860H.01/880: Telegram
The Counselor of Embassy in the United Kingdom (Bucknell) to the Secretary of State
[Received 8:52 p.m.]
4163. From Schoenfeld.89 Your 3971, May 18, midnight.90 I have just seen King Peter. He tells me British insists that he form a government today. There will be questions regarding Yugoslavia in the House of Commons tomorrow and Mr. Churchill feels he must be in a position to answer them.
King Peter says he has been conferring all day with Yugoslav personalities here but still does not know whether he can form a government today.
The present plan is to form a small Cabinet and a “resistance committee”. The Cabinet would consist of 3 or 4 persons including one Croatian, one Slovene and one Serb. Mihailovic would be dropped as Minister of War but would remain CinC.91 Tito would not be represented in the government. Both Mihailovic and Tito would be invited to send representatives to the resistance committee.
As for the composition of the Cabinet, King Peter says Ban Subasic is willing to join. A suitable Slovene is also available, either Kotze92 or Czok93 or Snoj.94 A suitable Serb has not yet been secured. King Peter would like Jovanovic95 and is seeing him later this evening. He feels an important Serb personality is essential among other reasons to offset the effect on Serb opinion of the change of status of Mihailovic. [Schoenfeld.]
- Rudolf E. Schoenfeld, Counselor of Embassy to the Yugoslav Government in Exile at London.↩
- Not printed.↩
- Commander in Chief.↩
- Possibly Edvard Kotzbek.↩
- Possibly Ivan Pchok.↩
- Frano Snoj.↩
- Slobodan Jovanovich, distinguished Serbian scholar who served as Prime Minister of the Yugoslav Government in Exile from January 12, 1942, until August 10, 1943.↩