196.7/3092: Telegram
The Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Standley) to the Secretary of State
[Received 11:58 p.m.]
221. Your 175, June 27, 4 p.m. The situation at Murmansk has caused me great concern and I have given it careful consideration. American interests including those relative to American shipwrecked seamen have been and are in the hands-of Commander Frankel, Assistant Naval Attaché, who has kept me advised of developments through messages sent to the Navy Department, the Maritime Commission, and the Coast Guard, and I naturally assumed that the Department was fully informed of conditions concerning distressed seamen as reported by him. Frankel, who arrived in Moscow yesterday, has submitted the following report.
“During the period February 1 to June 30, 1942, the Office of the Assistant Naval Attaché at Murmansk has in cooperation with the British Mission in Northern Russia taken care of approximately 300 survivors from ships under the United States or Panamanian flags. These men were quartered and fed by the Soviet authorities and food and clothing were either obtained from the local stores or from British or American Maritime sources. All injured were admitted to Soviet hospitals and given treatment until such time as they were considered fit for travel and then assigned to vessels for return to the United States. No seaman was assigned transportation until he was capable of looking after himself in the event of a marine disaster. At the present time there are 11 survivors from American vessels in Northern Russia all of whom are in hospitals or receiving treatment in rest camps. Two American seamen have been buried in Murmansk, 25 seamen are missing at sea or died and were buried at sea.
The Office of the Assistant Naval Attaché has also performed such consular duties as the signing and certifying to various ships papers, the intervening in shipboard crew troubles and occasional personnel troubles ashore and in reporting to the American Government on all matters requiring immediate action or decision on [or] which required official representation. The Navy Department, regarding changes in crew lists occasioned by deaths, hospitalizations, and desertions, has notified by radio the Navy Department of the embarkation on American vessels bound for the United States of Soviet citizens, such notification having been despatched after verification of documents and visas.”79
I knew before I left Washington that the various agencies involved iii shipping to the Soviet Union were concerned about the situation in the Murmansk-Archangel area and that the Maritime Commission was sending a representative to Archangel. I am as yet uninformed of the scope of his functions or of his authority. The Murmansk [Page 602] situation as I found it upon arrival and as it later developed, however, required immediate action in the way of supplementing and assisting the existing American representation rather than endeavoring to set up a new agency such as a consular office which would involve considerable difficulties and delay. Efforts towards this first objective were directed towards assisting Frankel in performance of his duties. Recommendations for supplementing Frankel’s staff were made to the Navy Department by the Naval Attaché,80 and Assistant Naval Attaché Roullard is being sent to Murmansk to assist Frankel. Emphatic representations regarding the ruble exchange question were made to the Foreign Office and steps were taken to provide him with adequate land and water transportation. The suggestion that Red Cross facilities be made available to Frankel was at my instigation and resulted from a joint discussion here of the situation in Murmansk.
In view of the extraordinary conditions prevailing at the northern ports and taking into consideration Frankel’s report I believe that the situation in Murmansk has been and is being very well handled and that no useful purpose would be served at this time to set up in Murmansk a new office. In this respect I should like to emphasize that Murmansk is in an area of active military operations and I am consequently inclined to believe that the situation there can be; more effectively and expeditiously handled by military rather than civilian authorities. I therefore endorse the proposals contained in Captain Duncan’s telegram no. 041212 to Opnav and recommend that they be acted upon immediately in order that Frankel’s office may more effectively perform its services.
According to my information there have been no serious conditions prevailing at Archangel or at any other northern ports.81
Unless there are statutory reasons of which I am unaware for the establishment of a consular office in the Murmansk-Archangel area I do not believe that such office should be opened at this time and under present circumstances. I recommend in Archangel, as in Murmansk, American representation be coordinated and expanded under the direction of the Naval authorities and that any other representatives sent to this area be so informed.
[Page 603]In order that I may be in a better position to carry out my duties in connection with this matter, I request that I be fully informed as to the responsibilities and scope of authority of all the American, British and Soviet agencies involved in the shipping of supplies to and from Russia. I cannot obtain this information here.
- There is apparently a garble or omission in the foregoing sentence.↩
- The Chargé in the Soviet Union suggested again in his telegram No. 557, December 28 (post, p. 756), that at least two junior naval officers be assigned as soon as practicable and sent to the northern ports for the handling and caring for American merchant seamen.↩
- In telegram No. 229, July 2, 1942, the Ambassador in the Soviet Union reported as follows: “I took advantage of Frankel’s presence in Moscow yesterday to take him and the Naval Attaché to call upon the Commissar for Foreign Trade in order that Frankel might present his observations on conditions in Murmansk together with suggestions for the more effective accomplishment of his duties there. The Commissar expressed great interest and I believe that the visit will result in a more sympathetic consideration of our problems in this area.” (196.7/3093)↩