Foreign Relations of the United States: Diplomatic Papers, The Conference of Berlin (The Potsdam Conference), 1945, Volume I

740.00119 (Potsdam)/7–1545

No. 413
The Political Adviser to the Representative on the European Advisory Commission (Mosely) to the Assistant Secretary of State (Dunn)

secret

[Babelsberg,] July 15, 1945.

Memorandum for Mr. Dunn

Subject: Agreement on French Zone in Germany.

The European Advisory Commission has completed the draft agreement on the French zone in Germany. Its submission to the four governments has been held up by inability to agree in EAC on the procedure for defining the French area of occupation in Berlin.

The U. S. proposal of June 30¹ simply referred the whole question to the Control Council, without prejudging whether the French area would be formed out of the U. S. and U.K. areas or out of the three areas as defined by the Agreement of September 12, 1944.

The Soviet proposal of July 11² provides that, in view of the greater destruction allegedly suffered by the Soviet area in Berlin, the French area should be formed out of the US and U.K. areas. The EAC is therefore unable, without receiving fresh instructions from the governments, to decide this question and conclude the agreement.

The following procedure for securing a decision is suggested:

1. The U. S. and U.K. military authorities in Berlin should examine the present areas and decide whether, in fact, the degree of destruction is so great in the Soviet area that it would be fair to form a French area out of the U. S. and U.K. areas, perhaps by each of the two giving up one district.

2. If the U. S. and U.K. military authorities decide that such an arrangement is not reasonable, then it will be necessary to take up this question during the Conference and to secure from the Soviet authorities a change in the instructions which they have given their EAC delegation.

3. It might be possible for the U. S. and U.K. Commanders in Berlin to arrive at an exact definition of the French area, which could then be referred to the EAC for inclusion in the draft Agreement. If the creation of the French area requires adjustments in all three existing areas, the Conference might be able to entrust to the U. S., U.K. and Soviet Commanders the preparation of an agreed recommendation which would provide for the necessary adjustments and which could then be referred to EAC for inclusion in the final draft Agreement.

It should be pointed out that tentative U.K. proposals for readjustment provided for each of the three occupying powers giving up one district apiece in order to form a French zone.

When the U. S. proposal was at first presented in EAC, Gousev maintained that the Yalta Agreement³ for forming the French zone in Germany out of the U. S. and U.K. zones was also intended to apply to the forming of the French area in Berlin. The U. S. representative in EAC rejected this attempt to extend or interpret the Yalta arrangement. In an attempt to be more conciliatory in approach the Soviet delegation in EAC has now shifted its grounds to the assertion that the greater degree of destruction in the Soviet area makes it necessary for that area to remain unchanged.

P[hilip] E M[osely]

1. See the final sentence of the draft report quoted in document No. 407.
2. See document No. 411.
3. See vol. ii, document No. 1416, section iv .