860H.002/251
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in the United Kingdom (Winant)
8141. The Department has received a telegram from Cairo stating that the Yugoslav Prime Minister has advised the American Ambassador as follows:
“He has been informed by the British Ambassador that he may shortly expect joint pressure from the British and American Governments to remove General Mihailovitch from the Cabinet on the basis of his collaboration with the Germans.”
The Department has not thus far been consulted by the British Government with regard to the Yugoslav situation nor has it instructed Ambassador MacVeagh to approach the Yugoslav Government in the sense allegedly stated by the British Ambassador. The British Embassy in Washington likewise has no knowledge of any British-American consultations in this respect. The Department is therefore at a loss to understand the basis for Ambassador Stevenson’s [Page 1037] alleged reference to American pressure, if indeed he was correctly quoted, and desires that you endeavor to ascertain from the Foreign Office whether he did in fact mention the possibility of American action to the Yugoslav Prime Minister.
Repeated to Cairo.