740.00119 EW/12–3044: Telegram
The Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Harriman) to the Secretary of State
[Received December 31—9:46 a.m.]
5074. ReEmbs 5034, December 27, 9 p.m. Balfour and I called on Molotov yesterday afternoon at his request to discuss the Hungarian armistice terms.
Molotov opened the conversation by handing us an aide-mémoire on reparations in reply to my aide-mémoire of December 27 and by stating that he believed it would be preferable to postpone discussion of this question until the Soviet reply had been considered. The text of the Soviet aide-mémoire is going forward in my immediately following telegram.98 We then proceeded to discuss the armistice conditions as revised by the Soviets after our conversation of December 27. The following observations were brought in our discussion.
Preamble. Balfour suggested that the words “acting on behalf of all United Nations at war with Hungary” be inserted in the second paragraph of the preamble after the words “and the United States of America”. Molotov concurred and I stated that I was entirely willing to accept this amendment.
Article I. It was agreed that Article I should more closely conform
to the Bulgarian armistice and should read as follows:
Note: The Department will note that this article not [now] includes Article II of the former draft. Consequently the enumeration of the following articles in the present Soviet draft advance[s] by one number. For example, Article III of the former draft now becomes Article II of the draft under consideration and so on. Furthermore, annexes A and B of the former draft are now combined into annex A of the present draft. Former C thus becomes present B.
Article II. I suggest that this article be prefaced with the words “without prejudice to ultimate settlement of disputed territorial claims”. It was decided to postpone final consideration until I had received Department’s reactions to the new Soviet article on the Vienna Awards.
Article III. No comments.
Article IV. Molotov agreed to accept the wording of Article IV of the Bulgarian text.
Article V. Molotov agreed to the inclusion of a paragraph reading as follows: “The Government of Hungary undertakes to take all necessary measures to ensure that all displaced persons or refugees within its territory, including Jews and stateless persons, are accorded at least the same measure of protection and security as its own nationals.[“] Balfour stated that this was acceptable.
Article VI. Molotov agreed to make specific mention of Czechoslovak and Yugoslav property. It was also agreed to include the words “to Hungary” after the words “during the war” and to omit the words “by Bulgaria from United Nations territory”.
Article VII. Molotov agreed to Balfour’s suggestion that the words “including vessels of the fleet of Germany located in Hungarian waters” be deleted.
Article VIII. Molotov agreed to replace the words “Allied (Soviet) High Command” by the words “Allied Control Commission”.
Article IX and X. No comments.
Article XI. Molotov proposed a redraft which was substantially the same as the original draft but which explicitly provided that the expenses of the Allied Control Commission would be met by the Hungarian Government. Balfour, however, did not find this redraft satisfactory since he considered it unduly limiting. It was decided to postpone final consideration of this article until he had received instructions from his Government.
Article XII. Discussion postponed.
Article XIII. No comment.
[Page 947]Article XIV. Molotov agreed to have the words “Allied (Soviet) High Command” replaced by “Allied Control Commission”.
Article XV. Molotov agreed to the deletion of the words “in particular to the Soviet Union”.
Article XVI. Molotov declined to substitute the words “Allied (Soviet) High Command” with “Allied Control Commission”. In reply to my question he stated that Article XVIII foresaw that the authority of the Allied (Soviet) High Command passed to the Control Commission after the end of hostilities with Germany. I stated that I would have to reserve judgment of this article until I had consulted the Department.
Article XVII. Considerable discussion took place as to whether the words “Allied Control Commission” should be substituted for “Allied (Soviet) High Command”. I pointed out that, although it would be the duty of the Allied (Soviet) High Command to define what areas should be turned over to the civilian authorities, the whole purpose of the Control Commission was to regulate and supervise the execution of the armistice. Molotov agreed to reconsider the article with a possible view to redrafting it.
Article XVIII. Molotov agreed to accept the wording of Article XVIII of the Bulgarian armistice. I stated that I could not accept the article before coming to an agreement on the statutes of the Control Commission (reDeptel 2908, December 29, 8 p.m.). I remarked that I believed this should be agreed to beforehand and stated that we would submit draft statutes on this matter. In reply to an observation, Molotov admitted that the three principal Allies should share more equally the responsibilities of the Allied Control Commission after the defeat of Germany.
Article XIX. (See my 5060 of December 30, 3 p.m.) I stated that this article seemed acceptable but that I would have to defer judgment until I had heard from the Department.
Article XX. No comment.
Annexes A, B and C (including D of former draft), no change. Molotov indicated that the Soviet Government agreed that a protocol be signed by the three Governments which would provide that military information obtained from the Hungarian High Command as foreseen under annex A would be made equally available to all three Allied Governments. He said that he would send us tomorrow a draft on this subject.
Annex D (former annex E). The words “Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia” have been included after the words “to the Soviet Union”. Consideration of this annex was postponed until the general subject of reparations is discussed.
Annex E (former annex F). I stated that we desired to see the words “Allied Control Commission” replace the words “Allied (Soviet) [Page 948] High Command”. Final decision on this annex, as on Article XVI, was deferred until I have heard from the Department.
Annex F (former annex G). Although this annex was accepted I pointed out that I would wish to submit the aforementioned statutes on the Control Commission.
Molotov stated that he expected to let us have shortly the draft of the protocol, which will presumably be similar to that which accompanied the Bulgarian agreement.
- Infra. ↩