Foreign Relations of the United States: Diplomatic Papers, 1945, Europe, Volume V

860h.01/1–2945: Telegram

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

London , January 29, 1945—7 p.m.
[Received January 29—3:10 p.m.]

1004. Substance of Department’s 677, January 27, midnight,⁶⁵ has been given Foreign Office and Ambassador Patterson has been furnished copy.

Foreign Office tells us that arrangements have now been completed for the transfer of the Yugoslav Government from here to Belgrade and that any day now Government will depart.⁶⁶ Foreign Office adds that it is happy that our representatives will be in Belgrade along with British representatives. Foreign Office assumes that Ambassador Patterson and his staff will go to Belgrade on transfer of Yugoslav Government from here, even if a split between King Peter and the Yugoslav Government should at the last minute materialize.⁶⁷ In any event, Foreign Office hopes that Department will not make any public statement⁶⁸ giving impression that we regard the Government going to Yugoslavia differently from the Government that has been functioning here and to which Patterson was accredited.

Winant

65. Not printed.
66. On January 29, 1945, King Peter announced that he accepted the resignation of his Cabinet, and then immediately commissioned Dr. Subasich to form a new and enlarged Cabinet charged with putting into effect the agreement with the National Liberation movement. The Cabinet was formed and sworn in the same day. The new Government then telegraphed Marshal Tito and asked if he consented to the changes and if he would agree to the extension of the Anti-Fascist Council of National Liberation of Yugoslavia (Avnoj) by the inclusion of former members of Parliament to form a “temporary” Parliament. While waiting for a reply, the Government arranged with the British that it would leave for Belgrade on February 7 regardless of Marshal Tito’s answer.
67. In a telegram of January 31, 1945, which was transmitted to the Department by the British Embassy on February 1, Mr. Eden instructed Lord Halifax: “Please suggest to the State Department that Mr. Patterson should accompany Mr. Stevenson, or his Counsellor if he (Mr. Patterson) has, as we have been told, to consult with the military authorities in Italy before going to Belgrade. There would in our view be considerable advantage in our representatives proceeding to Belgrade together.” (860h.01/2–145)
68. A press statement of February 1, 1945, by Acting Secretary of State Grew is printed in Department of State Bulletin, February 4, 1945, p. 153.