760d.61/489: Telegram
The Chargé in the Soviet Union (Thurston) to the Secretary of State
[Received November 28—10:50 a.m.]
949. Embassy’s telegram 942, November 27, noon.80 The reply to the Soviet note of November 26 was sent to Molotov by the Finnish Minister shortly after midnight. It states upon investigation it has been ascertained that the cannon shots referred to were not fired from the Finnish side but that on the contrary shots were fired on the Soviet side on the afternoon of November 26, near the village of Mainila, and that the explosions thereof were seen from the Finnish side. After citing particulars as to the time, place, and nature of the cannon fire which took place on Soviet territory, observations concerning which were noted at the time in the log book of the Finnish frontier guards, and which are ascribed to a possible accident during Soviet gun [practice], the reply states that the act of hostility against the Soviet Union [Page 1001] complained of by the Soviet Government was not committed by Finland.
With respect to the concentration of regular troops on the frontier near Leningrad, it is stated that such troops on the Finnish side are principally frontier guard forces, while no artillery pieces have been placed which could fire beyond the frontier.81 The reply states, however, that while there are no concrete reasons for the withdrawal of such forces from the frontier, as has been proposed by the Soviet, the Finnish Government is nevertheless disposed to enter into conversations with a view to the reciprocal withdrawal of forces to a certain distance therefrom.
In conclusion the reply states that it has been noted with pleasure that the Soviet Government does not intend to exaggerate the importance of the frontier incident which it assumed had taken place and proposes, so that no difficulty regarding the question may continue to exist, that the frontier authorities of both countries on the Karelian Isthmus proceed to a joint investigation of the incident pursuant to the convention regarding frontier authorities concluded September 24, 1929 [1928].82
Repeated to Helsinki and to Stockholm for the information of Ambassador Steinhardt.
- Not printed; but see the Embassy’s telegram No. 943, November 27, 2 p.m., supra.↩
- The Minister in Finland reported in his telegram No. 359, November 28, that the Chairman of the National Defence Council of Finland, Field Marshal Baron Mannerheim, had made a signed statement upon his return from an inspection trip on the Karelian Isthmus in which he stated that Finnish heavy artillery was located at least 50 kilometers from the frontier, that the most advanced battery of light artillery was 20 kilometers away, and that Finnish troops were at divine service on the afternoon of Sunday, November 26, 1939 (760d.61/490).↩
- For text of the exchange of notes between Finland and the Soviet Union appointing Frontier Commissioners on the Karelian Isthmus, signed at Helsinki, September 24, 1928, see League of Nations Treaty Series, vol. lxxxii, p. 63.↩