862.01/407: Telegram
The Chargé in the Soviet Union (Hamilton) to the Secretary of State
[Received September 22—10:52 a.m.]
1428. The formation of the Union of German Officers and its adherence to the Free German[y] National Committee should materially increase the effect of the propaganda directed by the Committee to the German Army and the German people.96 The Committee as constituted in July contained no officer above the rank of major. The formation of the Union of German Officers, the acceptance by this organization of the program of the National Committee and the inclusion of several high ranking officers in the Executive Committee of the Free German Movement should tend to remove much of the doubt concerning the sincerity and independence of the Committee which undoubtedly existed at the time of its formation in the minds of the soldiers and particularly of the officers of the German Army and thereby increase opposition to the Nazi regime within the ranks of the Wehrmacht.
The Embassy yesterday brought to the attention of the Foreign Office the fact that the 10 issues of Free Germany have now appeared and again requested that they be supplied to the Embassy regularly. The Chief of the American Section of the Foreign Office stated that he would endeavor to supply Gopies of the publications to the Embassy more promptly in the future.
- A meeting had been held near Moscow on September 11 and 12, 1943, attended by more than 100 delegates from five officers’ prison camps, who founded the Union of German Officers and decided to adhere to the program of the Free Germany National Committee. General of Artillery Walter von Seydlitz, commander of the 51st Army Corps, was elected unanimously as President. On the 14th, the membership of the Free Germany National Committee was increased by the addition of nine members from the Union of German Officers, and the Executive Committee was enlarged by the inclusion of three members from the Union.↩