[Enclosure—Translation]
Memorandum From the Argentine Embassy With Regard to the Negotiations on Cooperation in the Continental
Defense Plan
With the departure of our Naval-Military Delegation, the Argentine
Embassy considers it opportune to outline below the progress of the
recent negotiations for the furnishing of armaments.
1. Under date of July 30 last, the Embassy of the United States in
Buenos Aires presented a memorandum to our Foreign Office25 inviting the Argentine Government
to renew the conversations of General Staffs initiated during the
visits to Buenos Aires in 1940 of Captain Spears and Colonel
Christian. To this end the Department of State expressed the opinion
that it would be mutually advantageous for the Argentine Government
to appoint a Military-Naval Commission, which should visit the
United States not only with authority to continue those
conversations, but also to present the needs of the Argentine Army
and Navy with respect to military and naval equipment which,
according to the same memorandum, could only be obtained within the
near future, under the Lend-Lease [Page 388] Act. As a result of this invitation, the
Argentine Government appointed the Naval and Military Commission
which, in execution of its task, was in Washington for the last
three months.
2. Simultaneously with the departure of our Delegation on December 1
last, Mr. Laurence Duggan, Political Adviser of the Department,
delivered to this Mission the text of a proposed basic agreement
between the two Governments26 for the furnishing of armament
under the terms of the Lend-Lease Act. The same offer was repeated
in a note from the Department of State to this Embassy dated
December 9 last.27
3. The conversations between the Naval-Military Delegations of the
two Governments developed in the spirit they had anticipated and in
an atmosphere of mutual understanding. Points of view and data for
cooperation in continental defense were exchanged, the value of
which, in view of possible eventualities, cannot be denied. The
Argentine Delegation offered a plan of defense which, in revealing
its war preparations, signifies a great demonstration of friendship
towards the United States. And lastly, the imminent conclusion of
the plan of collaboration which was to have been signed on the 14th
instant constitutes, in the Argentine Government’s opinion,
noteworthy expressions of its firm desire to cooperate in the common
defense.
4. Coincident with the above proposals, as the Department has already
been orally advised, the Argentine Government, in a Ministerial
Resolution, recently decided to accept the proposed basic agreement
for the furnishing of armaments under the Lend-Lease Act, suggesting
certain modifications as to the amount and dates of delivery of the
materials.
In fact, this Embassy has received a communication from our Ministry
of Foreign Affairs, according to which the amounts offered in the
proposed basic agreement which the Department submitted to it last
December, would be insufficient to assure the adequate organization
of the effectives which our Government considers indispensable to
guarantee execution of the defense in the zones subject to our
responsibility, which were contemplated in the joint, basic, “United
States-Argentine Republic” war plan which has just been discussed in
Washington.
As the Department must know, the urgent needs of our Army and our
Navy were carefully studied during the conversations between the
Naval-Military Delegations of the two Governments. From these
studies, at least from the technical point of view, there has
evolved an [Page 389] agreement in
opinion between the Delegations which exhibits a discrepancy, as
regards figures, with the plans originally contemplated.
5. Always in the same spirit of cooperation in the plan of
continental defense, it is to be pointed out that the Argentine
Government, without waiting for the signing of the pertinent
agreements, has already taken important measures to forward
defensive preparation and has expended large amounts in our country
for such purposes. A brief list of such preparatory measures is
given below:
a) Increase in the Army’s
peace-time effectives
The figure of 45,000 men which the Army’s peace-time effectives
reached in 1941 has been increased in the current year to that of
100,000 men. For that purpose, a large part of the class of 1920 has
been kept in service and that of 1921 called up.
The cadres of commissioned and non-commissioned officers have been
increased in a corresponding proportion by calling up reserve
personnel.
b) Possible calling up of
reserves
The calling up of other reserve classes to reinforce the effectives
mentioned above, if necessary, has been provided for.
c)Defense of Patagonia and
Tierra del Fuego
The installation of large nuclei of Army troops—including
aviation—has been ordered at the following points on the South
Atlantic coast:
- 1.
- Rio Gallegos
- 2.
- Rio Grande
In addition to these troops, the present garrison units, suitably
reinforced, are maintained at Comodoro Rivadavia and Esquel (in the
Chubut Territory) at Bariloche (Rio Negro Territory) and in the
Neuquen Territory.
d) Defense of the Atlantic
coast in the sector corresponding to the Province of Buenos
Aires
Measures have been taken for the defense of this sector of the
Atlantic coast through the employment of a number of Divisions, with
the corresponding intervention of the air forces.
e) Installation of air bases
in Patagonia
The installation of air bases has been ordered to the end that
aviation may be able to cooperate effectively with the Army forces
entrusted with the defense.
6. Taking into account the emergencies with which the United States
is faced by reason of the war, it is the Argentine Government’s
intention not to request transfer of completed armaments, aviation
or materials, except in the most moderate amount, compatible with
the agreements provided for, and only of those elements which it is
practically impossible to manufacture in the country within a short
period.
The area of Argentine Patagonia and the importance of its vital and
vulnerable points demand special measures with a view to strategic
mobility. It most urgently requires that automotive, armored and [Page 390] air units be supplied. It
is on such equipment, and on anti-aircraft artillery, that the
efficiency with which our troops—already well instructed and
reinforced with effectives—will be able to fulfill their protective
or defensive mission will rest.
One of the most valuable contributions to continental defense in the
southern hemisphere is, in the opinion of the Argentine Government,
constituted by the efficient military and naval preparations of
commanding officers, officer staffs and other cadres in its Army and
Navy and by the ample proportion of instructed reserves which are
the product of more than 40 years of compulsory military
service.
7. From the foregoing, it is obvious that the effectiveness of our
cooperation in continental defense is closely bound to the equipment
and materials which the Argentine Republic has a probability of
receiving in due time to complete the operative value of its Army
and Navy.
Washington,
March 24,
1942.
