861.20/539: Telegram
The Chargé in the Soviet Union (Thurston) to the Secretary of State
[Received 12:18 p.m.]
78. I find upon my arrival at Moscow that General Faymonville67 likewise is without instructions regarding General Greely’s Mission, which would seem to confirm the fear expressed in my recent telegram from Kuibyshev that no arrangements with the Central Soviet authorities have been made regarding it. General Faymonville and the Embassy will, of course, lend every assistance possible to facilitate the accomplishment of the purposes of General Greely’s Mission but I believe that it is imperative that the status of this Mission be “regularized” before his arrival.
Such regularization probably can best be accomplished by formal notification to Molotov or Litvinov of the formation of this Mission, (and full consultation as to its purposes and its acceptability to the Soviet Government), and General Greely’s readiness to come into the Soviet Union when agreeable to the Soviet Government from his present base in the Near East.68
In this latter connection I believe that special arrangements should be made for General Greely’s travel. At the moment he has as alternatives travel by his own special motorized caravan (which I emphatically disapprove as being impracticable), travel by motor to Pahlevi, boat to Baku, and train to Moscow, or by the plane to Kuibyshev whenever such a flight may be determined upon by the Soviet authorities. It would appear proper for reasons of prestige to request that a special plane be sent to Tehran to bring in General Greely and a few of his Mission.
Instructions are respectfully requested.
- Brig. Gen. Philip R. Faymonville, head of the American Supply Mission, lend-lease representative in the Soviet Union.↩
- The Military Mission to the Soviet Union had been constituted in November 1941, with instructions to proceed to Kuibyshev. This information, together with data on the composition and objectives of the Mission, was supplied to the Department of State in a letter of March 30, 1942, from the Secretary of War, Henry L. Stimson, “in order that formal notification may be transmitted to the Soviet Government and that the status of the Mission may be regularized.” Following the receipt of this letter, the Department of State, in telegram No. 151 of April 3, sent instructions for the Ambassador in the Soviet Union to inform that Government about this Mission and to inquire whether it would be agreeable for the Mission thereafter to maintain headquarters at the capital, there to receive such assistance and courtesies from Soviet authorities as to enable it “to achieve its object of furthering immediate defense aid” to the Soviet Union. (861.20/542)↩