740.0011 EW(Peace)/11—2847: Telegram

The Acting Secretary of State to the Legation in Hungary 1

secret

1225. As suggested urtel 1899 Nov 282 it is Dept’s opinion and also Army’s that it no longer desirable to delay presentation formal request to FonOff for military info for reasons outlined Stokes B–07 [Page 48] Oct 16 to CSGPO3 and Deptel 1048 Oct 7. In addition Hungarian Govt response or lack of it may well provide indication future attitude of Hungarians and Soviets towards treaty fulfillment. Matter thoroughly discussed here with Brit Emb in light Helm’s viewpoint. We feel no disagreement with Brit except on tactics and such flexibility has been foreseen. On other hand we concur in Helm’s and your recommendation to postpone again a request to Sovs for info re location line of communication troops.4

You are now authorized implement Section 11 SWNCC 244/75 (Deptel 1037 Oct 26). For your guidance Sofia’s 904 Oct 9 to Dept is rptd immediately following tel giving text note to Bulg FonOff to which no reply yet reed despite our follow-up.

Sent Budapest, rptd to Moscow, London, Rome and Sofia.7

Lovett
  1. This telegram was repeated to Moscow as 2003, to London as 5074, to Rome as 2515, and to Sofia as 546.
  2. Not printed; it reported that the British Foreign Office had informed the British Minister in Hungary that the Department of State was not inclined to await a reply from the Bulgarian Government to the request for military information under the Peace Treaty with Bulgaria before making similar requests for military information to the Hungarian and Rumanian Governments. The British Minister continued to doubt the wisdom of formal requests to the Hungarian Government for military information and emphasized the difficulty of the Allied position if no reply or an unsatisfactory reply were received (740.0011 EW (Peace)/11–2847).
  3. The military communication under reference is not printed. Col. John H. Stokes was the Military Attaché in Hungary.
  4. The recommendation referred to in this sentence had been included in telegram 1899, November 28, from Budapest, cited in footnote 2, p. 47.
  5. The reference here is to numbered section 11 of Annex “A” to Appendix “C” to SWNCC 244/7, September 10, pp. 21, 27.
  6. The telegram under reference is not printed, but see footnote 2, p. 30.
  7. In a separate telegram 726, December 3, to Bucharest, not printed, the Legation in Rumania was authorized to implement Section 11 of SWNCC 244/7 and request information from the Rumanian Government regarding the military clauses of the Peace Treaty with Rumania (740.0011 EW (Peace)/10–947).