740.00114 EW/2–545
The War Shipping Administrator (Land) to the Secretary of State
Memorandum:
To: Mr. Stettinius
From: Admiral Land
Subject: Mr. Eden’s letter to State Department on O. S.1 proposals to meet Russian repatriation requirements.
1. After request by British Chiefs of Staff, U. S. Chiefs of Staff agreed to use of troopships for repatriation of Russians equivalent to British assistance of 10,000 personnel lift trans-Atlantic each month, contingent upon use of overland transportation after the defeat of Germany, when redeployment will require all available trooplift.
2. Following this authorization, Eisenhower requested use of two large troopships for repatriation of large numbers of Russians on hand, this movement to be from Marseille.
3. In Washington the C.M.T.C. in the belief the British Chiefs of Staff had failed to implement the approval described in paragraph 1 above, signalled London to determine whether Eisenhower’s request had been made in ignorance of C. C. S. decision on availability of lift.
4. Informal discussion with British personnel movement officers at Cricket indicates that implementation had been intentionally held up because of these two factors:
- (a)
- Type of ship required.
- (b)
- Policy on Russian repatriation to be established.
5. The type of ship referred to above involves the desire to use medium size troopships which means physical assistance by U. S. transports since British trans-Atlantic shipping is primarily of large [Page 693] type. This changes U. S. conception at time of original British request referred to in Paragraph 1 above when it was understood all movement would be in British ships at cost to U. S. troop movement capabilities which it was estimated could be accepted.
- The reference is presumably to over-all shipping.↩