740.00119 EW/9–144
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Assistant Secretary of State (Berle)
The Yugoslav Chargé51 came in to present the attached note.52 It sets out certain terms which the Government of Yugoslavia would like to have included in the armistice about to be negotiated between the Allies and Bulgaria in Cairo. He further added that his Government would like to be a signatory to the armistice.
I said that, as he knew, our Government recognized the very solid and deep interest which the Government of Yugoslavia had in armistice arrangement with Bulgaria. His representations would, therefore, be considered with especial care. I permitted myself to inject one consideration. This was an armistice, not a peace treaty; the armistice terms would not go into the same detail as would a treaty; and my understanding was that in any event the Allied Governments have under consideration the inclusion of a clause which would permit them to add, virtually at will, other requirements as might be necessary. In consequence, I believed that in one form or another most of the points made by the Yugoslav Government were taken care of.
I said that this Government would take note of the Yugoslav Government’s desire to be a signatory to the armistice. The matter of form was indeed under consideration; and one possibility was that the terms might be signed by the Commander in the field, in which case, of course, the signature of the Field Commander would be sufficient.
The Chargé said that this was true, and added that this might be the easiest solution in that regard.