Office of the Historian

CFM Files: Telegram

The War Department to Colonel Charles H. Bonesteel, Military Adviser, United States Delegation

secret
Washington, September 7, 1946.

War 99695 from WDGPO. Reference OCD 127. Question of whether Greece should be permitted to bring Greek–Albanian problems before the Paris Conference would appear to be one to be settled on political grounds, possibly as a matter of conference tactics. As for the substance of Greek claims, military aspects are covered in JCS 1654/1 which concludes:

a.
Greece can defend herself against Albania along present border, but not against any important coalition no matter where the border might be moved.
b.
On the other hand, Northern Epirus is important to Albania both economically and strategically.
c.
Ceding this territory to Greece is likely to be followed by guerrilla warfare which could endanger peace in the Balkans.47

JCS 1654/3 covers similar questions connected with Greek claims on Bulgarian territory. Paper concludes that if claim were to be granted it would assist Greece strategically as against Bulgaria alone, but would not help much in a real war.47a

Believe you have these two JCS papers but extra copies are being forwarded to make sure.

  1. The position of the Joint Chiefs of Staff with respect to rectification of the Greek-Albanian frontier is set forth in memorandum SWN 4173 from the State-War-Navy Coordinating Committee to the Secretary of State, April 22, 1946; for text, see vol. vii, p. 145.↩
  2. The position of the Joint Chiefs of Staff with respect to rectification of the Greek-Bulgarian frontier is set forth in memorandum SWN 4279 from the State-War-Navy Coordinating Committee to the Secretary of State, May 11, 1946; for text, see vol. vii, p. 161.↩