Office of the Historian

740.00119 PW/8–1645

The Chairman of the Council of People’s Commissars of the Soviet Union (Stalin) to President Truman
[Translation]5a
[Moscow,] 16 August, 1945.

I have received your message6 with the “General Order No. 1”. Principally I have no objection against the contents of the order keeping [Page 668] in view that the Liaotung Peninsula is a composite part of Manchuria. However, I suggest to introduce the following corrections into the “General Order No. 1”:

1.
To include in the region of surrender of Japanese armed forces to Soviet troops all the Kuril Islands which, in accordance with the decisions of the three powers in the Crimea,7 have to come into possession of the Soviet Union.
2.
To include in the region of surrender of the Japanese armed forces to Soviet troops the Northern part of the Island Hokkaido which adjoins in the North to the La Pérouse Strait which is between Karafuto and Hokkaido. The demarkation line between the Northern and Southern half of the Hokkaido Island should be on the line leading from the city Kushiro on the Eastern coast of the Island to the city Rumoe on the Western coast of the Island including the named cities into the Northern half of the Island.

This latter proposal has a special meaning for the Russian public opinion. As it is known, the Japanese in 1919–1921 held under occupation of their troops the whole Soviet Far East. The Russian public opinion would be seriously offended if the Russian troops would not have an occupation region in some part of the Japanese proper territory.

I greatly wish that my modest suggestions as stated above would not meet any objections.

  1. This translation appears to have been received from the Embassy of the Soviet Union in Washington. A smoother translation has subsequently been published in Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the U.S.S.R., Stalin’s Correspondence, vol. ii, Doc. No. 363, p. 266.↩
  2. In White House telegram 332, August 15, to Moscow, President Truman transmitted to Generalissimo Stalin the text of General Order No. 1, sent to General MacArthur, and added: “This order is approved by me with the understanding that it is subject to change, both by further instructions issued through the Joint Chiefs of Staff and by changes in matters of detail made by the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers in light of the operational situation as known by him. The action on portions of the Order in parentheses is a matter for the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers.” (Department of Defense files) The same message was sent also to Prime Minister Attlee and to Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek.↩
  3. See point 3 of agreement signed February 11, 1945, Foreign Relations, The Conferences at Malta and Yalta, 1945, p. 984.↩