740.00119 E.W./4–445
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Assistant Secretary of State (Dunn)
Referring to the visit of the Soviet Ambassador24 to the Secretary on April 3d, at which time the Ambassador inquired as to the policy of this Government with respect to a document25 which he stated had been presented to the European Advisory Commission by the British Government proposing a substitution for the unconditional [Page 218] surrender terms which had been agreed upon by the three Governments for application to Germany, I asked the Soviet Ambassador to come in to see me this afternoon. At the time the Ambassador made the inquiry of the Secretary, the Secretary informed Mr. Gromyko that we had no knowledge whatever of the proposal he mentioned as being put forward by the British Government. We immediately telegraphed to Mr. Winant, and this morning received from him a report to the effect that a document had been distributed by the British Government but not placed before the European Advisory Commission as yet. He said that this proposal was an effort on the part of the British to prepare a proclamation which might be issued by all the Allied Commanders in Chief in the event there was neither a German Government or German High Command available to sign the unconditional surrender. Mr. Winant stated that the omission of the words “unconditional surrender” had particularly disturbed the Soviet representative, who had assumed that it was evidence of a change of policy.
I told Mr. Gromyko that we had now received a report of the British proposal from Mr. Winant and described to him what we believed was the purport of this new document. I also informed him that the document had been circulated by the British Government but not yet placed before the European Advisory Commission. I then went on to say that as far as this Government was concerned there was no change whatever in our policy or attitude toward the terms of unconditional surrender of Germany; that we considered that the agreement on unconditional surrender, as entered into by the three Governments as the result of the deliberations in the European Advisory Commission, was binding upon this Government and that we had no thought or idea of any change in that policy. Mr. Gromyko asked me whether he could take it that the attitude of this Government toward the new document put forward by the British Government was negative. I told him that as far as any substitution for the instrument of surrender as agreed upon was concerned we would not favor any proposal which would change that policy, and that we would consider that the terms of that agreement as embodied in the surrender instrument already accepted by the three Governments should be applied to the case of surrender of the German armed forces in the event of there being no German Government left to surrender, and even to the case of there being no over-all command of the German forces left, resulting in the gradual reduction of the German armed forces piece by piece, as the process of grinding Germany down was pursued. I said further that even in the event of there being no one left in Germany to surrender at the termination of this process, that this Government considered that the terms of [Page 219] the surrender instrument should be carried out by the three Governments in accordance with the agreement embodied in that document.
The Ambassador expressed himself as satisfied with this statement and said he would report it immediately to his Government.