860H.24/10–2644
Memorandum by the Deputy Director of the Office of European Affairs (Matthews) to the Under Secretary of State (Stettinius)
Mr. Stettinius: The underlying letter66 concerning the Yugoslav request for trucks and uniforms under lend-lease leaves the matter, by design, in an indeterminate stage.
We are not at liberty to say to the Yugoslav Embassy that SACMED67 is following a strict policy of limitation on the amounts of equipment made available to Tito. This was made very clear in Mr. Kirk’s telegram no. 801 of October 16,68 which reported that a certain amount of equipment would now be released to Tito for operations on the Dalmatian coast, but that Tito would be informed that no further supplies would be furnished to him except for special operations.
There will be no harm in the Yugoslav Embassy’s conversations with the War Department, where the Embassy will doubtless be informed that both items are in very short supply, but if the application is to be pushed forward with any vigor we strongly recommend that no action be taken on it until clearance is obtained from SACMED.
[Page 1414]In this policy which SACMED has adopted, he is following exactly the American line, which is that military supplies should be available to Yugoslav resistance forces for use against the enemy, but should not be supplied for building up the potential of any one faction for making war on other elements within the country.