740.5/12–751: Telegram
The Ambassador in France (Bruce) to the Acting Secretary of State 1
3428. From MacArthur. Fol is summary of conversation on 30 Nov between Gen Eisenhower and Lt. Gen. Grigoropolous Chief of Staff of Greek Army:
Gen. Grigoropolous stated purpose his visit was to outline to Gen. Eisenhower Greek views on possible command structure arrangements for Greece and Turkey. One possibility envisaged Greece’s joining Gen. Eisenhower’s command and Turkey’s joining MEC; another possibility was combined Greek-Turkish command under Gen. Eisenhower but with certain provisions involving Turkish defense against east and northeast as well as Dardanelles and Bosporus. There were also other possibilities.
Gen. Grigoropolous said if Greece and Turkey were to join such a combined command, Greece wld be forced to concentrate its 140,000 troops at strategic points to counter any threat by 160,000 Bulgarian troops and 50,000 Albanian troops. As a result, Greece wld be left with only comparatively small forces available to defend eastern Thrace. Since Turkey too wld be able to deploy only small forces to that area, additional forces wld be required to provide for its defense.
[Page 611]Gen. Grigoropolous hoped satisfactory arrangements cld be made with Yugoslavia in which case Greek and Turk situation in Balkans wld be materially ameliorated.
Gen. Grigoropolous outlined bearing of Greece’s econ position upon her milit status. Presently there were 10 divisions in being, with an additional division callable upon short notice. Plans called for two more to be trained and equipped. Last year ECA contribution had been $80 million. Current info indicated a considerable cut in next year’s amount. This might place govt in position of having to choose between continuing its present social/econ program and cutting down on army. Gen. Grigoropolous felt Greece’s position was somewhat different from that of other countries in west Eur inasmuch as in case of Greece it wld be matter of maintaining a mil structure already in being, whereas in other cases it was mainly a matter of building up a milit organization. In response Gen. Eisenhower said there were a number of possible solutions for command structure for Greece and Turkey. These were being considered by NATO auths; thus far he had no info as to what decision might be expected. Gen. Eisenhower stated he had an open mind re command structure and he wld agree to any reasonable decisions from NATO bodies concerned. In any case, he wanted Gen. Grigoropolous to rest assured that whether or not he, Gen. Eisenhower, wld be in command of Greek and/or Turk forces, he wld be sincerely interested in seeing both Greece and Turkey in healthy and strong milit position. [MacArthur.]
- Repeated to London for Spofford and to Athens.↩