740.00119 E.W. 1939/9–444: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Harriman)
2139. The Joint Chiefs have just informed the Department that they give their assent, from the point of view of the military considerations involved, to the Rumanian terms of surrender as submitted to them September 2. Accordingly you are authorized to sign the armistice on behalf of this Government, or to agree to its signature by a Soviet general.
[Page 222]The following observations represent the Department’s views on several points, but the manner of their presentation is left to your judgment, since in no instance would we insist on their adoption.
The Department agrees in general with the Soviet position as set forth by Molotov in the discussion of September 4 (reported in your 3294, September 4, 8 p.m.) in which he accepted some of the British proposals in toto, accepted some with amendments and rejected others. However, the following British proposals, not accepted by Molotov, are considered by the Department as worthy of inclusion in the armistice:
- 1.
- In Article VII of the Soviet draft the text should stop at “may be”.
- 2.
- The Department supports the British position on the control of the Rumanian Navy and merchant fleet as given in additional comment “b”.
- 3.
- The Department prefers that the armistice should include a provision for Rumanian contribution to general relief as proposed in additional comment “d”.
As set forth in the working draft sent to you in Department’s 2095 August 31 (Articles 4 and 10), the Department would have liked to see the armistice terms include provision for the control of enemy property and of the transfer of Rumanian assets.
We do not wish to press for the adoption of the British proposed additions to Article 15.
With reference to Articles XV and XVI of the Soviet text, we would expect to have political representation in Rumania but we would not wish to insist on stipulations in the armistice for Allied missions beyond the provision already made in the Russian text.
With respect to Article XVII of the Soviet text, the Department believes it inadvisable to highlight the Transylvania question by making it the subject of a separate declaration. We prefer either the phrase which the Department had recommended or the language of the Russian text.
The British Embassy here cannot give us the text of the new preamble or of the new Article 18 on which you make certain observations. We are assuming that these additions concern technical formalities regarding signature and official language, with respect to which the Department would not wish to advance any particular views.
On the matter of reparations or indemnity, the Department had hoped to avoid the stipulation of any specific sum to be paid by Rumania, the general Allied policy concerning reparations, as regards all enemy states, being still undetermined. The Department would like you to make our position clear, as a matter of principle, to the Soviet Government, even though in view of the firm Soviet insistence [Page 223] on this point, it may not be possible to obtain a modification of this article.