740.00119 EW/10–1744: Telegram
The Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Harriman) to the Secretary of State
[Received 7:15 p.m.]
3971. I have received from Molotov a copy of a note verbale dated October 16 which the Soviet Government has received from the Hungarian delegation in Moscow. This note reads in paraphrase translation as follows:
The Hungarian delegation in Moscow has the honor to inform the Soviet Government that it has just received the following three telegrams:
- 1.
- “The time of the German ultimatum ends at 22:00 o’clock today. A German attack is unavoidable. It is requested that immediate assistance be rendered with paratroops and by a quick advance on Budapest.”
- 2.
- “All our communications are broken; it is doubtful that the Parliamentarian will be able to reach his objectives. It is requested that communications be established through the front with the command of the First and Second Hungarian Armies. If it is impossible to establish communications with us please inform the Soviet Government that Colonel General Vorosh has been appointed Chairman of the Council of Ministers; continue negotiations with it; the issuance of instructions has been authorized but the Hungarian radio has fallen into German hands.”
- 3.
- “The radio, which is in German hands, has falsified the statement of the Chief of the Hungarian Staff.”
The Hungarian delegation, in view of the above, requests the Soviet Government to take favorable action on the following:
- (1)
- The three Allied Powers also to send on Hungarian wave
lengths a message to the Hungarian people, the text of which
would be along the following lines:
“The Hungarian radio has been seized by the Germans who are disseminating false information on it. Thus on the 15th of October they falsified the appeal of the Chief of the Hungarian General Staff (the Hungarian delegation requests the Soviet Government to furnish it with the text of this appeal).
“The Hungarian people have been betrayed by the Germans in the most abominable way. The country has been plundered by them.
“The Russians will cause no damage to the normal and peaceful life of the Hungarian people. With respect to the Hungarian Army, the Red Army is not advancing to fight with it but as a friend and liberator from the German yoke.”
- The Hungarian delegation in Moscow requests at the same time that it be permitted to have immediate and regular contact with the Russian radio administration so that it might assist by giving advice in the wording of such transmissions.
- (2)
- That Budapest be quickly occupied by the Russian-Hungarian armies in first instance in order to secure the bridges and make massacres impossible. It would be very desirable to use parachute units.
- (3)
- That liaison officers be sent to Colonel General Lashis
Presh [Lajos Veress] and Béla Miklós,
the Commanders of the First and Second Hungarian Armies, in
order to establish radio, telegraphic communication with the
Hungarian delegation in Moscow; that the Allied Powers
render their assistance. The delegation has already
requested that this be done for the following objectives:
- (a)
- Prevent German air attack on Budapest.
- (b)
- Support the rapid advance toward Budapest.
- (c)
- Prepare parachute landings.
- (d)
- Attack the fortified points of the Germans as well as the citadel on Gellert Mountain which, according to information ascertained by Commandant Nameth who arrived in Moscow yesterday, has been turned into a second Alcazar by the Germans in order to resist at that point up to the last. It would be much easier to destroy the fortress in the next few days than after several days had passed at which time the work would already be finished.
The Hungarian delegation has just been informed that telegraphic communications with Budapest have been interrupted.