Foreign Relations of the United States: Diplomatic Papers, 1945, European Advisory Commission, Austria, Germany, Volume III

740.00119 Control (Germany)/4–2545: Telegram

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

Paris, April 25, 1945—9 p.m.
[Received April 25—6 55 p.m.]

2110. Following is for the most secret information of the Department:

General Juin⁷² in the course of a conversation with a high American officer stated that when the French submitted their proposals regarding their zone in Germany, they were not aware that the United States zone extended eastward to the Soviet zone with a line of communications from the north. The French could, moreover, understand our desire to retain airfields in Hessen-Darmstadt. According to the indication given by Juin, the French would be willing now to withdraw their proposal to include in the French zone of occupation Hessen-Nassau, Oberhessen and Hessen-Darmstadt east of the Rhine. In Juin’s opinion, the French would be content in the south with Baden, but in the Wiesbaden area, they would require a bridgehead across the Rhine.

Caffery

72. Gen. Alphonse Pierre Juin, Chief of the French General Staff.