Foreign Relations of the United States, 1947, Council of Foreign Ministers; Germany and Austria, Volume II

740.00119 Council/3–3047: Telegram

The Secretary of State to the Acting Secretary of State

confidential
urgent

Moscow, March 30, 1947—3 a. m.

1093. Delsec 1367. For the President, Vandenberg, Connally and Acheson from Marshall. Seventeenth meeting CFM, March 29, Molotov presiding, discussed Marshall proposal to limit Council discussion of questions which arose during consideration of the ACC report to the CFM (see CFM 16⁹⁵). Molotov desired to include demilitarization as an additional separate subject, but Marshall pointed out that there was no basic disagreement on this question, and it was agreed that industrial demilitarization should be considered as a part of economic unity and level of industry. Molotov reserved the right to bring up later the entire subject of demilitarization. The Council then agreed that on Monday it would discuss, as the first of two major questions, the treatment of Germany as an economic unit, including level of industry, industrial demilitarization and resumption of reparations. The second question will be the form and scope of the provisional govt for Germany. It was agreed that the special committee⁹⁶ would complete its report on the remaining portions of the ACC document by April third. The Council then adjourned.

Department please pass to Vienna as 20, to Rome as 17, and Paris as 93.

Repeated to London 113, Berlin 189.

[

Marshall

]

95. Secretary Marshall’s proposal under reference here is described in the penultimate paragraph of the report on the 16th Meeting of the Council, telegram 1074, Delsec 1363, March 28, from Moscow, supra.
96. The Special Committee referred to here was comprised as follows: United States–Riddleberger, United Kingdom–Gen. Robertson, Soviet Union-Marshal Sokolovski, and France—Alphand. According to its original instructions, the Special Committee was to complete by April 2 a study of all questions arising out of the report of the Allied Control Council and not included among the “basic questions” which the Council of Foreign Ministers itself would take up. The Council subsequently assigned additional tasks to the Committee. The Special Committee held nine meetings between March 31 and April 15 and submitted to the Council of Foreign Ministers the following Reports: CFM(47) (M)93, April 2, p. 427, CFM(47) (M)122, April 11, p. 446, and CFM(47) (M)132, April 15, not printed, but see footnote 7, p. 446.