Office of the Historian

740.00119 Control (Bulgaria)/5–1745: Telegram

The Acting Secretary of State to the Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Harriman)

Washington, June 12, 1945—7 p.m.

1281. Deptel 1168, May 2891 and Urtel 1631, May 17.92 You are requested to inform the Foreign Office as follows:

During the discussions at London concerning armistice terms for Bulgaria full agreement was not reached on the wording of Article 18 regarding the Allied Control Commission.93 In accepting the text of that article as it appeared in the terms signed on October 28, 1944, the American Ambassador at London reserved this Government’s position in identical letters addressed to his Soviet and British colleagues on the European Advisory Commission on October 22, 194494 and reaffirmed this position in a letter to the Soviet Ambassador of [Page 254] January 5, 1945.95 These letters stated the opinion of the United States Government that Article 18 should have included an additional provision as follows: “Upon the conclusion of hostilities against Germany and until the conclusion of peace with Bulgaria, the ACC will regulate and supervise the execution of the Armistice according to instructions of the Governments of the USA, the USSR and the UK” and that therefore the United States Government might find it necessary at a later date to confer with the British and Soviet Governments concerning the detailed manner in which Article 18 should be implemented during the period subsequent to the conclusion of hostilities against Germany.

In view of the termination of hostilities with Germany the United States Government considers it appropriate to propose at this time discussions among the three Allied Governments regarding the organization and functions of the Bulgarian ACC during the second period.

The following proposals are presented by the United States Government as a basis for discussion by the three Governments concerned:

(A)
The functions of the ACC should remain limited to the enforcement of the Armistice terms, and it should operate henceforth under standing instructions of the three Allied Governments, whose principal representatives on the Commission should have equal status, although the Chairman would be the Soviet representative.
(B)
No decisions should be taken by ACC without concurrence of all three principal representatives, who on important questions of policy would refer to their respective Governments for instructions.
(C)
The right of representation on sections and subcommittees of the ACC, although not necessarily in equal numbers, should be enjoyed by all three Allied Governments.

In submitting the foregoing proposals we are desirous of reaching an agreement which will eliminate all misunderstandings regarding the rights to which the US representative on the Commission is entitled. Although Article 18 of the Armistice terms provides for the “participation” of the United States representative in regulating and supervising the execution of the Armistice terms, effective participation has in practice thus far been denied us.

We have been aware that in the first period certain military operations were based on Bulgarian territory and that direct military responsibility in Bulgaria lay with the Soviet High Command. This Government accordingly was willing temporarily to subordinate its own interests and responsibilities in Bulgaria to the common interest and responsibility in the successful prosecution of Allied military operations, since military considerations were regarded as overriding. This Government has nevertheless been concerned by the denial to the American representative of the right effectively to participate [Page 255] in the work of the Commission provided by the Armistice terms. Should the Commission henceforth operate as a tripartite body, these grounds for complaint would of course disappear, and the three Allied Governments would be able to proceed in concert during this stage in preparing the way for the eventual resumption of normal relations with Bulgaria.

Sent to Moscow and London;96 repeated to Sofia.97

Grew
  1. Not printed. See bracketed note, p. 821.↩
  2. Not printed.↩
  3. See telegram 4, January 1, 11 p.m., to Moscow, p. 135.↩
  4. See telegram 9077, October 22, 1944, midnight, from London, Foreign Relations, 1944, vol. iii, p. 472.↩
  5. See telegram 25, January 1, midnight, to London, p. 137.↩
  6. Sent to London as No. 4724, with reference to Department’s telegram 4239.↩
  7. As No. 169.↩