740.00119 EAC/5–2545: Telegram
The Ambassador in the United Kingdom (Winant) to the Secretary of State
[Received May 25—9:50 p.m.]
5277. Comea 269. In reply to the US offer of May 12 to Massigli regarding the French zone of occupation in Germany (reported in my 4783 May 13, 1 a.m., to Dept; reptd Paris as 259), De Leusse, in Massigli’s absence tonight informed Mosely of the French counterproposal. The French reply, given orally, asks that following parts of the US zone be assigned to French occupation: (1) Wehrkreis twelve;87 (2) all of State of Baden; (3) Kreis of Friedrichshafen in State of Württemberg; (4) Kreis of Lindau in State of Bavaria. [Page 307] Since De Leusse did not know location of Wehrkreis twelve and had no map available, this count proposal [counterproposal] was merely received for information.
The French instruction stated that aside from the proposed corridor to Vorarlberg the French authorities desired no part of Württemberg or Hohenzollern–Sigmaringen; that Frankfurt and Kassel should remain in the US zone; that US transportation and communication needs could be met by establishing appropriate US agencies in the proposed French zone, in same way as US agencies now operate in France. The main arguments advanced in favor of the counterproposal were: (1) the desirability of following major administrative boundaries in drawing zone; (2) desirability of unifying territorially the French bridgeheads at Koblenz, Mainz, and Pforzheim by giving France control of both banks of the Rhine from Kehl to Koblenz; (3) desire to avoid “breaking the unity of the Rhineland” and to make the Rhine “an artery not a barrier”.
I am withholding comment on this counterproposal tonight until the implications of the request for Wehrkreis twelve can be examined.
Sent Dept as 5277; rptd Paris as 307 (for Ambassadors Caffery and Murphy).
- Military district twelve. For a description of this district, see telegram 5280, May 26, 11 a.m. from London, infra. ↩