740.00119 Control (Germany)/2–2145: Telegram

The Ambassador in France (Caffery) to the Secretary of State

798. Department’s 660 February 17.62 Acting on instructions from the Secretary (contained in a telegram dated February 11 which I received [Page 185] through army channels63) and accompanied by my British and Soviet colleagues64 I delivered to de Gaulle65 on the evening of February 12 the following two telegrams from the three Heads of Government.

First telegram:

“You will observe that the Communiqué66 which we are issuing the end of this Conference contains a Declaration on Liberated Europe. You will also see that, in the last paragraph of the Declaration, we express the hope that your Government may be associated with us in the action and procedure suggested. Had circumstances permitted we should have really welcomed discussion with you of the terms of this Declaration. The terms are, however, less important than the joint obligation to take action in certain eventualities and we feel that it is of the highest importance, in the interests of Europe, that the Provisional Government of the French Republic should agree, jointly with her three Allies, to accept such an obligation. Signed: Winston S. Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt, I. V. Stalin”.

Second telegram:

“We have been considering the question of the control of Germany after her defeat and have come to the conclusion that it will be highly desirable for the Provisional Government of the French Republic, if they will, to accept responsibility for a zone of occupation and to be represented on the central machinery of control. We should be glad to learn that the French Government are prepared to accept these responsibilities. Signed: Winston S. Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt, I. V. Stalin”.

As I reported to the Secretary (through the same army channels which he used) the atmosphere at the meeting with de Gaulle was chilly and after reading the two messages he said “I am taking due note”.

Caffery
  1. Not printed; it requested the Ambassador in France to report the text of any communication made to the French Government regarding the occupation of Germany and the Declaration on Liberated Europe published in the Yalta Communiqué (740.00119 Control (Germany)/2–1745)
  2. Telegram Argonaut 149, February 11, 1945, from the Secretary of State at Yalta to the Ambassador in France, Conferences at Malta and Yalta, 1945, p. 948
  3. Alfred Duff Cooper, British Ambassador in France, and Alexander Efremovich Bogomolov, Ambassador of the Soviet Union in France
  4. Gen. Charles de Gaulle, Head of the Provisional French Government
  5. Conferences at Malta and Yalta, 1945, p. 968