740.00119 Control (Austria)/5–1445
President Truman to the British Prime Minister (Churchill)
As suggested in your no. 43, I am sending the following message to Marshal Stalin along the lines of your message to him:31 [Page 121]
“I am unable to understand why the Soviet authorities are now refusing to permit American and Allied representatives to proceed to Vienna, contrary to the good suggestion you made to Ambassador Harriman on April 13 that representatives go there to establish the Vienna zones of occupation, in order that the agreements on the occupation of Austria now pending in the European Advisory Commission may be completed.
Intelligent arrangement of the Vienna zones would be greatly facilitated by an examination and discussion on the spot by the military authorities who will later be responsible for smooth operation of the inter-Allied administration of Austria. For example, the Soviet representative in the European Advisory Commission has recently proposed that the air communication needs of the American forces be met by placing under American administration the airport at Tulln, 20 kilometers northwest of Vienna, in lieu of an airport in Vienna itself. However, neither he nor we know the precise dimensions or conditions of this airport, and to give his proposal proper consideration we should be permitted to survey it.
Since the area to be zoned is no longer in enemy occupation it seems only reasonable to examine it, as you suggested, in order to facilitate completion of the agreements in the European Advisory Commission. Continued refusal of the Soviet authorities to permit this, in spite of your original suggestion, would not be understood by the American public.
I therefore hope that you will yourself let me know whether you will issue the necessary instructions to Marshal Tolbukhin to facilitate a survey by the Allied representatives of those Vienna areas which are now under discussion in the European Advisory Commission.”
In these messages we contemplate having the representatives merely survey and discuss prospective zones, so that the formal zoning and control machinery agreements can be completed in EAC. I consider the latter our primary objective in Austria now and am inclined to think it would be a mistake to have our representatives reside in Vienna or assume any functions or responsibilities there beyond surveying the zones, until full joint control of Austria can be instituted on a basis of full equality among the occupying powers. I fear that the Russians want before then to do things in Vienna that we would not approve, but that they want equally much to do them in our name rather than carry the onus alone. Until we can have equal control it seems desirable to maintain the position that what is done there is done unilaterally; otherwise we might slip there into the uncomfortable position we occupy in the Allied Commissions in Rumania and Bulgaria.32
- For text of Prime Minister Churchill’s message to Marshal Stalin, see Correspondence Between the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the U.S.S.R. and the Presidents of the U.S.A. and the Prime Ministers of Great Britain During the Great Patriotic War of 1941–1945, vol. i, Correspondence with Winston S. Churchill and Clement R. Attlee (July 1941–Novemoer 1945) (Foreign Languages Publishing House, Moscow, 1957), document No. 468, p. 356 ↩
- For documentation regarding the activity of the Allied Control Commissions in Rumania and Bulgaria, see vol. v, pp. 464 ff., and vol. iv, pp. 135 ff., respectively↩