File No. 763.72/10309
The British Ambassador (Reading) to the Secretary of State
Memorandum
The British Ambassador presents his compliments to the Secretary of State and has the honour to inform him that the Allied Governments have had under consideration the question of the transportation to France of Czecho-Slovak troops now in Russian territory.
In the present situation the services of trained Czecho-Slovak troops, who are in process of arriving at Vladivostok in considerable force, would be of the utmost value on the western front, and an agreement was recently reached by the British, French and Italian Governments that every effort should be made to transport them to France as soon as possible.
These troops desire above all things to be transported to France, being unwilling either to remain in Russia or to take any part in the internal struggles which are taking place there, and their wishes are fully supported by their national representatives.
The available tonnage at the disposal of His Majesty’s Government is, unfortunately, not sufficient to embark more than 4,000 or 5,000 of them by the middle of July.
The British, French and Italian Governments decided at the Supreme War Council at Versailles to ask the Japanese Government whether they would agree to divert, for the transport of the Czechoslovak troops, the Japanese tonnage at present allotted for the transport of German and Austrian subjects from China to Australia. [Page 200] This question of the transportation of enemy prisoners from China, and the threat of reprisals made by the Central powers, was dealt with in the memoranda from the British Ambassador, No. 562 of May 23 and Nos. 599 and 600 of May 31.1
The Allied Governments have come to the conclusion that a reexamination of the question of transporting German and Austrian subjects from China to Australia is necessary, owing to the threat of severe reprisals from the German Government and to a consequential request from the Belgian Government for a further consideration of the subject. The British, French and Italian Governments trust that, as a reexamination of the question must occupy a considerable time, during which the allotted transport would remain mobilized, the Japanese Government will consent to the scheme now put forward.
His Majesty’s Government are further anxious to ascertain from the Japanese Government whether they would consent to provide additional vessels for the purpose of transporting these Czechoslovak forces to Vancouver on their way to France, in the event of the diversion of tonnage proving insufficient to transport the full number which have arrived or may arrive at Vladivostok. His Majesty’s Government realize that all available Japanese ships must be used for Allied intervention in Siberia, to the exclusion of all less important objects, if the Japanese Government assent to intervention, but they earnestly hope that until that question is actually determined, the Japanese Government may find it possible to render a signal service to the Allied cause by supplying tonnage for the transport of Czecho-Slovaks.
The British Ambassador, in bringing the above to the notice of the Secretary of State, is instructed to add that a communication has been addressed to the Japanese Ambassador in London, explaining the situation in regard to the proposed transfer of enemy subjects to Australia, and asking the consent of the Japanese Government for the utilization of the tonnage assigned for this purpose for the transportation of Czecho-Slovak troops.
[Received June 11.]
- Not printed.↩