Office of the Historian

740.00119 E.W. 1939/9–244

Memorandum by the Department of State to Admiral William D. Leahy

Washington, September 2, 1944.

With reference to the Department of State’s memorandum dated today transmitting to the Joint Chiefs of Staff the Soviet draft of armistice terms for Rumania,11 the Department would like to set forth, for the consideration of the Joint Chiefs, its views on some of the more important of the provisions proposed by the Soviet Government, and to invite their comments upon the military aspects of those provisions.

The following four points would seem to be of particular interest:

1.
Throughout the Soviet draft, the phrase “Allied (Soviet) High Command”, which is defined as meaning the Soviet High Command, is used to describe the authority which will control the execution of the armistice.
2.
The Soviet draft makes no provision for an Allied Control Commission, although Article 16 provides for a “record commission” which apparently would have the functions of a control commission, but its nature has not been explained to the Department. The Department has today received from the British Embassy in Washington a memorandum stating the British Government’s view that there should be constituted an “inter-Allied Control Commission” for Rumania on which the three principal Allies would be represented. The Department takes the view that this Government should have political representation in Rumania, and it also sees certain political advantages in having American military personnel participate in such a mission. Whether this personnel may later be designated to serve on a Control Commission is a matter upon which the Department’s policy has not yet been determined.
3.
The provision in Article 1 of the Soviet draft to the effect that the Rumanian Army, with a minimum of twelve infantry divisions, should join the fight against “Germany and her satellites” raises both military and political questions as regards the “satellites”, particularly since no limitation is placed on the use of Rumanian troops in Hungary or elsewhere outside Rumania. The Department has reservations concerning the advisability, from a political point of view, of the use of Rumanian troops in Hungary proper.
4.
The Soviet draft includes no provision concerning the demobilization or disarmament of the Rumanian armed forces upon the conclusion of hostilities against Germany.

With reference to Article 9 of the Soviet draft, the Department of State believes that it would be undesirable to include in the surrender instrument any specific sum to be paid by Rumania as reparation for war damages, the general Allied policy concerning reparations, as regards all enemy states, being still undetermined.

The British Government has recently proposed that the surrender instrument include provision for the internment of enemy nationals and the control of enemy property, and for the prohibition of the disposition of assets by Rumania without the consent of the Allies. The Department has indicated its agreement that such provisions should be included in the armistice. They do not, however, appear in the Soviet draft.

  1. Supra. ↩