Office of the Historian

740.00119 E.A.C/2–245: Telegram

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

London, February 22, 1945—8 p.m.
[Received 8:47 p.m.]

1852. Department’s 1314, February 20, midnight,68 received suggesting that the European Advisory Commission draw up, for submission to the three Governments, a formal document stating the approval by the three Governments of the German surrender terms, the agreement on control machinery, and the protocol on the zones of occupation, and giving the dates on which each Government gave notice of its approval.

The unconditional surrender instrument, which was submitted to the three Governments by the Commission on July 25, was approved by the United States Government on August 969 by the Soviet Government on August 21,70 and by the United Kingdom Government with reservations on August 31.71 The United Kingdom Government withdrew its reservations and gave unqualified approval of the instrument on September 21;72 the Soviet Government in turn renewed its unreserved approval on December 13.73

The protocol on zones of occupation in Germany, which was submitted to the three Governments by the Commission on September 12, together with the agreement amending the protocol on zones, submitted on November 14, was approved by the United Kingdom Government on December 5,74 by the United States Government on February 2,75 and by the Soviet Government on February 6.76 The agreement on control machinery in Germany, which was submitted to the three Governments on November 14, was approved by the United [Page 187] Kingdom Government on December 5,77 by the United States Government on January 24,78 and by the Soviet Government on February 6.79

Thus, in so far as the EAC has jurisdiction, all three documents recommended by the Commission have been submitted to the three respective Governments and have been approved by them through formal acceptances formally acknowledged. We would be glad to forward to the Department certified copies of these acceptances.

Since the French now have full membership in the EAC, it would be impossible for the Commission formally to act on behalf of the three powers unless it can secure the concurrence of the French representative. The French Government has, as you know, presented certain amendments to the three basic documents, which have been reported to the Department and which have been accepted by our Government and the British Government. We understand from the reports of the Crimea Conference that these proposed amendments are also acceptable to the Russians. When formal action has been taken in the European Advisory Commission on the French amendments, the necessary recommendations and documentation of such action will be transmitted to the Department.

It is our understanding that at the Crimea meeting, the three basic papers were again approved by the heads of state without change, except for the addition of a single word80 in the terms of the unconditional surrender instrument. This action is undoubtedly on record in the Department. We, however, have as yet no authorization to explain to the French the one change which has been made in the unconditional surrender terms by the President, Marshal Stalin and the Prime Minister.

I am also convinced that any move on our part to ask for a further expression of governmental approval of the unconditional surrender instrument, the protocol on zones of occupation in Germany and the agreement on control machinery in Germany, after they have been recommended by the three Governments and now confirmed by the President, Marshal Stalin and the Prime Minister at the Crimea Conference, would arouse serious misunderstanding as to the position of the United States Government in relation to these three basic agreements.

Winant
  1. Not printed↩
  2. See bracketed note for August 9, 1944, Foreign Relations, 1944, vol. i, p. 266 ↩
  3. See telegram 6763, August 21, 1944, from London, ibid., p. 276 ↩
  4. See telegram 7138, September 1, 1944, from London, ibid., p. 329 ↩
  5. See telegram 7856, September 21, 1944, from London, ibid., p. 341 ↩
  6. See telegram 11085, December 14, 1944, from London, ibid., p. 422 ↩
  7. See telegram 10752, December 5, 1944, from London, ibid., p. 415 ↩
  8. See telegram 1173, February 2, 1945, from London, p. 180 ↩
  9. See telegram 1287, February 6, 1945, from London, p. 181 ↩
  10. See telegram 10752, December 5, 1944, from London, Foreign Relations, 1944, vol. i, p. 415 ↩
  11. See footnote 36, p. 174 ↩
  12. See telegram 1287, February 6, 1945, from London, p. 181 ↩
  13. The word was “dismemberment”. For documentation regarding the discussion of dismemberment of Germany at the Yalta Conference, see Conferences at Malta and Yalta, 1945, pp. 612–616, 624–628, 633, 656–657, 700–701, 709, 936 947, 978 ↩