865.24/6–1947: Telegram
The Ambassador in Italy (Dunn) to the Secretary of State
1634. Personal for the Secretary. With the imminent withdrawal of the Allied troops and the end of their stabilizing influence after ratification, the implementation of re-equipment plans of the treaty-size Italian Army and Air Forces becomes a matter of immediate urgency. The general political situation of the Government, and the deplorable inadequacy of the present Italian military forces to assume responsibility for the maintenance of order and even token protection of Italy’s northeast frontier, make it indispensable to hasten the Allied program of providing for the transfer to Italian troops of combat material in this theatre. An unobtrusive method would be to include such combat material in a general surplus settlement.
To attain these purposes, the OFLC Deputy Commissioner, Europe, now in Rome, has requested, with our full endorsement, instructions from OFLC Washington in the above sense. (These instructions were requested in this Embassy’s telegram 1617, June 18,1 which was supported by mytel 1618, June 18.)
In view of the foregoing considerations and of the importance of the time factor, may I ask whether you would wish to express your Interest in the appropriate quarters to see that the OFLC instructions may be forthcoming without delay in order to expedite negotiation of a single arrangement well before the theatre close-out.
- Not printed.↩