Reference is made to the letter, dated 22 December 1944, from the
Secretary of State to the Secretary of War, regarding the Swedish
proposals for relief shipments from Sweden to Norway to alleviate
Norwegian distress caused by the Germans and requesting that these
proposals be again submitted to the Joint Chiefs of Staff for their
approval.
In a communication, dated 9 February 1945, the Joint Chiefs of Staff
submitted, for the signatures of the Secretaries of War and the Navy, a
draft reply to the Secretary of State’s letter in effect disapproving
the proposals.
This draft reply has been considered by the State-War-Navy Coordinating
Committee. At the Committee’s meeting on 23 February 1945 the State
Department pointed out that pursuant to an agreement reached in June
1944,17 to which the
Department of State and the Foreign Economic Administration were
parties, Sweden was authorized to export an average of 500 tons per
month of relief supplies to Norway and that this monthly shipment has
recently been increased to an average of 1,000 tons, with the agreement
of this Government. In view of this position, which the State Department
considers of high political and humanitarian importance, the Committee
at that meeting agreed that this program shall be continued provided the
average monthly shipments are limited to 1,000 tons and are restricted
to the types of commodities listed in paragraph B of the enclosed
memorandum dated 21 February from the Department of State to the
Committee.
The Committee further agreed that requests for any additional relief
shipments from Sweden to Norway should be referred to the War and Navy
Departments for decision.
[Annex]
Memorandum Prepared by the Department of State for
the State-War-Navy Coordinating Committee18
[Washington,] February 21,
1945.
A. Continuing relief program. Pursuant to an
agreement reached in June 1944 between the British Ministry of
Economic Warfare on the one hand, and the Department of State and
the Foreign Economic Administration on the other, Sweden was
authorized to export an average of 500 tons per month of relief
supplies to Norway for distribution under Swedish auspices and
responsibility. The foodstuffs have been utilized in connection with
a daily school lunch program for over 134,000 Norwegian school
children and in sustaining 38,500 aged persons and 15,000 young
Norwegians living “underground”. The majority of the latter are
believed to be members of “Milorg”,19 the Norwegian
equivalent of the FFI20 groups operating in France prior
to its liberation. Recently, the Swedish authorities requested and
obtained from the British and American Governments permission to
increase the average monthly shipment of relief supplies to Norway
from 500 tons to 1,000 tons. This will consist of 63 tons of milk
powder, 42 tons of sugar, 35 tons of oat groats, 169 tons of peas,
78 tons of barley groats, 11 tons of dried vegetables, 50 tons of
potato flakes, 183 tons of meat preserves, 35 tons of semolina and a
balance within the 1,000 ton limit which will vary from month to
month. For the month of February 1945, the balance will be composed
of approximately 100 tons of whey cheese or whey butter, 100 tons of
margarine, 50 tons of biscuits, and 50 tons of barley flakes. Except
for the sugar, which was produced in Denmark, and the meat preserves
and margarine, which were originally imported into Sweden from
Argentina for Swedish consumption, all of the aforementioned
products are of Swedish origin.
The relief supplies described above are distributed in Norway by the
Donors’ Committee, a coordinating organization combining the
Norwegian relief efforts of the Swedish Red Cross, the Norwegian
Relief Organization, Save the Children, and Norwegian Relief Inc.
(an American agency). Both the Swedish Foreign Office and the free
Norwegian Legation at Stockholm are fully satisfied that every
precaution [Page 34] is taken to
prevent any of these shipments either from falling into the hands of
the Germans or from being diverted to purposes other than those for
which they are exported. These precautions are described as follows:
- 1.
- All relief supplies are shipped from Sweden to Norway only
after approval by the Anglo-American-Swedish Joint Standing
Committee,21 and are handled by the Donors’
Committee, which operates from Oslo and which consists of
reliable Swedes and Norwegians. The goods when shipped into
Norway are shipped as Swedish property.
- 2.
- The goods are generally distributed immediately under the
supervision of the Donors’ Committee by Norwegians who have
been approved by the Committee, the underground, and the
Free Norwegian Legation at Stockholm.
- 3.
- Goods which are not distributed immediately are held in
storage in various warehouses, which for security reasons
are not located in or near centers of population. It has
been arranged by the Donors’ Committee that in the event the
Germans discover and molest goods held in storage in any one
place, goods in other storage facilities will either be
removed or destroyed.
- 4.
- The American and British Legations check on the
distribution of the goods through periodical reports
received from the Donors’ Committee in Oslo, transmitted to
Sweden through underground facilities; through meetings with
representatives of the Oslo Donors’ Committee, at such time
as any member comes to Sweden and through reports received
by members of the American and British Legations from the
Norwegian underground. The underground mail communications
controlled by the OSS21a are employed to obtain
information on any particular shipment.
- 5.
- In no instance has any report been received indicating
that relief supplies shipped to Norway have been diverted
from approved Norwegians. On the contrary, the information
received on relief shipments to Norway reveals that the
goods already distributed have, in each case, been received
by desirable Norwegians and that there has been no German
interference with their storage or distribution.
B. Special shipments of relief supplies. From
time to time, the American and British Governments have agreed to
special requests by the Norwegian Government for the shipment of
relief supplies from Sweden to Norway. Some recent examples are:
- 1.
- Agreement to the shipment of 6,500 tons of Swedish
foodstuffs for distribution among Norwegian households to be
held in reserve to help tide Norwegian families over a
period of dislocation incident to increased military
activities in Northern Norway. This total consists of 1,000
tons of sugar, 20,000 tons of wheat flour, 1,000 tons of [Page 35] fats, 200 tons of
blood pudding, 200 tons of dried vegetables, 500 tons of
port [pork?] and a balance made up of
dried milk and fats.
- 2.
- Approximately 350 tons of clothing and 75,000 pairs of
shoes of Swedish origin for distribution among Norwegian
civilians.
- 3.
- Small quantities of Swedish medical supplies for civil
hospitals.
- 4.
- 2,000 tons of fats for distribution in Urban areas where
there is extremely serious shortage.
- 5.
- 10,000 tons of seed grain for planting this spring and
harvesting in the fall of 1945. This quantity represents
approximately one-fifth of the total amount required by
Norway for planting purposes.
All of the above special shipments are distributed in Norway by the
Donor’s Committee.
Although in the past certain of the commodities included in the
special relief shipments, in particular fats, represented purchases
made by the Norwegian Government outside the blockade area and
shipped to Sweden on Swedish safe-conduct vessels, it is highly
doubtful whether it would be possible to follow this procedure in
the future in view of Germany’s recent action in suspending the
Swedish safe-conduct traffic in retaliation for the termination of
all Swedish exports to Germany.
C. Recommendations of the State Department. As
stated in SWNCC 24/1, dated February 15, 1944,22 the State Department considers that for
high political reasons the Government of the United States cannot
about-face now in its attitude toward the general question of relief
shipments from Sweden to Norway. Aside from the political reasons
involved, the State Department is convinced that in certain
circumstances such as those pertaining to Norway, relief programs in
occupied territory are not detriments to the prosecution of Allied
military operations but, on the contrary, may be contributory to
their success. It feels that the shipment of arms to resistance
groups in occupied territory is of little avail unless the civilian
population in general and members of the resistance groups in
particular are likewise furnished with a modicum of foodstuffs. The
State Department considers that this Government is formally
committed to the continuance of the monthly Norwegian relief program
of 1,000 tons. With respect to special relief shipments from Sweden
to Norway, the State Department strongly recommends that the United
States Joint Chiefs of Staff agree, in principal, to their
continuance. In connection with this latter type of relief work, the
State Department is prepared to refer every special relief request
to the War and Navy Departments and to the Joint Chiefs of Staff for
decision.
No Allied shipping has been or will be involved in the maintenance
either of the continuing Swedish relief program for Norway or for
special relief shipments. Furthermore, no compensatory shipments [Page 36] to Sweden to make up for
relief shipments to Norway are contemplated until after the war.
