863.20/9–2148
The Minister in Austria ( Erhardt ) to the Secretary of State
No. 416
Sir: I have the honor to report that headquarters USFA has been preparing in conjunction with the British element a new plan for training, within the framework of the gendarmerie, a cadre for a future Austrian army. The desire of the Western elements is that such a cadre should be in being at the conclusion of any forthcoming treaty negotiations and that this cadre could be rapidly expanded into at least a small army prior to the evacuation of the occupation forces.
Conversations between the U.S. and British elements have resulted in the drawing up of detailed tables of organization and equipment for a battalion of gendarmerie in each of the Western zones, with regimental headquarters at Salzburg. Each battalion would be composed of about 500 men, and would include scout and motorized infantry units, and possibly an armored car unit; the issue of armored cars and of certain other armament is still questionable, since the U.S. element does not wish to risk issuing any military equipment which could not be justified by the legitimate mission of the police or gendarmerie. Gendarmes would be supplied with uniform American arms and ammunition, initially from British stockpiles of lend-lease equipment.
Formation of such a unit in the French Zone depends of course on permission of the French element, which has been informed of these plans and is now studying them in detail; the French High Commissioner has indicated that he may find the number of men too high and might prefer a company in each zone. As soon as tripartite agreement is reached, the plans will be communicated to the British, U.S. and French Governments, to determine whether there is any political objection and whether the materials recommended for release are actually available. If the plans are approved in Washington, London and Paris, they will then be submitted for consideration to the Austrian Government, which, it is hoped, will concur. The idea of training a cadre for the future army within the police was originally suggested to Headquarters USFA by Julius Deutsch, Socialist Party leader and member of the Austrian two-party military planning committee, although the U.S.-British plan involves a greater degree of control and surveillance by the Western occupation powers than Deutsch had envisaged.
The excuse for arming and training this force would be that a heavy cut in U.S., British and French troop strength has made it imperative that the Austrian gendarmerie be better equipped for maintenance of law and order and for the protection of ECA supplies.
A second and wholly separate plan for the training of Austrian [Page 1374] police and gendarmes in the use of American weapons has been worked out by Headquarters USFA at the request of Chancellor Figl. The purpose of this plan is, of course, to enable the Austrian police, now grossly underarmed, to deal with an emergency such as might be created by the Werkschutz or other Communist elements. The Austrian Minister of the Interior and representatives of HQ, USFA, have reached agreement on the details of this plan and it is hoped that the commanding general of the U.S. Zone and police and gendarmerie officials in Salzburg and Upper Austria will begin to implement the program by the end of September.
The training will be limited initially to the U.S. Zone; training in the U.S. sector of Vienna may be added later. No publicity will be given but if, as is to be expected, the facts become known, the Austrian Government will explain that its intention is to enable the police to receive effective aid from the U.S. authorities in case of disturbance in the American Zone, and also that the Austrians desire to arm their police with U.S. weapons after the occupation is ended.
No arms will actually be released to the Austrians in the absence of an emergency but stockpiles of arms and ammunition under U.S. control, including automatic weapons, will be maintained in readiness to be turned over to the Austrians in case of necessity. HQ, USFA fears that under present conditions arms turned over to the Austrians in Vienna might fall into Soviet or Communist hands.
Austrian police instructors will first be trained themselves in the use of U.S. arms; then, under U.S. military supervision, they will travel from district to district instructing other policemen. Three ranges are now available for firing, and others may be added. The number of persons to be trained will be worked out by U.S. and Austrian officials in the U.S. Zone. Tentative plans are to give eight hours of classroom instruction and eight hours on the firing range to all personnel on both the carbine and sub-machine gun; two hours classroom and two of firing to all officers on the pistol; and six hours classroom and four firing on the light machine gun to fifteen selected crews of four men each.
Respectfully yours,