Office of the Historian

740.0011 Pacific War/2378: Telegram

The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Standley)

Washington, May 2, 1942—6 p.m.

193. Your 133, April 28, noon.94

1.
In an exchange of notes between the President and Litvinoff effected on November 16, 193395 it was agreed that consular representatives of the United States might visit without delay United States nationals in places of detention of all kinds in the Soviet Union. Under this agreement, therefore, a member of your staff should be permitted at once to visit the interned crew of the plane. Nevertheless, we would prefer to have the visit arranged on a friendly, informal basis rather than as a result of a request based upon an existing agreement.
2.
It is hoped that you will be able to prevail upon the Soviet authorities to permit a member of your staff to visit the interned persons in the near future.
3.
In case such a visit is permitted the War Department hopes that information along the lines set forth below might be discreetly elicited as well as other information which might be helpful to the War Department:
a.
Route flown including altitudes, times of take off and landing. This for own and other airplanes if known.
b.
Enemy opposition encountered including location, altitude and type, i. e., pursuit, A[nti] A[ircraft] fire, barrage balloons, etc.; amount and effectiveness.
c.
Targets attacked and results observed.
d.
Photographs obtained. To be forwarded by fastest available means to W[ar] D[epartment]. G–2.96
e.
Camouflage noted.
f.
Casualties.
g.
Comments on functioning of equipment.
h.
Weather conditions encountered.
4.
Of course, information regarding the welfare and living conditions of the crew and their treatment is desired. It might also be [Page 551] possible to take from them messages for relatives and friends in the United States.
Hull
  1. In this telegram Ambassador Standley reported the following: “In response to a personal note to Molotov requesting permission for Ward to call upon the interned crew I have received a note from him dated April 27 stating in effect that since the crew was being transferred to a region nearer the center of the USSR the visit could not be made at the present time; that upon the arrival of the crew at the new place of residence I would be advised when and where my representative might visit the crew.”↩
  2. Foreign Relations, The Soviet Union, 1933–1939, pp. 33–34.↩
  3. Military Intelligence Division, War Department.↩