Memorandum of Conversation with Secretary of State Dean Acheson and Secretary of Defense George C. Marshall

DECLASSIFIED 366 614.79 By withe NARS, Date 10.25.79 SEETHER October 27, 1950 MEMORANDUM OF CON VERSATION with WITH SECRETARY MARSHALL 298 Secretary Marshall called Secretary Acheson from his home at 5:15 p.m. to report to him what the French Defense Minister Moch had told him about the French proposal for a European Army. Secretary Marshall reported that Moch had said that the French conception was that their recent proposal in a sense has nothing to do with the medium term plan. It is supposed in no way to affect that because it contemplates no delay, and in no way will affect appointment of supreme commander. It does not affect the future of the tventy odd French divisions. What the proposal is is as follows: After the Schuman Plan gets firmed up in two or three months, they then will have a meeting of the delegates at, possibly Strasbourg, where effort will be made to get then to agree to a procedure which involves the Defense Minister. Under that Defense Minister they will begin the formation of a sort of special force, in which there will be regiments made up of a battalion of French troops, a battalion of British troops, a battalion of German troops, etc. The French are making a guess that the force will number 100,000 and of this number 50,000 will be French. The purpose of this procedure is so that there will not be a German defense minister, a German general starf, or a German division - which to the French means a German army. In the meanwhile the Supreme Commander of the French, British, American divisions and others is separate. When that force gets out of organizational or mobilization phase, it is to be put under the supreme Commander just as though it were another country, and the relationship of the defense minister is like that of General Marshall's relations to the American troops who are in Europe under the Supreme Commander. Secretary Marshall said that Mr. Shinwell was "rabid" about the French proposal, considering that it would kill the medium term plan and wreck what had already been done. 6. (NATIONAL Secretary Acheson said he had understood that what ARCHIVES CHP Moch had explained to Secretary Marshall was about the substance RECORZA SERVIO: of the proposal. Secretary Marshall said he had not understood it that way, por had others in the Defense Establishment, nor had Mr. Shinwell. Secretary Acheson said he thought the effect would be to mix up the progress already made, to create complien- tions which would prevent individual nations from raising forges they had already greed to aise. He thought that Shinwell had in mind that because of the confusion and the delay in the German elements coming in, the United States would not go ahead with the agreed plans. SECITLI