Office of the Historian

740.00114 EW/1–2745: Telegram

The Acting Secretary of State (Grew) to the Embassy in the United Kingdom

secret
us urgent
niact
Washington, January 27, 1945—12 p. m.

683. For Murphy. British Embassy has made available to Department series Foreign Office telegrams regarding proposed Soviet agreements with British and ourselves for treatment of American, British and Soviet prisoners of war and civilians liberated by our respective forces. One British message indicates SHAEF is working out combined British-American text of agreement to be submitted to Big Three meeting. Suggested British text of this agreement is at considerable variance with proposals State, Army, Navy Committee1 is proposing to Joint Chiefs of Staff. Please inform American representatives working on SHAEF draft that Department considers it important that before making any commitments on our behalf they await further instructions which it is hoped will be sent through Joint Chiefs on January 29.2

Repeat to Moscow.

  • Grew , Acting
  • (E. D[urbrow])
  1. The reference is apparently to the State-War-Navy Coordinating Committee (SWNCC).↩
  2. The considerations of SWNCC and certain other Washington agencies were subsequently forwarded to Yalta. They are reflected in the telegram of February 7 [8], 1945, from Grew to Stettinius, post, p. 697.↩