Office of the Historian

740.00119 Council/9–2645: Telegram

The Ambassador in the United Kingdom (Winant) to the Acting Secretary of State

London, September 26, 1945—5 p.m.
[Received 5:08 p.m.]

9977. Delsec11 63, for Acheson, Clayton12 and Radius from the Secretary.13 It is suggested that an Interim German Rhine Control Organization be established at the earliest possible moment by the Control Council or by arrangement among the zonal commanders concerned with the German portion of the Rhine River.

The powers and functions of this organization should include:

1.
Joint operations for the clearance of the Rhine River system in German territory.
2.
Initiation of the movement of traffic, including entering into any necessary arrangements with representatives of riparian states on technical and operating matters.
3.
Exercising river police powers in German territory.
4.
Planning and executing necessary engineering projects for maintaining navigation and the flow of water.
This should include building docks, revetments, bridges, dredging, blasting, lighting and buoying, etc.
5.
Entering into arrangements with any provisional international Rhine commission which may be set up to regulate navigation on the river as a whole and ECITO (European Central Inland Transportation Organization).

The jurisdiction of the Interim German Rhine Control Organization should extend to the height of land delimiting the Rhine Basin in Germany, including connecting canals and navigable tributaries.14

Sent Murphy USPolAd, Berlin,15 repeated to Department.

Winant
  1. Designation for telegrams from the United States delegation to the Council of Foreign Ministers.↩
  2. William L. Clayton, Assistant Secretary of State for Economic Affairs.↩
  3. The Secretary was in London for the meeting of the Council of Foreign Ministers.↩
  4. On October 9, 1945, Secretary Byrnes sent telegram 174 to Mr. John Erhardt, United States Political Adviser for Austrian Affairs, suggesting that an interim Austrian Danube Control Organization be established with powers and functions similar to ones outlined for the Interim German Rhine Control Organization (840.811/10–945). Telegram 174 was repeated to Berlin as telegram 634.↩
  5. As telegram 140.↩