740.00119 E.W./10–1544: Telegram
The Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Harriman) to the Secretary of State
[Received October 15—2:40 p.m.]
3937. ReEmbs 3927, October 13, noon. Stalin gave Prime Minister Churchill and myself last night a copy of a secret communication dated October 14 addressed to the Chief of the Hungarian Mission, Colonel General Gabor, and signed by the Assistant Chief of the General Staff of the Red Army, General of Army Antonov, on the authority of the Supreme Command of the Soviet Armies. The communication reads in paraphrased translation as follows:
The Hungarian Parliamentary Representative, Colonel Utassy Lorand, who has arrived in Szeged from Budapest is a completely uninformed person and consequently could not carry on negotiations with representatives of the Soviet Command on the question of the execution of the preliminary armistice terms by the Hungarian Government.
The Soviet Government was requested by the Hungarian Government to cease its advance in the direction of Budapest in order that the latter might withdraw a part of its troops and send them to Budapest.
This request of the Hungarian Government was granted by the Soviet Government; however, the former not only did not withdraw its troops from the Tisea River for dispatch to Budapest but has [Page 910] ordered its troops into action especially in the Solnok [Tiszà Szolnok] Region.
The above circumstances indicate that the Hungarian Government evidently has chosen the course of not fulfilling the preliminary armistice terms which it has taken on itself.
The Supreme Command of the Soviet Armies in this connection demands that the Hungarian Government fulfill the obligations which it accepted, within 48 hours from the time of the receipt of the present representation regarding the preliminary armistice terms and in the first instance: One, rupture all relations with the Germans and start active military operations against their troops. Two, begin the withdrawal from the territories of Czechoslovakia, Rumania and Yugoslavia of Hungarian troops. Three, deliver by this same channel through Szeged by 8 o’clock on October 16 to representatives of the Soviet Command complete information on the disposition of the German and Hungarian troops and, at the same time, report on the course of the execution of the preliminary armistice terms to the aforementioned Soviet representatives.