701.0061/60: Telegram
The Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Steinhardt) to the Secretary of State
[Received October 22—8:51 a.m.]
1809. My 1807, October 20.55 Shortly after my meeting with Molotov I was informed that the trains carrying the entire Diplomatic Corps, the foreign correspondents and Government officials would leave at 7 p.m. As but one baggage car was provided for the Diplomatic Corps only a limited amount of hand baggage could be taken. The first of the three trains did not leave until 1:30 in the morning. Notwithstanding the absence of a dining car, no provision was made by the authorities for food en route. At 9 o’clock the night after our departure, after protest had been made by some of the diplomats, a limited quantity of cabbage soup, black bread and eggs was made available at Shilovo.56 Thirty hours later, at 3 a.m., another meal was made available at Ruzaevka.57 No other food was provided during the 5 nights and 4 days that were required to travel the less than 600 miles to Kuibyshev.
One first-class car was furnished for the Chiefs of Mission. The remaining diplomatic personnel have led [were left?] in second-class cars without bedding, four in a room, and in “hard cars” with wooden benches. The failure to provide water even for drinking purposes in nearly all of the cars caused considerable discomfort. The cars were heavily guarded throughout the journey by members of the Secret Police and militia with rifles.
The conditions which confronted us on our arrival in Kuibyshev58 indicated that the local authorities were still in process of effecting [Page 911] the vacating of buildings to accommodate the Diplomatic Corps and Government officials. The building allotted to us is an old three-story house, entirely bare of furniture, furnishings and household equipment of any kind with the exception of a number of cots, chairs and a very few miscellaneous pieces of furniture. Household equipment is virtually unobtainable here but I hope to find some means whereby we will be able to meet this problem.
Prior to my departure from Moscow I directed Dickerson and his group to proceed from Kazan to Kuibyshev59 with the three automobiles, office equipment and foodstuffs sent there some time ago. Two members of his group arrived yesterday by boat with two of the cars and he and the others with the supplies are due here by boat tonight. The arrival of these supplies will solve for us the serious food shortage that exists here.
I take pleasure in reporting that the personnel of the Embassy displayed the greatest consideration in sharing their limited supplies of necessities with our recently arrived Army and Navy officers, members of the supply mission60 and newspaper correspondents most of whom, having arrived in Moscow by air since the outbreak of the war, had been limited to 40 pounds of baggage and were therefore not equipped for the sudden move to Kuibyshev and conditions here.
- Not printed.↩
- 306 kilometers (approximately 184 miles) east from Moscow.↩
- 615 kilometers (approximately 369 miles) east from Moscow.↩
- This group from Moscow arrived on the morning of October 20, 1941.↩
- See footnote 30, p. 899.↩
- The members of the permanent supply mission remaining in Moscow after the Harriman-Beaverbrook Mission conference. For correspondence relating to this Moscow conference, see pp. 825–852, passim. ↩