740.00119 European War 1939/1610: Telegram
The Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Standley) to the Secretary of State
[Received August 26—11:05 a.m.]
1163. Personal for the Secretary. I have received a note from Molotov dated August 23 containing a personal and secret message from Stalin to the President and the Prime Minister dated August 2266 in reply to a communication concerning negotiations with Italy over armistice terms. The reply in part affirms that the Soviet Government was not kept fully informed of the negotiations since the original communication transmitted to the Soviet Foreign Office by the British Ambassador contained many omissions. Inasmuch as Molotov’s letter states that the reply was telegraphed to Gromyko67 for transmission to the President, I am not summarizing the remainder of the reply.
Clark Kerr who has received an identical note from Molotov has advised me that the original communication in question was received by the British Embassy with one word garbled and with the final sentence of 12 words missing. However in view of its urgency he transmitted it in its incomplete form to Molotov on August 20 with the omissions noted and upon receipt of the corrections he furnished Molotov with the complete text of the message on August 22.
Clark Kerr is somewhat perturbed at the fact that although Molotov was aware that the full text of the note had been received on August 22 he had transmitted in his note of August 23 Stalin’s charges that the full text of the message had not been received.