Foreign Relations of the United States, 1947, The British Commonwealth; Europe, Volume III

Defense Files: Telegram

The Supreme Allied Commander, Mediterranean Theater (Morgan)¹ to the Combined Chiefs of Staff

top secret
urgent

Caserta, 28 December 1946.

FX 73997. Naf 1253.1. In view of the progress that is being made on the Peace Treaty it is now necessary for me to plan the rundown of Allied Force Headquarters, so that final evacuation may be achieved by “R” plus 90 days.

2. In Naf 1242² 1 recommended that my operational role should be modified on “S” day and confirmation of this is urgently required.³ For planning purposes I have assumed that this modified role will be approved.

3. My plan, based on the assumption that “R” day may be as early as 1 March 1947 is therefore:

a. The Allied Commission should be abolished immediately, its functions being taken over by the G–5 Section of my Headquarters.⁴ See Naf 1250.² The Service sub-commissions however will have to continue to function under my direct control.

b. By “S” day the G–2 Section Allied Force Headquarters MTOUSA will be reorganized on a national basis, the necessary information being exchanged between Headquarters MTOUSA and General Force Headquarters Central Mediterranean Forces. I shall retain a very small Coordination Section at Allied Force Headquarters until “R” day.

c. By “R” day an Allied Liquidating headquarters on similar lines to Liquidating Agency for SHAEF (CALA) will be established in Rome. A further cable on the detailed organization follows.

d. By “R” day Headquarters MTOUSA will move to Leghorn.

e. By “R” day the Trieste Free Territory Forces must be in position and functioning.⁵

f. On “R” day Allied Force Headquarters should be abolished.

4. Request that approval of my plan be confirmed as soon as possible.⁶

1. Lt. Gen. Sir William D. Morgan, Supreme Allied Commander, Mediterranean Theater of Operations, 1945 to mid-April 1947.
2. Not printed.
3. R—Ratification; S—Signature.
4. In telegram FX 74612 (Naf 1272), January 28, from Caserta, not printed, General Morgan reported to the CCS that he was ordering the abolition of the Allied Commission, effective midnight, January 31; cf. Foreign Relations, 1946, vol. v, p. 874.
2. Not printed.
5. For documentation on Trieste, see vol. iv, pp. 51 ff.
6. In telegram 3, January 3, from Caserta, not printed, Homer Morrison Byington, Jr., Deputy United States Political Adviser on the Staff of the Supreme Allied Commander, Mediterranean Theater, asked for guidance as to the advice he should give the military, and suggested that a purely national agency for the American forces, and a similar national establishment for the British, each attached to its respective embassy, would be preferable for the intermediate period (740.00119 EW/l–347).