740.0011 European War 1939/13159: Telegram
The Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Steinhardt) to the Secretary of State
[Received 1:14 p.m.]
1359. Major Yeaton has informed me that in the course of a conversation at the War Commissariat this morning, at which he requested a definite decision as to whether he and Major Michela would be permitted to visit the front, he was told that neither the British Military Mission, the British Military Attachés, nor the American Military Attachés would be permitted to visit the front “now or hereafter”. [Page 900] After making the foregoing statement the official of the Commissariat added “Of course, if permission were granted to visit the front it would be to the British and American Military Attachés.” Majors Yeaton and Michela are convinced that the reason for the refusal is what they describe as “the serious situation at the front.”