863.48/125a: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Special Representative ( House )
40. The Swedish Minister has confidentially transmitted to me a copy and [sic] urgent appeal addressed to the Associated Governments by the representatives of neutral powers in Vienna as follows:
“From the most reliable sources I have gathered that a revolution is on the point of breaking out in Vienna upon the inspiration and the attitude of the most radical elements of the socialistic party.
According to my opinion it is of the utmost importance that it should be pointed out to the Allied Governments in the most confidential manner that the moment has come to employ the means accorded the armies of the Entente in Art. 4, par. B of the Armistice convention of the 3rd of November.
The occupation by the Allied forces of Vienna as a strategic base should immediately put a stop to the sinister movement which may menace, as in Russia, the foundation of Society.
Under the menace of developments of such grave consequences the representatives of the different neutral nations at Vienna hare convened under the presidency of His Excellency the Papal Nuncio and have resolved that the above communication should, be made to their governments”.
The Swedish Minister has also transmitted the following communication from the Austrian Government:
“Famine is threatening Vienna and other ports [parts] of the country. Prompt action is necessary to remedy the situation. It is requested that the Commission referred to in the Armistice in Article 5 of the sea terms be instituted as soon as possible. We ask of that commission that it allow a number of Austrian and Hungarian ships to sail to Argentina, the United States of America and the Indies for wheat, meat, and lard. The detailed program will be submitted to the Commission. It is requested that the Commission’s headquarters be at a place where it will be easy for us to communicate with it.”
The Swiss Minister has today presented two communications on the Austrian situation as follows:6
“The situation in Austria is very grave. The Commander of the forces in the Tyrol was compelled to instruct the troops in the Southern Tyrol not to withdraw North on account of the shortage of food supplies. He earnestly requests the Entente Powers to [Page 189] occupy the Tyrol without delay, and to take steps for the revictualling of the army and the population. The Tyrolese National Council has made a similar urgent appeal, claiming this measure to be the only means of saving army and population from impending death by starvation and destruction. The papal nuncio at Vienna has called a meeting for the purpose of soliciting the intervention of the neutrals in favor of the revictualling of the city of Vienna which has only food up to and including November 14th. Switzerland would willingly do everything possible to avert this terrible catastrophe, but her stocks are very low and the pledges given to the Entente Powers render it impossible for her to take any action.”
“I have the honor to inform your Excellency that my Government has been requested to bring to the attention of the Government of the United States the following propositions, formulated by the Austro-Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs with a view to facilitate the revictualling of Austria-Hungary:
- 1)
- To direct to Trieste, by radio, vessels of the Entente Powers carrying foodstuffs, especially flour and fats;
- 2)
- To authorize the departure of Austrian and Hungarian vessels, actually lying in Spanish ports, ports of the Adriatic, and the Black Sea, for the purpose of carrying food supplies to Trieste; and to supply these vessels at Pola with the necessary bunkers from Entente stocks;
- 3)
- To suspend the blockade for these transports in conformity with paragraph 5 of the terms of the Armistice;
- 4)
- To accompany, by troops of the Entente powers, trains carrying foodstuffs from Trieste to Vienna and other parts in want of food supplies;
- 5)
- To utilize as much as possible also the Arlberg route for the transportation of foodstuffs and to have such trains likewise escorted by Entente troops.”
- These two communications were forwarded by the Swiss Government as intermediary only. The Swiss Minister, in his note of Nov. 15, 1918, transmitting the first of these messages, stated that it had been originally forwarded by the Swiss Government Nov. 6, but that it had failed to reach him at that time (863.48/40).↩