740.00119 Control (Germany)/6–2146: Telegram
The United States Political Adviser for Germany (Murphy) to the Secretary of State
[Received June 21—8 a.m.]
1560. 1. Thirty-first meeting of Control Council today held a largely fruitless discussion, particularly on the matters of Quadripartite Disarmament Commission and Soviet failure to report circulation of Allied military marks.
2. On the grounds that Foreign Ministers’ Conference had referred question of disarmament inquiry to Allied Control authorities, Soviet member challenged US delegation’s right to withdraw proposal from Coordinating Committee. He said Soviets favored full inquiry on German disarmament but that this should start first with tangible matters such as troops and military installations, and that as regards German economic disarmament there was nothing to be examined at present since the Control Council had done practically nothing in this field. (See my 1513, June 15).30 Referring to the still uncompleted reparations program originally called for by February 2, Soviet member suggested Control Council should order formulation of a comprehensive economic disarmament plan for Germany which would specify plants to be destroyed, those to remain and those to be removed for reparations.
French Chairman recalled proposal for inquiry was not officially received from Foreign Ministers’ Conference and that General Clay was entitled to withdraw it from Coordinating Committee, as was Soviet member entitled to bring it up before Control Council. US, Britain [British] and French members observed that Soviet delegation’s position was virtually the same as taken at Coordinating Committee and that its reservation was tantamount to rejection of US [Page 572] proposal. British member remarked that he was not interested in German military organization since he took it for granted that German military units no longer existed in any zone but that he wanted to know if manufacture of war material had stopped. US member observed better progress would be made if all delegations carried out Potsdam decisions and he suggested Control Council instruct all directorates to conform with these decisions in their discussions.
Soviet member desired that lack of agreement in Control Council be referred to Council of Foreign Ministers in Paris but later concurred with decision of the other members that each delegation make separate report to his own Government.31
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Repeated to Moscow as 151 and to Paris for Matthews as 166.
- Not printed; this telegram reported on discussion at the 59th Coordinating Committee meeting at which General Dratvin, acting under orders from Marshal Sokolovsky, had repeatedly expressed opposition to examination of the economic industrial phase of disarmament (740.00119 Control (Germany)/6–1546).↩
- Subsequently, as reported in telegram 2273, September 27, from Berlin, at the 80th meeting of the Coordinating Committee on September 26, agreement was reached on a directive (promulgated as Allied Control Council Directive No. 39) for the liquidation of German war and industrial potential. It provided “… for quadripartite compilation of information regarding economic German war potential in four main categories, for liquidation of plants concerned by the zone commanders, and for control of this liquidation by a system of certification by the zone commanders and through quadripartite inspection by inter-Allied commissions.” It was hoped that this procedure would accomplish what the Disarmament Commission had been intended to do (740.00119 Control (Germany)/9–2746).↩