740.00119 E.W./8–3144: Telegram
The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in the United Kingdom (Winant)
7123. Reurtel 7103 August 31. The Department agrees with you that most of the provisions which the Yugoslav Government desires included in the Bulgarian surrender terms are unsuitable for inclusion in the armistice document.
The British Embassy here has communicated the Yugoslav requests to the Department in detail and proposes that the British and American representatives to the Yugoslav Government should inform the latter that: (a) we are grateful to the Yugoslav Government for having given its agreement to the surrender terms for Bulgaria; (b) with respect to the supplementary points which the Yugoslav Government wishes to have included in the armistice document, we desire [Page 392] to keep the terms as brief and simple as possible and not overload the instrument with detail; (c) insofar as these points are suitable for an armistice rather than a peace treaty, Article 13 of the terms provides powers for the issuance of further instructions to the Bulgarians to perform such additional acts as are appropriate to an armistice of this character; and (d) the question of issuing further instructions covering Yugoslav desiderata once the main instrument has been signed will receive the most careful and earnest attention of the British and American Governments. The British communication indicates that the British Chiefs of Staff are, with Foreign Office assent, suggesting to the American Chiefs of Staff that the Supreme Allied Commander of the Mediterranean or his representative sign the armistice on behalf of all the United Nations at war with Bulgaria, in which case the question of signature by Yugoslav and Greek representatives would not arise.
The Department is agreeable to the British suggestions. It feels, however, that it would be well not to over-emphasize the comprehensiveness of Article 13 as a catch-all clause which might come to be looked upon by the Greek and Yugoslav Governments as an invitation to present a series of demands which are not of such immediate necessity or military character as to require their consideration as a part of the armistice. We should accordingly prefer some scrutiny of proposals advanced for consideration under Article 13, and suggest their incorporation, wherever appropriate, in the peace treaty.
Sent to London, repeated to AmEmBalk.