740.0011 E.W. 1939/9–2844: Telegram
The Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Harriman) to the Secretary of State
[Received September 28—3:03 p.m.]
3707. I received this afternoon from the Soviet Foreign Office a memorandum the contents of which were substantially as follows:
On September 18, 6:30 p.m., two United States Air Force planes had appeared 2 miles southeast of Lopatka Point29 on Kamchatka Peninsula over the 3-mile zone of Soviet territorial waters. Having violated the Soviet border, one of the planes opened fire with machine guns on the border guard vessel Dzerzhinski, which was at that time passing through the first of the Kurile Straits. This was not the first time American planes had violated the Soviet border. During the single week of September 14–21, according to Commissariat’s information, 13 violations by American planes had occurred. The Embassy was requested to bring these facts to the attention of the United States Government, and the Commissariat expressed the hope that measures would be taken at once to stop these violations.
General Deane is reporting this to the Chiefs of Staff.
- A cape at the southern tip of the Kamchatka Peninsula.↩