711.62114/9–2444: Telegram
The Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Harriman) to the Secretary of State
[Received September 24—5:18 p.m.]
3652. ReDept’s 2212, September 15, 8 p.m. The only action taken by the British Embassy in Moscow with respect to Soviet nationals captured while serving in German military or semi-military organizations has been to press the Commissariat for Foreign Affairs for a prompt reply to a note addressed by the British Foreign Office to the Soviet Embassy in London regarding Russians captured in France and evacuated to the United Kingdom. The British Embassy here has been informed that a reply has been made in London but does not know what was said in it.
The British Ambassador has received a copy of a telegram dated September 14 from the Foreign Office to the British Resident Minister in Cairo in which Lord Moyne66 was informed that so far as the Middle East was concerned all Soviet nationals held there as prisoners of war would be delivered to the Soviet authorities whether the individuals concerned desired to be repatriated or not.
In these circumstances I have made no approach to the Soviet Government on the subject since I assume the Department will first wish [Page 1254] to obtain information concerning the Soviet-British negotiations in London and to give consideration to the implications of the British decision on policy in the Middle East which has probably been communicated to the Russians by this time.67
Meanwhile I would appreciate further enlightenment as to the exact nature of the policies established by the Combined Chiefs of Staff which is not clear to me from the Department’s telegram. Does this mean that the Combined Chiefs propose to have Russians taken as German prisoners delivered to the Soviet authorities against their will. If so what is the meaning of their statement that the purpose of their policy is to avoid risk of reprisals.68 If not how does the British Government come to instruct its Middle East command to deliver prisoners of war to the Soviet authorities whether they desire to be repatriated or not.
- Walter Edward Guinness, First Baron Moyne, British Deputy Minister of State in Cairo.↩
- On September 26, 1944, Mr. Gore-Booth of the British Embassy transmitted to Mr. Bernard Gufler of the Special War Problems Division a memorandum prepared by the British military authorities in Washington. This memorandum reported that the British and Soviet negotiators had reached agreement on the treatment of Soviet nationals who were in prisoner of war camps in Great Britain. It was agreed that release of these individuals “should be contingent upon enlistment in the Russian forces in the United Kingdom.” Since it was anticipated that the great majority would volunteer for service with the Russian forces, “it was felt that a final decision as to whether we should insist on the voluntary principle would have to await events. The matter could be reconsidered if any substantial numbers refused to volunteer.” (740.62114/9–2744)↩
- The same British memorandum of September 26 also stated: “Above all, however, we have been influenced by the fact that when the Soviet overruns Germany they are almost certain to come across a number of our prisoners of war whom, naturally, we want properly treated. It is felt very strongly in London that the treatment of our men in Germany will depend very largely upon the way in which the Russians are treated in the United Kingdom.”↩