Telegram from President Harry S. Truman to Prime Minister Winston Churchill

NLT-302 TOP SEGRET DECLASSIFIED by authority if s. TOP SECRET Pept state F.R.1945 16 MAY 1945 PRIORITY VIITIVI 120 = is 6493 FROM: OPNAV Initials, He Datef.7.73 TO : ALUSNA, LONDON 161503Z NCR NUMBER 41, TOP SECRET AND PERSONAL, FROM THE PRESIDENT FOR THE PHIME MINISTER. As suggested in your No. 43, I am sending the following message to Marshal Stalin along the lines of your message to him: QUOTE: I am unable to understand why the Soviet authorities are now refusing to permit American and Allied representatives to proceed to Vienna, contrary to the good suggestion you made to Ambassador Harriman on April 13 that representatives go there to study the Vienna zones of occupation, in order that the agreements on the occupation of Austria now pending in the European Advisory Commission may be completed. Intelligent arrangement of the Vienna zones would be greatly facil- itated by an examination and discussion on the spot by the military author- ities who will later be responsible for smooth operation of the inter-Allied administration of Austria. For example, the Soviet representative in the European advisory Commission has recently proposed that the air communication needs of the American forces be met by plocing under American administration a - the airport at Tulln, 20 kilometers northwest of Vienna, in lieu of an airport in Vienna itself. However, neither he nor we know the precise dimensions or conditions of this airport, and to give his proposal proper consideration we should be permitted to survey it. Since the area to be zoned is no longer in enemy occupation it seems only reasonable to examine it, as you suggested, in order to facilitate TOP-SECRET *