Western powers both inside and outside the U N to ensure that credit for any developments which are satisfactory to Arabs can be attributed to Soviet intervention and while keeping in step with Afro Asians to take care not to outstrip Afro-Asian opinion by taking independent action for which there has been no call in the U N M Bulganin's proposal for Joint action by U s and Soviet forces to curb Anglo- French operations shows that Soviet authorities are well aware of the danger of uni• lateral intervention 5 It therefore appears that Soviet talk of sending military supplies or volunteers to the Middle East at the present time contains a large element of bluff although in the lo og term moc will no doubt continue to be a source of arms supplies and other assistance for Colonel Nasser and his friends Nevertheless Soviet prestige is heavily committed aJXl Soviet Government's use of bluff has been dangerously extensive ff the situation in the Middle East were to deteriorate and if Arab states were to ask Soviet Government to implement its recent vague promises and threats it might feel impelled to send urgent material help or at any rate token significance to Arabs 6 In that case the most obvious and least dangerous point of entry for the Soviet Union would be Syria where Soviet aid would be used against Israel rather than against British and French forces Rapid assistance for Syria would have to be sent by air but the number of airfields in Syria suitable for Jet aircraft is very limited In these circumstances rumours of Soviet aid may be more effective than actual consignments l The French also indicated they were far less concerned about Soviet volunteer forces than was Washington This led the French to take a much firmer stand than the British on UNEF and a Middle East settlement Pineau insisted that UNEF be allowed to control key points on the Suez Canal until a Palestine settlement was affected Pineau privately discussed a plan for Syria which the French and they hoped the British thought would solve many problems The French had two solutions in mind 1 make Shishakli then in Switzerland head of an autonomous Syria or 2 annexatiOn of Syria by Iraq with the inclusion of Jordan this plan included terrttorial concession southern portion Jordan to Israel as well as U K and other interested parties guarantees to Israel 2 This was another attempt by the French and British to impose a 'Syrian settlement' and discussion of the plan continued well into 1957 1 U S Department of State #2712 from London November 15 1956 2 U S State Department #DELGA 99 for Hoover from Lodge November 15 1956 -58- UNCLASSIFIED • UNCLASSIFIED While the possibility of Soviet intervention continued Nasser assured the U S State Department that he did not want Soviet assistance Nasser's advisor Mustafa Amin • visited Robert Murphy and William Rountree on November 18 in Washington There he assured them that Nasser has not given the Soviets any promise concerning base rights in Egypt and has not yielded to repeated Soviet urging that he request Soviet volunteers He has made a personal and direct request for aid in connection with the attack on Egypt only to the U S Amin noted that Nasser was grateful for what the U s had done in the U N on behalf of Egypt He also stated that Nasser wanted the u s Government to know that the British and French are finished commercially and industrially in the Mkldle East and that he hoped the U S would hurry to fill this vacuum in commerce and industry 1 The Navy realizing the opportunity for increased American influence in the Middle East began to study some military and political measures to that em A conclusion was that there should be a more aggressive U S political offensive in that area It is interesting to note the apparent rise of Soviet prestige simply by one threatening note The U S British and French policies in that area have been divergent for some time We opposed their going into the Suez Canal by force It would appear that we might logically proceed with a U S policy of economic aid and poUtical measures in those areas that are anti-colonial and perhaps contrary to British and French colonial concepts 2 On November 15 1956 Washington again stressed that invading forces must leave Egyptian soil Moscow was warned again against sending volunteers to the Middle East In Egypt the ceasefire remained an uneasy one with intermittent firing The French and British were very reluctant to withdraw until a strong U N Force was well established in Egypt Israeli intentions were still unclear The possibility of Soviet intervention remained A number of other problems were being discussed in the State Department Western European oil supplies British financial problems and the danger that if Jordan severed relations with Britain she would lose her subsidy am be open to Soviet backing 3 With regard to oil supplies the denial of Arab oil was beginning to be felt in Britain and France They requested emergency supplies from the U S President Eisenhower having been handed this powerful lever announced that no emergency oil supplies would ' 1 U S State Department Memo of Conversation Amin Murphy Rountree Hussein Hoffacker November 18 1956 2 U s Navy Office of the Chief of Naval Operations Memorandum ''U S Courses of Action in the Middle East November 15 1956 3 U S State Department Memorandum Status of Near East Crisis November 20 1956 UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED be sent until after the French and British evacuated The pressure was felt soon enough and on November 30 Eisenhower said that he was satisfied with British and French plans to withdraw rapidly and unconditionally The emergency oil lift began Toe Crisis Winds Down J From here on the crisis diminished On December 3 Lloyd announced in the House of Commons that the allied forces would soon withdraw from Port Said Prime Minister Eden had gone to Jamaica November 19 on sick leave That same day December 3 Israel drew back thirty miles from the CanaL By January 7 Israel had withdrawn from half of Sinai Two weeks later Ben Gurion declared Israel would keep Gaza However with a sixth U N resolution demanding Israel's immediate with lrawal and more im portantly with vigorous pressure from Eisenhower the Israelis did finally evacuate all their conquered territory on March 6 The Anglo- French withdrawal from Egypt bad been completed on December 22 On January 9 Prime Minister ien resigned for reasons of health and Harold MacMillan became Prime Minister primarily because he was the camidate most able to redeem the Anglo-American alliance On March 29 the first convoy went through a newly opened Suez Canal For the purposes of this paper the end of the Suez Crisis would be December 13 1956 -- the day CINCNELM returned to his London headquarters The threat of renewed hostilities seemed over and normal operations could safely be resumed -60- UNCLASSIFIED t • 1 J • ' UNCLASSIFIED THE ROLE OF THE SIXTH FLEET In the last six months of 1956 Sixth Fleet activity reflected the confusion in· Washington over Suez Threats to American interests were perceived in almost every Near Eastern country at some point Sixth Fleet was put on alert and on a war footing with no clear indication of what to expect or who the enemy would be Throughout the peri9 i it can be said that the Fleet was at one point aiding and at another opposing every party to the dispute Requests for Sixth Fleet aid came from at least six countries During the actual hostilities the enemies were our NATO allies and our only ally was the Soviet Union It was not until November 6 when hostilities had virtually ended that the Soviet Union became a credible threat to metropolitan France and Great Britain as well as to their forces in the eastern Mediterranean Bound by the NA TO alliance Eisenhower directed all forces to maintain a readiness to implement emergency war plan · The role played by Sixth Fleet changed almost daily during the crisis Its first oj ligation was the protection of U S citizens and investments Secondly the Fleet upintentionally but successfully delayed the Franco-British invasion of Egypt Finally the Sixth Fleet was alerted to deter Soviet intervention in the Near East It performed other functions such as evacuation of foreign nationals augmentation and in some cases replacement of State communications facilities and aid to U N forces OPERA TIO NS DURING THE CRISIS In June a task force was sent through the Suez Canal but was halted by Egyptian authorities For the first time the Egyptians requested the ships' captains to diwlge information about the convoy which was considered classified The information was refused and the Egyptian authorities referred to a rule of passage which would allow them on board for a medical inspection and thereby enable them to collect the information they requested A formal complaint was issued Sixth Fleet ships were then assigned two pilots from Yugoslavia who came aboard and remained with the task force half-way down the Canal Because of tensions in the Middle East on July 7 the Fleet was put on a 24-hour alert for possible movement to the Eastern Mediterranean It returned to normal operations on July 22 -- Just four days before Nasser nationalized the Canal During August the Fleet moved to the Eastern Mediterranean but was not put on alert Unscheduled moves were made periodically but this was part of the CNO's plan to keep the littoral states aware of the Fleet's presence and to allay fears of perceived threats when the Fleet was to move as a result of any crisis situation 1 1 Burke interview July 3 1969 -61- UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED During the month of September the Fleet dispersed as a result of perceived threats in various locations The State Department feared that the Soviets wanted to gain a foothold in the Near East with Wheelus Field Habbaniya in Iraq and oil supplies as its targets _ This was followed by a perceived threat to the Iranian Government CINCNELM was directed to prepare an emergency plan tor deployment of U S forces to Iran to support the non-Communist Government Next there was an estimate that Iraq might move into Syria and possibly Jordan A threat to U S nationals and oil interests in Saudi Arabia seemed to be increasing At this point Admiral Brown COMSIXTHFL T was told Saudi Arabia might require the rapid deployment of U S forces for protection of U S nationals interests and installations in Dhahran 1 1 vo U S warshi s transited the Canal in spite of Egyptian interference and the Seventh Fleet was alerted 2 In October the Syrian Government still seemed to be in trouble Then the center of attention moved to Libya when the British thought Nasser was conspiring to assassinate the king 3 In fact Nasser was moving his armor to the western desert in an effort to save it if the Israelis attacked from the east 4 CNO deployed a sixth DESDIV in the Atlantic Fleet By late October Sixth Fleet had DD' s patrolling North African and Levantine shores It was on alert to be ready for evacuation of U S nationals from almost every Near Eastern country within 24 hours 1be intelligence estimates were pointing to an invasion of Libya by Egypt and of Jordan by Israel U S Marine reinforcements arrived at Izmir Turkey However the main body of the Fleet continued exercise Beehive in the Ionian Sea The Fleet was placed on alert October 28 Redeployments required SitReps and the setting of maximum readiness did not occur until October 29 -- the day hostilities broke out The first active role of Sixth Fleet in the crisis was evacuation Sixth Fleet respomed quickly and deployed t'Wo evacuation task groups - - one for Haifa am one for Alexandria l Burke interview ijuly 3 1969 2 Ibid 31bid 4- u S Navy #300250 ALUSNA Cairo to CINCNELM October 30 1956 -62- UNCLASSIFIED ' 4 ' - UNCLASSIFIED TF-61 Haifa Task Group Cdr Frederick L Edwards Jr 1 high-speed transport APO 33 Burdo 2 destroyers DD 708 Harlan R Dickson DD 709 Hugh A Purvis Alexandria Task Group Capt Frederick W Laing 1 attack cargo ship AKA 19 Thuban 1 attack transport APA 38 Chilton 1 dock landing ship LSD 30 Ft Snelling 2 destroyers DD The only role played during the next two days October 29-31 was evacuation and p rotection of evacuees CINCLANTFL T was ordered to prepare one BLT for possible · early deployment to augment Sixth Fleet Most of the Fleet was in Soudha Bay while some ships were on their way from Naples Chilton Ft Snelling Thuban and Burdo were operating south of Cyprus awaiting evacuation requests from Ambassador Hare in Egypt It was expected that U s Ambassador Hare could get Americans out of Egypt by air He commandeered TWA aircraft for evacuation from Cairo and one commercial vessel American Export Exochorda in Alexandria However as the busloads of evacuees arrived at Cairo International Nasser closed the airport Ambassador Hare was not informed of the availability of Sixth Fleet ships1 although he made every effort to have Egyptian authorities grant port clearances for them just in case Reaction of Sixth Fleet to Ambassador Hare's request was prompt However communication between the Fleet Cairo and Alexandria did not work well and none knew what the other was doing 'Ibe Cairo evacuees returned from the airport to their homes 'Ibe State Department endeavored to have the airport reopened In Alexandria Consul General Washburn was told by Cairo to find places on ships near Alexandria harbor The Exochorda was able to take 295 evacuees of the Alexandria district Of the expected 2000 evacuees from Cairo only 875 could have found places and those on Greek ships tntimately fewer than 60 Americans would have been able to leave because the Greek ships bad been under charter to the German government and Egypt would not let them in the harbor Both Hare 1 Bar Washburn Report on Evacuation December 1956 -63- UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED and Washburn were unable to arrange for an evacuation without knowledge of Sixth Fleet intentions And the Fleet could not know how many evacuees to expect because other nationals would find the Fleet their only means of evacuation On October 30 support of TF 61 62 could have been in Alexandria however it had no clearance Although no diplomatic clearance had been received 1 Captain Laing obtained per mission from the local port authority to enter Alexandria and established voice contact with Washburn This was a fortunate turn of events for Washburn did not yet know that he would be unable to use commercial means as directed and that the evacuees from Cairo whom he was expecting momentarily had no intention of coming and were awaiting an airlift Captain Laing feared Americans and others were being held hostages in Cairo He ordered preparations for the Marines to storm ashore and advance to Cairo to retrieve them using force as required to meet the situation Carrier aircraft were deployed as protective cover 2 Fortunately State representatives were able to establish that the Marine landing was not_necessary 3 Washburn boarded the newly arrived Chilton at 9 a m to arrange the evacuation By noon it was apparent to Ambassador Hare that the airport would not be reopened and at l 30 on Wednesday October 31 the first automobile convoy left Cairo and Washburn was warned of the arrival of evacuees he had expected the night before Whereas Captain Laing and Washburn had expected to load the evacuees that afternoon it was impossible until the ne day This meant it was necessary to build a tent city in the desert for accommodation It also meant embarkation would occur during air attacks Furthermore harbor clearance bad only been granted for the day of October 31 Although CINCNELM had arranged and Captain Laing had been assured of British avoidance of targets near departing Americans there was bombing both near the automobile convoys and Alexandria Aircraft were attacking Oukhaylah airfield and other military installations in the immediate vicinity of the harbor 1 vo Egyptian naval vessels returned fire on the aircraft from positions amidst the American ships 4 Many times throughout the two-day loading period the port seemed blanketed by flak This interrupted the evacuation operations and increased the hazards l Il id • p 3 - - 2 u S Navy COMSIXT_HFL T ·to CNO The History of the Sixth Fleet OPNA V Report 5750-5 3wnliam B Garrett The u s · Navy's Role in the 1956 Suez Crisis Naval War College Review March 1970 p 70 4 Garrett 2f• cit • p 71 -64- UNCLASSIFIED L - UNCLASSIFIED Sixth Fleet had been authorized to take friendly nationals on a space-available basis The Egyptians refused to grant permission for British or French to leave - - except those with a U N pass Eight Hungarians arrived at the dock Just after all evacuees were loaded 100 Germans -- who earlier had maintained they could take care of themselves -- arrived ready for departure on Chilton The next delay was the result of a rumor initiated by Egyptian Admiral Ezzat He maintained that a British plane had been shot down and in the wreckage were documents indicating Alexandria harbor had been mined Admiral Ezzat amplified by assuring the Americans that the British Ambassador had confirmed this report The Egyptians stuck to their story all day am refused to sweep the channel Washburn reported that Captain Laing sent a curt message to Ezzat charged as I am with the safety of over 1000 women am children I consider that refusal to sweep Greek Pass Channel is a most unfriendly personal gesture toward me It was and still is the considered opinion of the officers of the Consulate General that the Egyptian Navy hoped to keep the American ships in port another night thus assuring themselves of another twenty-four hours of immunity from the expected stepped-up air attacks ••1 As Washburn was trying to establish the facts and get a minesweeper his telephone was cut off and he never got word of the British denial Ezzat maintained he could not eep because he did not know the type or position of the mines Finally the ships left by the Boghaz Pass as an Egyptian minesweeper raced out to head the convoy AB a result of communications breakdowns Cairo Alexamria and Captain Laing were all unaware of each other's situations Since Embassy Cairo's messages went first to State then to CINCNELM and on to Captain Laing there arose some difficulty in arrangements One result was that Captain Laing entered Alexamria harbor without diplomatic clearance - - expect to evacuate nationals who still had no intention of leaving Cairo When a second evacuation of Egypt seemed likely November 6 COMSIXTHFL T drew up a new plan Informed that Egyptians had mined Alexamria harbor CNO directed COMSIXTHFLT to enter only with Egyptian pilots 2 Admiral Brown however asked him to reconsider Having once bad the prospect brought sharply home to me I feel the possibility of damage while entering the port plus the danger of getting ships locked l Washburn -22• £ · pp 10 and 24 2 u s Navy #080155 CNO to COMSIXTHFLT November 8 1956 -6 5- UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED up there for an indefinite period once they have entered it makes it preferable to carry out any future evacuation over the beaches l An estimated 2500 possible American and foreign evacuees were in Israel Of these 772 were evacuated by November 3 540 by air and 232 by sea Air evacuation started October 30 but incurred several interruptions The Haifa task group was amidst fighting ships of the Egyptian French and Israeli navies and was delayed by the action in the harbor On November 1 Burdo was forced to interrupt loading after 120 evacuees were embarked and stand outside the harbor When Haifa was in blackout against expected Egyptian air raids Dickson entered to embark the remaining 46 U s and foreign nationals The passengers were loaded quickly and the task group steamed away This freed l CA and 2 DD's from support The evacuees arrived in Soudha Bay Crete on November 2 and were transferred to the USNS General Alexander M Patch T-AP-122 and taken on to Naples Although the air evacuation from Israel was fast it was not smooth CINCNELM did not have exact figures on evacuees While Athens expected 1100 only 772 arrived 2 In addition there were many stragglers Each time CINCNELM reported evacuation complete more would come forth expecting to be picked up The airlift terminated each day and resumed the next until November 4 Throughout the Suez War there were incidents between Sixth Fleet am the Anglo French armada Rumors spread that the Americans were as a matter of policy obstructing the landing Many British and French Naval officers felt threatened by Sixth Fleet while others heard that the U S is with us The 130 warships of the Franco British armada steaming toward Egypt ran into the same operating area as the 50 American vessels in the Eastern Mediterranean Sixth Fleet officers themselves had no idea to what extent they should go in either protecting or obstructing other navies While helping to evacuate Americans from Alexandria ships of Sixth Fleet were standing in the middle of the British carrier zone Vice Admiral Dunford- Slater signalled Brown asking him to move saying you are interfering with my mission Brown replied I also have a mission and refused to move However he wasn't sure what that mission was and cabled back to Washington whose side am I on 3 The 1 U S Navy #081120 COMSIXTHFLTto CINCNELM November 8 1956 2 U S Navy #010126 CINCNELM rear to CNO November 1 1956 3 Thomas - p 141 -66- 0 UNCLASSIFIED CNO himself undecided as was Dulles answered keep clear of foreign op areas but take no guff from anybody 1 About the first of November Dulles realized Sixth Fleet was in a position to actively obstruct the invasion There ensued a disagreement in Washington Burke wanted to aid the British and French - - maintaining they still needed landing craft the Joint Chiefs recommel¥led that the U S be a kindly observer but not get in the way of the British Dulles wanted to stop the invasion by any means available short of shooting at them The Secretary asked Burke if we could stop them Burke replied Mr Secretary there is only one way to stop them But we will blast the hell out of them Dulles asked Well can't you stop them some other way Burke answered No If we're going to threaten if we're going to turn on them then you've got to be ready to shoot I can't give these people orders ••• demand aI¥i then get laughed at The only way you can stop them is to shoot And we can do that We can defeat them - - the British ·and the French am the Egyptians aoo the Israelis -- the whole goddam works of them we can knock off if you want But that's the only way to do it News of Dulles' consideration crept into the press and the next day Joseph am Stewart Alsop wrote this city which has seen a good many extremes in political behavior has never witnessed such an exhibition of pique and anger as the Anglo- French-Israeli action against Egypt has touched off At ohe moment the highest American policy-makers actually played with the astonishing idea of ordering the American Sixth Fleet to oppose the Anglo- French landings on the gyptian coast 112 AB the disagreement continued in Washington Sixth Fleet was ordered to remain near Egypt am to be prepared for any eventuality Burke cabled Brown to be prepared for anything to have bis bombs up to be ready to fight either another naval force or against land targets ••• to be prepared for any war eventuality I didn't kiiow who the damned enemy was because we were still having this discussion 3 So the Fleet remained -- still with no clearly defined role However in Lomon Ambassador Aldrich found his most pressing task communica ting with the Admiralty and CINCNELM in order to keep each advised of the other's movements He succeeded in persuading the British to delay their bombing and he managed to prevent mishaps 4 Prime Minister Eden later said I've never seen a shred of evidence that the Sixth Fleet interfered I've heard it said but I know of no evidence 5 1 U S Navy #020615·CNO to COMSIXTHFLT November 2 1956 2 New York Herald Tribune November 2 1956 3 Burke interview Quly 3 1969 4 Interview with Winthrop Aldrich November 12 1969 s Love 21 • £ · p 616 -67- UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED Pineau added there were definite contacts with American admirals to keep the Sixth Fleet from running afoul of our movements l General Keightly agreed anxiety was caused by the activities of the U s Sixth Fleet which since October 31 had been moved to and stationed in the same operating areas as our own carriers in order to provide protection for the evacuation of u S nationals from Alexandria and the Levant Despite the very real difficulties created by this situation and the great inconvenience experienced by our forces thanks to the good sense of the two naval commanders both were able to carry out their functions efficiently and without incident 2 The Sixth Fleet took a great many precautions to avoid mistaken identity or other misadventures 3 After the French complained of not being able to identify American ships in areas of hostility COMSIXTHFL T complied with their request and ordered all his ships to display a large ensign during the day and illuminate both ship and ensign at night 4 This proved advantageous to the British and French It didn't'take them long to discover that with their lights on as well the Egyptian bombers would be unable to differentiate between u S and other ships 5 Incidents were bound to occur and they did with regularity -- some of them comical others very dangerous The Sixth Fleet first became involved in hostilities while evacuating Americans from Haifa on October 31 As Burdo moved into the harbor the French cruiser Ker saint began firing on an Egyptian destroyer Ibrahim el Awal According to the New York Times the Egyptians had hoped their ship would be mistaken for the American destroyer Dickson which was due in Haifa lodeed the Israelis were fooled and allowed the Ibrahim el Awal to approach Haifa thinking she was part of the Sixth Fleet task group 6 The Israelis sailed up to finish off the Egyptian cruiser and spotted several ships in the area of the target The Israeli commander signalled for identification and got the reply American He flashed am opening fire on enemy ship please keep away Dickson politely got out of the way and anchored outside Haifa harbor to permit IDF receive full glory unless others would think Sixth Fleet supported any combatant 1 Ibid p 472 2- Love 22• £ • • p 616 3 U S Navy #020613 CNO to COMSIXTHFL T November 2 1956 4 U S Navy #010126 CINCNELM rear to CNO Sitrep 6 November 1 1956 5 Thomas • 22· -5 p 141 6 Robert Henriques A Hundred Hours to Suez New York The Viking Press 1957 p 169 -68- UNCLASSIFIED ' ' ' UNCLASSIFIED Sixth Fleet submarines Cutlass and Hardhead maintained a watch on the Anglo- French armada as it steamed toward Egypt The British convoy with carriers HMS Theseus and HMS Ocean found it was under close observation from all the august might of the u S Sixth Fl et which appeared to be steaming on a parallel course ard shadowing the British ships A submarine Hardhead was detected by one of the destroyers which promptly moved in attack As it did so the sub hastily hoisted a U S flag before sailing on the surface down the middle of the convoy The headquarters ship HMS Meon signalled 'Why don't you come join us' to which the reply came 'No thanks we're holding your coat this time 1111 On the night of November 4 the main force of Sixth Fleet passed across the French naval forces from west to east Air interceptions occurred often between British and U S carrier aircraft operating between Cyprus and Egypt Admiral Grantham asked Sixth Fleet forces to move outside that general area COMSIXTHFL T said he could withdraw his carriers and submarines northwest of that line and still furnish adequate cover He did so and Grantham guaranteed safe conduct to evacuation vessels Toward the end of hostilities relations became quite friendly between the U S am Anglo- French fleets to the point where November 6 found HMS Wizard apologizing for being in the way of Sixth Fleet operations However rumors of Sixth Fleet interference spread in an exaggerated form until Admiral Brown was forced to publicly put them down He said I categorically deny reports that units of the Sixth Fleet were deliberately maneuvered in any fashion to embarrass those British and French units My task was to evacuate U s nationals from tile combat area I did it In order to do so properly it was necessary for me to dispose my forces in such a way as to best defend the ships am aircraft engaged in actual evacua• tion duties from attack or other mishap Both Admiral Sir Guy Grantham and I recognized that there existed a risk of embarrassment and polite signals on the subject were exchanged 2 AID TO THE U N Another role of Sixth Fleet was to aid United Nations representatives The Fleet was the only means of support tor both the U N Supervisory Truce Organization UNTSO and the subsequent United Nations Emergency Force UNEF On October 31 the UNTSO personnel in Gaza requested US AR MA Israel to have Sixth Fleet stand by in the event of hostilities in Gaza By dawn the next day CTG 60 3 had 3 destroyers staming off Gaza 1 Barker 21 • £ • pp 90-91 2 Charles Brown When Trouble Came in the Mediterranean The Story of the Sixth Fleet in Action U S News am World Report December 14 1956 p 30 -69· UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED and an APA on the way Orders were prepared for an assault landing if necessary I At dawn on November 2 Cambria went into Gaza and evacuated 21 U N observers over the beach following plans first drawn up during December 1955 Toe U s Task Group re- mained off shore while 7 remaining UNTSO personnel coaxed the Egyptians into surrender Toe UNTSO head in Gaza Lt Col Ba yard said later the presence of a U S force at Gaza gave him a stronger hand in dealings with Egyptians which in his opinion prevented the loss of lives of many refugees and may have influenced more speedy military imple mentation of the surrender 2 The Egyptians felt that the presence of U N representatives would insure them better treatment as POWs am Bayard's threat to have the waiting Sixth Fleet ships return for him caused the F gyptians to turn themselves over He also threat ened the Israelis who had begun to destroy U N headquarters and communications equip ment They stopped at the prospect of U S marines coming ashore The presence of Sixth Fleet enabled the U N team to remain in Gaza and insured their ability to mediate and bring about a speedy surrender The full truce team was returned to shore on November 3 by Cambria General Burns chairman of UNTSO thanked Sixth Fleet for its assistance and said that without it the reestablishment ot UNTSO am UNWRA in Gaza would have been more difficult 3 After the ceasefire Sixth Fleet enabled the U N to establish itself in Egypt Con tingem s of UNEF forces began arriving at Soudha Bay on November 8 Two U S Marine battalions disembarked with their equipment vehicles and cargo to make room for 4000 U N troops 4 On November 14 CINCNELM met with Hammarskjold to plan the transfer and support of UNEF The U S Navy was given primary responsibility for logistics am support Rear Admiral Clarence Ekstrom Commander U S Naval Activities Mediter ranean was the officer made responsible General Burns met with Ekstrom Admiral Brown am Admiral Boone CINCNELM in Naples on November 21 Burns later reported The U S staff officers had produced a memorandum setting forth the principles and general arrangements under which the U S logistic support for UNEF would be provided The function of the U S Navy Support Activity Command was to help NATO allies in this region with equipmem munitions and further to reinforce their military power Toe command was thus well adapted to look after the wam s of UNEF Their proposals were quickly agreed upon The U N naval officers of the Support Activity Command were extremely helpful to UNEF and seemed anxious to meet all our demands 5 Toe success of UNEF depended upon the speed of its arrival in Egypt because France and Britain intended to keep their troops there until UNEF arrived 1 U S Marine Corps First Provisional Marine Force Chronological Record of Events During Tour of Duty in the Mediterranean 2u s Navy #040805 COMSIXTHFLTto CINCNELM November 4 1956 3u s Navy #061150 AMCONGEN Jerusalem to CNO November 6 1956 4U S Navy #071716 COMSIXTHFLT to CTF 61 November 7 1956 SE L M Burns Between Arab am Israeli New York Ivan Obolenslcy Inc •• 1962 p 219 -70- UNCLASSIFIED J UNCLASSIFIED ROLE DURING THREAT OF SOVIET ACTION On November 5 the Soviet Union threatened Britain France aoi Israel The Russians also began recruiting volunteers to send to Egypt and Ambassador Bohlen in Moscow advised that Soviet preparations appeared to be genuine Washington received intelligence that the Soviets were arriving in Egypt carrying special weapons Soviet tro were massing on the 1 lrkish border At a luncheon meeting of the National Security Council Admiral Radford advocated putting U s strike forces on alert 1 Eisenhower said if those fellows start something we may have to hit them -- and if necessary with everything in the bucket 0 2 Sixth Fleet was placed in readiness to implement emergency war plans CNO' s estimate of Soviet intentions was close to the mark k is our present esti mate USSR a will almost certainly not attack metropolitan U K or France b will probably not employ Soviet forces on a large scale in the F astern Mediterranean c may make small-scale attacks by air or submarine against U K aoi French forces in the Eastern Mediterranean d will continue to furnish military aid in the form of material technicians and logistics to Egypt - - they will probably sem volunteers 3 • Anthony Eden found the prospect of a Soviet attack horrifying aoi both he a Di Mollet orried whether the NATO alliance extended to forces in the eastern Medil'erranean Washington was put in a tough position Whereas Eisenhower wanted to make it difficult for the British aoi French until they withdrew from Egypt he had no desire to encourage the Soviets He therefore made U S obligations to the Anglo- French leaders seem questionable while his orders to the Navy were explicit am showed there was no doubt the U S would respom to any Soviet move When Eden and Mollet asJced Washington to confirm the U S nuclear guarantee they were shattered by the ambiguity of the reply The Government of the United States will respect its obligations under NA TO arrange ments 4 1he implication was that the U S would respond only if there was an attack on metropolitan France or Great Britain k wa1 not until the Anglo· French leaders agreed to a ceasefire that through the inquiries of staff officials the u S acknowledged that ''if Soviets should intervene directly against British and French troops NA1'0 obligations would come into play 5 1 Murphy • p 83 2 Eisenhower 22• • p 38 3 U S Navy #062103 CNO to all November 6 1956 4 Robertson 22• cit p 253 5 U s State Department Memo of Conversation Alpband Mlrphy November S 1956 -11- UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED The Navy estimated Soviet capabilities as follows If USSR should carry out threats of armed intervention in Egypt it could use warships and aircraft it maintains in Black Sea area for initial attacks These warships consist of 2 OBB 2 CA 6 CL am 52 des troyers and escort types Under Montreux Convention Soviets must warn Turks of passage Soviets have about 2000 jet fighters and about 500 jet bombers located in areas on or near_ mack Sea Bull Badger Bison and Bear aircraft based western USSR could cover entire Mediterranean area The next day November 7 the Soviets requested permission for 6 warships including at least 1 cruiser and 3 destroyers to transit the straits from the Black Sea There were intelligence reports of unidentified jet aircraft overflying Turkey Sixth Fleet spotted several ''possibly hostile submarines in the Mediterranean And there were rumors of Russian frogmen in Alexandria harbor l CNO issued the following instructions a Deploy submarines on reconnaissance patrols for surveillance of possible Soviet naval movements b Augment radar picket ships of Atlantic Barrier c Direct all CINCLANTFLT HUI groups to operate in ocean approaches to CONUS direct all CINCPAC HUI groups to operate at sea d Alert SOSUS system and augment VP backup e JCS desire to increase strength Mideast forces 1 Prepare to sail carrier task force earliest from CONUS to WESTPAC composed of 2 CVA 1 CA and 1 DESDIV 2 When forces 1 above ordered to deploy sail carrier task force same composition from WESTPAC to chop CINCNELM in MIDEASTFOR area 3 Sail TF 26 2 CVAs toward A7 ores 4 Sail 1 AD to Persian Gulf U S Navy #062125 CNO to all November 6 1956 -72- I UNCLASSIFIED f Maintain readiness to execute emergency war plans 1 Perhaps the most frightening news was the report of a British Canberra shot down by a Soviet Mig over Syria on November 8 The Sixth Fleet shllted its operating area southwest of Crete in order to improve its readiness posture for a general emergency 2 CINCNELM sent the following message to COMSIXTHFL T During present critical situation while NELM forces are operating in waters where unfriendly foreign subs may take hostile action against unidentified surface vessels or aircraft ••• in event that contact attack counterattack using every available means to destroy 3 ·cNO advised that the possibility of a new outbreak of hostilities should not be discounted 4 Reported sighting of Soviet ships and planes occurred until November 15 Sixth Fleet continued to sight unidentified submarines Soviet jet a craft were reported at Aleppo Syria Rumors spread about great shipments of Russian arms to Syria am of Soviets training a growing Syrian Air Force The government of Iraq was reported to be extremely shaky The Turks were terrified of a Soviet•backed Syrian attack on Turkey and or Lebanon Some of the intelligence turned out to be false In fact the British Canberra was shot down by a Meteor at 4500 ft not by a Soviet Mig at 45 000 ft The Soviet planes overflying Turkey and laming in Syria were bringing back Syria's President Kuwatley and party from a brief trip to Russia Soviet ship movements in the Black Sea were part of the annual October Revolution demonstrations However Soviet troop movements in the Caucasus and other indicators of general war alerts could not be explained away On November 15 the Soviet threat seemed to dissipate and by November 21 there was a Sixth Fleet port call at Beirut The win ling-down was slow however and S Fleet did not go off 24-hour alert until December 13 when CINCNELM returned to Lo Xlon The movements of Sixth Fleet contributed to the political credibility ol the u S position in the crisis In Washington some thought that had the Sixth Fleet supported Nasser its reason for being would have changed from protection of the southern flank of NA TO to the security of Africa am the northern tier Opposition to Israel would have meant a complete change in the structure of the Near East One result could have been 1 u s Navy #070451 CNO to CINCLANTFLT am #070459 CNO to CINCPACFLT November 7 1956 2 U S Navy #081822 CINCNELM to CNO November 8 1956 3 U S Navy #081642 CINCNELM to COMSIXTHFLT November 8 1956 4 U S Navy #072135 CNO to all November 7 1956 UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED Israeli invasion and occupation of the West Bank of Jordan a possible invasion of that kingdom by Iraq and the almost certain entrance of Soviet troops into Syria Rea Admiral H E Eccles pointed out the lessons of Suez which were subsequently reflected in U S policy and behavior 1 a strengthening of the General Purpose Forces and establishment of a stronger ready amphibious force and improved mobile logistic support b formation of the U S Strike Command c the formal concept of prepositioning d the establishment of a Special Assistant for Strategic Mobility to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff e a more specific approach to the evaluation of operational readiness f the great care that was taken to inform our allies of the situation and our position in the Cuban missile crisis of 1962 Admiral Burke pointed out that during Suez he was still able to move a fleet on his own and tell the President later Sixth Fleet was able to operate efficiently and to complete its mission quickly largely as a result of decisions made on the scene As one British officer quipped at Suez Nelson would never have accomplished anything had there been a Telex During Suez each situation had the definite possibility of resulting in a serious and even tragic event if it bad not been completely controlled by the Naval officer at the scene 2 Admiral Dudley1 s HUK group departed Rotterdam without orders Captain Laing fortunately entered Alexandria harbor without clearance The Haifa Task Group accomplished its mission avoiding hostilities REQUESTS FOR SIX'nl FLEET HELP DURING THE WAR The Sixth Fleet found itself in great demand throughout the Suez War On October 31 Nasser called in Ambassador Hare a Di asked that the U S protect Egypt militarily from the Anglo- French invasion force Nasser was informed that Sixth Fleet help would not be forthcoming as the U S preferred to oppose the laming through the u N One week later and after the Anglo- French ceasefire Ali Sabri approached the U S and pleaded 1 H E Eccles USN Suez 1956 -- Some Military Lessons Naval War College Review March 1969 p 51 2 Garrett 22· · • p 75 -74- UNCLASSIF·IED UNCLASSIFIED for the immediate dispatch of Sixth Fleet as the only hope to forestall Soviet volunteers Ambassador Hare added consider significant fact that this message repeated an urgent request for Sixth Fleet intervention 1 · On November 5 the Soviet Union proposed to Eisenhower that Stxth Fleet am the Soviet navy join in a cooperative effort to stop the Suez War Ambassador Bohlen who r ceived the message said I couldn't believe my eyes I looked at Shepilov and said 'Are you kidding ' He said 'No ' Ibis is a serious proposal ' I said I'd sem it but the answer would surely be no 2 The answer very definitely was no In addition to Sixth Fleet's evacuation of nationals of 31 countries it was called upon to escort a chartered evacuation ship from Germany The Greek government inquired how Greece was to be protected 11 Sixth Fleet moved out of the eastern Mediter ranean during the Anglo- French expedition to Egypt Turkey feeling a great Soviet threat asked for Sixth Fleet protection and material aid The French felt that because of the political situation in mid- November they were unable to provide external security at Pt Lyautey and asked that Sixth Fleet provide it instead Finally Nehru sent a petition to President Eisenhower proposing that the U s Sixth Fleet be sent to Port Said at once to enforce as the vanguard of a u N force the ceasefire resolutions 3 Nasser said he wou1d allow U S Marines to land Sixth Fleet played an important role in the Suez War by delaying the Franco-British invasion dissuading Soviet entry am enabling the U N to· move in quickly Admiral Brown noted the U S Navy was one of the few survivors of the conflict which emerged With its reputation not only intact but enhanced 4 Sixth Fleet enjoyed its greatest popularity since 1948 COMMUNICATIONS During the crisis period there were communications problems The Sixth Fleet was the only group in touch with all the parties involved It was in communication with all the other navies with governments of the littoral states am with U s representatives ashore -- both as a matter of course and as a much-needed go-between where others• 1 U S State Department #1350 trom Cairo November 6 1956 2 Love 3 · £ · p 614 3 Robertson 21 · £ -• p 263 4 Garrett 3 • £ · p 75 -75- UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED I communications systems failed Even the Sixth Fleet was not always sure of what was happening as Washington sometimes failed to tell the Fleet what was going on that might concern it and what actions to talce There is evidence of several communications breakdowns The moat important of these was the lack of exchange between the State Department and the Navy during the early part of the crisis Because of the tension the Sixth Fleet had been deployed to the eastern Mediterranean during March April May and early June As tensions had eased the Sixth Fleet resumed normal operations on JWle 15 It was about this time that Dulles began to realize a crisis might occur in July While Dulles was having State Department task forces consider all the combinations and permutations of expected Middle East conflict the entire Sixth Fleet was at anchor off the southern tip of Sardinia calling back its last two ODs from the eastern Mediterranean patrol On the 7th of July the CNO put the Sixth Fleet on a 24- hour alert for possible move ment to the eastern Mediterranean Four days later • • one week before the troubles Dulles expected • • that alert was cancelled and again the fleet returned to normal operations The Sixth Fleet was not placed on notice again until after Nasser nationalized the Canal It would appear that commW1ication between Navy a rd State improved in August as during that month COMSIXTHFLT CINCLANTFLT and CINCSPECOMME CINCNELM had daily intelligence briefings However there began another out of touch period in September In October the State Department seemed more in touch with the Navy than with its own representatives overseas Both the Navy and the CIA were in communication with their opposite numbers in France Britain Israel and Egypt while State was not There was a blackout on diplomatic intercourse imposed by the British and French This began in mid· October am continued through the crisis period The blackout was extended to the Navy only after Britain and France entered hostilities in November It was never imposed on intelligence channels and the CIA was the only group that never lost touch with its counterparts 1 Although communications were better between State and Navy in October and November there was no rationale given by State for its requests of the Navy This was especially true during the period of actual hostilities The State Department and the Navy differed trememously on preferred evacuation plans The CNO didn't want to split up the fleet a oo sem ships into Haifa and Alexamria During the hostilities the various commanding 1 Interview with Robert Amery ijune 1969 -76- UNCLASSIFIED t J UNCLASSIFIED officers in the Sixth Fleet were not told why they were sent to various places or what their purpose was to be at least partly because the U S was uncertain what action would have to be taken if any and against whom On October 28 the day before the Israeli Defense Force went into Sinai Dulles asked his representatives in the Middle East to begin communications with CINCN ELM 1 As Sixth Fleet task forces moved closer to shore for evacuations their commanders established direct contact with State personnel ashore However representatives in Cairo and Tel Aviv were still trying to communicate with CINCNELM through the State Department in Washington On October 30 Dulles had to redirect his ambassadors to communicate directly with CINCNELM as departmental relay was introducing un warranted and unnecessary delay 2 On November 1 Ambassador Hare's connections with Washington were ruptured Dulles had no idea how the Cairo evacuation was pro gressing and asked Brown to relay Hare's communications 3 After some delay contact was established The Sixth Fleet was in direct contact with the British and French fleets for the first w days of hostilities Most of the initial contacts were friendly warnings of movements On October 28 the British and French offered to fly yellow flags to avoid confusions with Sixth Fleet exercise Beehive 4 On October 31 the Sixth Fleet Haifa task group got out 9f the way of French destroyers firing on Egyptians On November 1 the French asked U s ships to display large ensigns and both British and French promised not to inter fere during American evacuations However by November 2 the tone of exchanges changed the British told Brown to get out of the way Both British and French refused to answer when sighted and challenged by Americans Both threatened to shoot at Sixth Fleet submarines when undeclared These breakdowns caused a great deal of unnecessary worry • • Within the Sixth Fleet communications vacillated from good to bad They were best handled when they were least needed Minimize was put into effect at the end of October It worked effectively and relieved the burden on communications facilities but was discontinued Just as hostilities broke out and not reinstated for a week 1 -U S Navy #280604 SECSTATE to COMSIXTHFLT and Middle Bast Embassies October 28 1956 2 U S Navy #301700 SECSTATE to CINCNELM etc October 30 1956 3 u s Navy #011529 CNO to COMSIXTHFLT November 1 1956 4 u s Navy #281451 CINCNELM to COMSIXTHFLT October 28 1956 -71- UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED Also unusual is the fact that during the only period of actual operations the Fleet Marine Headquarters was embarked on an APA the Cambria whose communications personnel facilities and troop operations spaces are much less satisfactory than those of an ACX The facilities afforded by the command configured APA are not considered adequate for the control of all elements of the landing force and its air and Naval gunfire support 1 CINCNELM in the Pocono was attempting to handle three times the usual crypto load with half' the personnel and machines On November 1 poor communications caused a lack of information on the location of the evacuees On November 2 CINCNELM reported com munications were inadequate and imposing serious handicaps 2 He asked for more equip ment and personnel which didn't arrive until November 8 when hostilities had ended A heavy communications load especially crypto was resulting in serious delays Average transmitting and decoding times for operational immediate traffic were 5-1 2 hours and 5 hours respectively with numerous delays of up to four days Widespread multiplicity duplication of content and verbiage of Middle East intelligence summaries and SitReps some from commands not directly concerned with operations in the area are contributing heavily to unsatisfactory communications situation by over-burdening circuits to the point that timely receipt of orders and vital intelligence are being denied • 3 There were other delays mistakes and misinterpretations which caused great confusion and unnecessary concern An example of this is the reported 38-hour delay between sighting and reporting during the period of Soviet threats The greatest example of poor communications occurred on November 8 At this point Soviet intervention seemed possible and was much feared A British Canberra shot down over Syria at 4 500 feet was reported to have been at 45 000 feet a simple but tremendous1y·poor mistake U S intelligence then juiged that it must have been hit by a very sophisticated Mig manned by a Soviet pilot 4 This contributed to a greatly stepped-up alert and aug mentation of the Sixth Fleet Prior to that time intelligence communications analyses and judgments had been unusually fast and excellent 1 2 U S Marine Corps Memo from Commanding General First Provisional Marine Force Fleet Marine Force Atlantic to Commanding General Fleet Marine Force At lantic ijanuary 31 1957 U S Navy #081822 CINCNELM to SecState November 8 1956 and U S Navy #021908 CINCNELM to CNO November 2 1956 3 Ibid and U S Navy #051606 CINCNELM to CNO 4 U S Navy #081822 CINCNELM to CNO November 8 1956 -78- UNCLASSIFIED I t UNCLASSIFIED LOGISTICS Task Force 63 Sixth Fleet Service Poree under the command of R ar Admiral William Nelson supplied the Fleet with fuel oil repair parts food mail movies and even included repair periods alongside the repair ships while the ships were uooerway a new innovation in maintaining ships at sea Under normal conditions the Fleet would have been weakened by ships returning to port for repairs After the crisis Admiral Brown lauded Admiral Nelson and paid tribute to the Service Force by calling it his 'secret weapon' 1 During the summer of 1956 the Service Force was augmented as the number of ships in the Fleet increased By November support by 1 AKS and 1 AP reached the point of marginal adequacy due to the characteristic dispersion of fleet units as well as growing numbers 2 A second AKS and a second AF were requested but they never arrived One AF was always in the Mediterranean maintained by a shuttle between CONUS and Eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean A secooo AE was added to the Fleet operated on a 4-month rotational basis deployed from the Atlantic Fleet There were r no additional AD' s Two operated on the normal 4- month rotational basis One AK was J eployed on an intermittent basis Sixth Fleet lacked a sufficient number of oilers The normal complement of 3 AO' s supported the slightly augmented Fleet until November 1 when COMSIXTHFL T noted With addition HUK group NEOSHO is a blessing but not enough to offset shift of opera tions to Eastern Mediterranean With even the first increment of forces consider 6 oilers Justified to insure operations anywhere in Med without logistic impedence parti cillarly in event oiler breakdown 3 The Suez War pointed up the fact that the activation of Fleet oilers was too slow to meet the recommended schedule Since the major limita tion on the LANTFL T forces during the Suez War was imposed by the paucity of fleet oilers CINCLANTFL T requested that the USST AO' s be retained in the MSTS Nucleus Fleet as a normal procedure • 4 After November 3 two additional Fleet AO's were maintained in the Mediterranean and an MSTS white AO was deployed as a replacement for Marias which was undergoing 1 Garrett 2E• £ p 25 2 U S Navy #032005 COMSIXTHPLT to CINCNELM November 3 1956 3 U S Navy #032005 COMSIXnIPLT to CINCNELM November 3 1956 4 u s Navy Memo from ClNCLANTPLT to CNO Annual Report of the Commamer in Chief U s Atlaotie Pleet August 30 1957 p 76 -79- UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED overhaul 1 For the remainder of the crisis period there were 6 AO' s with the Sixth Fleet The source of supply of Navy Special Fuel Oil was changed from Near East sources to the U S Gulf Coast while alternative sources of supply were developed for several locations Emergency repairs were carried out at Royal Navy Dockyards at Gibraltar and Malta The U S used the repair facilities of a power whose actions it currently opposed The increased tempo of logistic support flights resulted in not only high utilization of all VR-24 aircraft but also additional support flights by planes of other commands It became apparent during the Suez War that when augmented forces are assigned to the Sixth Fleet or the tempo of operations increases VR-24's must similarly be augmented in order to meet fully the additional lift requirements During the crisis a marine R-4Q detachment of 4 aircraft from MCAS Cherry Point was made available to evacuate U s nationals This operation could not have been conducted by VR-24 while it simultaneously rendered direct logistical support to Sixth Fleet The closure of the Suez Canal required revision of plans for effecting MIDEASTFOR destroyer reliefs It was necessary to route destroyers around the Cape of Good Hope to and from CONUS Involved were six-week transit times with an average of 4 fuel stops The increased transiting time required destroyers to remain on station for a far greater duration than normal - - three months in the case of a few ships This resulted in a maintenance problem which was solved by sending Prairie AD 15 from WESTPAC Prairie arrived in the area November 16 and served as a flagship for COMIDEASTFOR 2 1 Ibid p 24 2- u S Navy CINCNELM Report of Operations and Condition of Command l July 1956 - l July 1957 p 10 -so UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED THE CONSEQUENCES OF SUEZ This section places the Suez Crisis in historical perspective by discussing its effect on subsequent events based on the author's knowledge of the crisis and her interpretation of later events in the light of that knowledge The Suez Crisis changed the presence of the Great Powers in the Near East It contributed to the collapse of Franco-British hegemony the consolidation of Soviet inroads and the strengthening of Arab nationalism It provided a rehearsal of the 1967 War It nullified the Tripartite Declaration and broke up the Anglo-Jordanian Alliance and the Anglo- Egyptian Treaty of 1954 It weakened and eventually led to the destruction of the Baghdad Pact It caused the sharpest break in the history of the Anglo-American entente And it paralyzed NA TO and stimulated France's eventual withdrawal from NA TO military commands The Suez Crisis was a leader's crisis It demonstrated the personal power of the British Prime Minister and the tremendous influence of the United States and its President · en bulk larger in the story than governments or impersonal societal forces Demo cratic ideals the complexity of modern politics lightning communications and the inter d endence of nations are often thought to have reduced the personal influence of individual t leaders in events it Suez was set in motion by the personal philosophies ambitions - and animosities of such men as Ben Gurion Nasser F len Mollet Khrushchev isenhower and Dulles 111 At few other times have men been held so personally re sponsible for the fate of armies and nations Suez destroyed F cfen's health am career and increased Nasser's self- confidence and power The crisis ended the myth of British am French ability to single•handedly play Great Power politics It revealed their dependence on U S support Suez demonstrated that their military endeavors were wholly dependent upon financial constraints The Sterling Area was shown to be wlnerable as a banking system The British Commonwealth ceased to speak with one voice in world affairs Nasser proved to be neither a weakling nor a Hitler Finally Suez was a costly mistake pointing up the persistence of outdated and uninformed policies toward the Near East The reactions of Britain and France were more suited to an earlier colonialist era and showed little understaming of modern day Egypt and the climate of world opinion After World War II the United States became militarily diplomatically and morally a guarantor of the indepement state of Israel 'lbe British were then unwilling to wholeheartedly support a Zionist state in Palestine but were sponsors of Arab unity 1 Love 22· £ • p 2 81- UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED Suez brought a reversal of these roles a Britain which was a party to an Israeli assault on Egypt am a United States which moved against its oldest allies and the state of Israel The three Western powers had felt collectively responsible for the defense of common interests and needs in the Near East After Suez the United States took on the task of custodian of the Western position in the Eastern Mediterranean The Eisenhower Doc trine replaced the Tripartite Agreement with Britain and France The announced objectives of France and Britain at the time of the invasion were 1 to stop the fighting 2 to keep open the Suez Canal and 3 to ensure the flow of oil supplies Their unannounced objectives were 1 to regain control of the Suez Canal 2 to bring down Nasser 3 to block Soviet penetration 4 to reestablish the credibility of power of the entente cordiale The outcome was the exact opposite of the expectations 1 the Suez Canal was blocked and Franco-British troops held only 2 5 of it 2 the oil supplies from the Near East were cut off 3 Nasser retained the Canal and enjoyed a much stronger position than before 4 the Soviets found the way much easier for further incursions 5 the United States took the mantle from the British and French who could no longer dominate the area It became apparent that no settlement could be reached without the two superpowers The three allies -- Britain France and Israel -- based their venture on misguided assumptions They failed to recognize Soviet or American perceptions of national in· terests They assumed benign neutrality by an electioneering Eisenhower and non involvement of a Soviet Union consumed by problems on its Western flank Where good strategy was essential planning was impeded by pressures of secrecy and personal preferences -- such as Eden's desire not to reveal that Britain was in concert with Israel Tactics were poor because of military and economic constraints The crisis having exposed the economic and military weaknesses of Britain and France the two began to restructure their policies and redefine their orientations Britain re vam peel her defenses and announced that her Middle East presence would be reduced to Aden and the Persian Gulf France disillusioned with the United States began to think about her own Force de Frappe In the Middle East life became more perilous for friends of Britain and France Nuri al Said of Iraq for instance faced with steadily growing opposition fed by stinging diatribes against his western orientation eventually was deposed aod murdered 'Ihe so- called vacuum left by the absence of Franco-British influence in the Near East provided an arena for the extension of Soviet and American influence The Soviet Union saw the prize and in Arab eyes reaped the laurels for having brought down the colonialist aggressors The credibility of their support was established The hostility of the U N and the 'Third World' was diverted from Russian atrocities in Hungary With the paralysis of the Western coalition the Soviets played on the rifts in NA1'0 in -82- UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED an effort to destroy it Sighting France as the weakest link they did indeed cause some increase in the independent feeling of that country The Soviets became more deeply rooted in the Near East and American policy turned reactive to them American interests in the Near East needed defining Long-term desires and short term necessities were often found contradictory During the Suez Crisis the U s sought to preserve its own and European oil interests and supplies sustain the harmony of NA TO and continue to strengthen the United Nations Its primary long-term interests are land sea and air routes and petroleum supplies To ensure these after the Franco British alxlication the U S substantially replaced British and French bases west of Suez with the continued presence of the Sixth Fleet and assumed with the Eisenhower Doctrine independent guarantees to Arab countries The Soviet Union had vaulted over the northern tier and the Arabs found her a convenient but not very likeable ally The U S military presence became their insurance against a feared Soviet take-over For while reaping the benefits of Soviet aid the Arabs did not want to become satellites They thought the strong presence of the United States in the Mediterranean would be their pi ptection against this After Suez the Soviet Union tried to neutralize and weaken the srm Fleet The Arabs soon discovered that the superpower stalemate in the Near East gave them tremendous latitude in action and demands Suez left Nasser -- far from weakened -- updisputed leader of the Arab world His position was consolidated and his stature in cf eased Nasser's objective was attained -- control over the Suez Canal By his diplo matic victory over Britain and France he was able to hide a great military defeat by Israel Angered and with a new sense of power Nasser strengthened his opposition to I French and British presence in Algeria Cyprus Yemen and Aden For the Israelis the invasion was a rehearsal for the 1967 War With Suez Israel gained in the short run but lost in the long term The Gulf of Aqaba was opened up to Israeli shipping and the Fedayeen ceased their attacks But Israel's credibility suffered from an excess of Great Power support at Suez Her security advanced for a time became more threatened by a strengthened Nasser and the resulting uniting of the Arab front She had stymied any opportunity of being allowed to use the Suez Canal Suez resulted in the first hardships for the large and prosperous Jewish community in Egypt The crisis produced a Nasser with more cause and more strength to call for increased Arab hostility toward IsraeL Had Israel acted alone she might have been able to topple Nasser and would certainly have established her credibility to such an extent that the Arab threat would have been permanently impaired The nonaligned nations saw in Suez the ability to oppose the great powers and make gains from their rivalry They acquired a new feeling of power The anti-colonialists were handed a 'colonialist venture' to point to in their outcries The Third World was buoyed up by Egypt's demonstration of independence -83- UNCLASSIFIED UNCLASSIFIED The world community gained from Suez a stronger United Nations The establishment of a U N Emergency Force gave teeth to that organization and made it a much more viable tool for world peace than the League of Nations had ever been The Secretary General established his personal power and authority The United Nations gained a greater ability to intercede in and help solve the rivalries and difficulties of the Near East for a time -84- UNCLASSIFIED J