Office of the Historian

740.00119 EAC/6–2145: Telegram

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

Washington, June 21, 1945—2 p.m.

4980. 1. Your Comea 28856 has been considered. The contents of paragraph 2 of the summary of French memo should not be included in the agreement. Proposed letter to Massigli contained in Comea 29057 is approved.

2. As to paragraph 4 of memo, the inclusion in the French zone of the following is satisfactory:

a.
Kreise of Oberwesterwald, Niederwesterwald (if the Kreis of Niederwesterwald is the same as the Kreis of Unterwesterwald) Unlerlahn and Sankt Goarshausen.
b.
Bezirke of Freiburg and Konstanz.
c.
Kreis of Friedrichshafen
d.
Kreis of Lindau

While JCS previously approved as a last resort to settlement the ceding of the Bezirk of Karlsruhe to the French, subsequent conversations here with US officers from SHAEF indicate strongly that out of the Bezirk of Karlsruhe only the Kreise of Bühl, Baden Baden and [Page 344] Rastatt previously offered should now be offered to the French. You should limit the US offer accordingly. You should note for your own information that the description contained in your Comea 288 of “Karlsruhe Bezirk south of Bruchsal-Mühlacker railway, leaving railway in US zone”, is not a description which could be acted upon accurately in any event, for it does not appear how the line between Bruchsal and Mühlacker would be dealt with beyond Bruchsal. The reference to appropriate maps will show you the difficulty that would be experienced if it were necessary to determine what the French desires are in this respect.

3. As to part of the Province of Württemberg, it is the desire of this Govt that the French include in their zone Sigmaringen and that part of Württemberg south of the Autobahn and railway connecting Karlsruher–Stuttgart–Ulm as defined by the following Kreis boundaries: Leonberg, Böblingen, Nürtigen, Göppingen, Ulm and that portion of Münsingen northeast of Autobahn, inclusive to the US. However, if the French strongly resist the inclusion of Sigmaringen and the above described Southern part of Württemberg in their zone that territory may remain in the US zone, except of course the Kreis of Friedrichshafen.

Please repeat to Paris for Caffery and Murphy.

Grew
  1. Telegram 6102, June 16, 4 p.m., from London, p. 340.↩
  2. Telegram 6193, June 19, 5 p.m., from London, p. 341.↩