Moscow Embassy Files—500 Berlin Conference
No. 97
The Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Harriman) to the Soviet Assistant
Foreign Commissar (Vyshinsky)
No. 362a
Dear Mr. Vyshinski: I have received another urgent cable1 from General Eisenhower repeating the requests that I submitted to you [Page 127] in my letter of June 232 with regard to reconnaissance of Zehlendorf for additional camp sites, the use of the Halle–Berlin Autobahn without special authority in each case, and authority to increase the size of General Parks’ party at Babelsberg.
The most pressing matter is the establishment of a very high frequency radio-telephone terminal and teletypewriter facilities in the Berlin area with a relay point in the vicinity of Luckenwalde near Belzig. These installations take considerable time, and we are afraid that if the installations do not start at once we will be unable to have them completed by the time the Berlin conference opens. Major General Frank B. [E.] Stoner and a special group of Signal Corps personnel have been sent from Washington to make the installation, and they are now waiting at Frankfurt for authorization to proceed to Berlin.
It would be very helpful if authority could be issued to the local Soviet Commander in Berlin to grant authority for such operations as are necessary in Berlin in preparation for the conference. As General Eisenhower points out, it is time consuming and cumbersome to have to obtain permission from Moscow in each instance regarding these inconsequential matters.
I would be most grateful for an early reply.
Sincerely yours,