840.70/8–1345

The British Embassy to the Department of State

Aide-Mémoire

During the Berlin Conference the United States and United Kingdom Delegations discussed with the Soviet Delegation the expediency [Page 1407] of an early resumption of the work of the Lancaster House Conference on Inland Transport which met last October but had to suspend its meetings at the end of November owing to difficulties over the representation of Poland. The three Delegations at Berlin agreed that the new Polish Government should at once be invited to send a Delegation to participate in the Conference which should resume its work as soon as that Delegation could reach London and endeavour as quickly as possible to complete the work on the Draft Convention which had not been finished last November.

2.
His Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom approached the Polish Provisional Government accordingly on August 3rd, urging them to arrange for their Delegation to reach London by August 22nd.54
3.
The Polish Provisional Government has now accepted this invitation and we are given reason to hope that their delegation will reach London by August 22nd.
4.
It will be recalled that in accordance with an agreement reached before the Conference met last October the Soviet Government arranged then for the attendance of an observer on behalf of Roumania and the United States Government and His Majesty’s Government arranged for the attendance of one on behalf of Italy.55 It seems to His Majesty’s Government undesirable to make a similar arrangement when the conference resumes. In the case of Italy there is no longer an Allied Control Commission to represent Italy, the Allied Control Commission having been replaced by the Allied Commission. Roumania is no longer the only satellite state concerned and the Tripartite or Quadripartite character of Control Commissions in general, which has now become more of a reality, presents in any case the following difficulty. There must be serious doubt whether a Control Commission can be regarded as being a sufficiently corporate entity to permit of its representation as such. It can be held that if a Control Commission is to be represented it must be through representatives of each of the Governments which established it. Three or four representatives or observers for Germany and for each satellite state would be absurd.
4.
[sic] In the circumstances it appears that the only practical method of ensuring that considerations relating to transportation in enemy countries are taken into account is for representatives of the controlling powers at the Conference to make it their duty to act in this matter on behalf of their national elements in each Control Commission. [Page 1408] It would thus be for each controlling power to decide for itself whether to include in its delegation an expert to advise it on transportation matters in any given enemy country in the control of which it is participating.
5.
It will, of course, be appreciated that a point of principle is involved in the above which does not apply only in the case of the Inland Transport Conference.
6.
His Majesty’s Embassy is instructed to inquire whether the United States Government concur with the foregoing.
7.
A similar communication is being addressed to the French Provisional Government and to the Soviet Government.
  1. See document No. 1163, Conference of Berlin (Potsdam), vol. ii, p. 1162.
  2. See penultimate paragraph of telegram 8366, October 5, 1944, 6 p.m., from London, Foreign Relations, 1944, vol. ii, p. 810; for statement of United States position that the Control Commissions for Rumania and Italy, SHABP and other groups should participate only as observers, see telegram 8188, October 6, 1944, midnight, to London, ibid., p. 811.