CFM Files
United States Delegation Journal
USDel (PC) (Journal) 41
The record of the 15th meeting was adopted with one small correction and then the Rumanian Delegation was brought in and General Damaceanu delivered a prepared statement dealing with Articles 15 and 16 of the draft treaty. The Russian Delegation asked for an explanation of the Rumanian request for a change in the size of the armed forces set in Article 11 of the draft treaty and of the request for permission to instruct naval personnel in the operation of submarines.98 Reference was made to Article 14. The Rumanian Delegate [Page 449] said that the Army had already begun to be reorganized according to the limitations of Article 11; that the process had started between June and July 15; a law had been passed under which 16,000 officers and non-commissioned officers passed to the Reserve. Rumania needed 5,000 more men to complete the reorganization because some formations had had to be kept in the interior of the country to deal with a situation resulting from postwar difficulties. First-line troops had been reduced but 5,000 officers and men above those allowed were needed. In answer to the question regarding Article 14 he said that Rumania only had one submarine now and that they would like to be allowed to keep it as a training ship only.
The Rumanian Delegation was shown out and the Chairman read a letter from General Hoxha (Albania) asking to be given a hearing. Mr. Alexander proposed that the attention of the Albanian Delegation be drawn to the fact that Yugoslav amendments to Articles 47 and 52 [C.P. (Gen) Docs. 1.U.15 and 16] of the Italian treaty were precisely the same as the proposed Albanian amendments to the same articles and had already been dealt with by the Commission. General Slavin supported a Czechoslovak proposal that the Albanian Delegation be invited to be heard without any warning or limitation in time or subject. General Slavin maintained that he represented the new democracy and that the old democracy represented by the U.K. and the U.S. was ancient and behind the times. The Czechoslovak proposal prevailed by a vote of 15 to 4 with France, Greece, U.K., and U.S.A. being voted down, Belgium abstaining and Brazil absent.
The next meeting will be held at 10:00 a.m. September 14.
The meeting adjourned at 1:27 p.m.
- The Rumanian requests referred to were contained in C.P. (Gen) Doc. 3, Observations on the Draft Peace Treaty with Rumania by the Rumanian Government, ibid., p. 217.↩