Office of the Historian

740.00112 European War 1939/8491: Telegram

The Ambassador in the United Kingdom (Winant) to the Secretary of State

London, May 19, 1943—11 a.m.
[Received May 19—7:40 a.m.]

3445. Swedish transit traffic meeting held at Foreign Office yesterday presided over by Sir Orme Sargent and attended by Hägglöf and Prytz for Sweden; Sargent, Warner63 and Coote64 for British; Riefler, Gallman65 and Cumming for U.S.

Hägglöf and Prytz stated categorically that Sweden will terminate the transit to and from both Norway and Finland of German military personnel and military supplies. They emphasized that the moment for such action must be determined by Sweden in the light of the military situation at the time and in this connection they emphasized the importance of adequate oil supplies to ensure full use of Swedish military forces in resisting German attack which might follow Swedish action.

Hägglöf readily agreed to our proposal that German military personnel be defined to include members of civilian organizations auxiliary to the German Armed Forces such as the Todt organization.

He was firm in maintaining Swedish legal obligations to permit transit of non-military supplies and gave no indication that we have any possibility of obtaining agreement to our proposal, which we will continue to press, that oil be added to the Swedish statutory list of military supplies transit of which is subject to license (see Swedish regulation of 1935 based on League of Nations definition of war material).

Discussion of possibility of instituting more rigid controls over transit traffic pending this termination were inconclusive. During discussion of Boheman’s informal suggestion that quotas might be suspended if Sweden did not terminate transit traffic within a reasonable period it developed that neither Prytz nor Hägglöf were informed of Boheman’s conversations with Ministers Johnson and Mallet on this point.

After further discussion it was agreed that we should draft a formula to be gone over in detail with the Foreign Office tomorrow and presented to the Swedes on Thursday morning. A separate telegram is being sent on this point.66

Winant
  1. Apparently Christopher F. A. Warner, Counselor of the British Foreign Office.↩
  2. Apparently Edward Osborne Coote of the British Foreign Office.↩
  3. Waldemar J. Gallman, First Secretary of Embassy in the United Kingdom.↩
  4. Telegram No. 3446, May 19, 1943, noon, from the Ambassador in the United Kingdom; not printed.↩