811.34587/886 suppl.: Telegram
   The Secretary of State to the Ambassador in Cuba (Braden)

                              WASHINGTON, May 21,1942-10 p. m.
  286. Department's telegram no. 246 of May 9, 6 p. m., etc. You
are requested to present to the Cuban Government a confidential
memorandum setting forth along the following lines the proposal of
the War Department discussed with you recently by General Ryan:
  The United States War Department desires to establish with the
least delay possible a heavy bombardment operational training unit
under Umted States Army officers in the neighborhood of San Antonio
de los Banfos to perfect trained British Royal Air Force personnel in
combat techniques preparatory to assignment to more active theaters
of war. This unit would complete the chain of such training bases
already being set up in southern sea-coast states and at Nassau. The
combat teams completing their training in these bases will at the same
time be available for effective: anti-submarine and other war
operations.
  In the knowledge of the eagerness of the Cuban Government to
contribute more actively in the prosecution of the war and its anxiety
to expedite measures for protection of its coasts and shipping between
Cuba and the United States, the United States Government desires
urgently to know whether the Cuban Government agrees in principle
to the establishment of the facilities in question under the military
jurisdiction of United States officers. D1etails concerning the base
would be worked out through negotiation between the Cuban Gov.
ernment and the United States Ambassador, assisted by Army techni-
cal officers of Cuba and the United States. In case of approval in
principle by the Cuban Government the United States War Depart-
ment would initiate surveys at once in order to indicate the specific
areas it has in mind and would enter into arrangements with local
contractors, wherever possible, for the preliminary work. It is con-
templated that the Cuban Government would condemn the necessary
lands, which it would make available for the War Department's use,
and that the Cuban Government's reasonable expenses in this con-
nection would be fully reimbursed. The agreement should be for
the period of the war plus, say, 6 months after the termination of
hostilities, and all fixed installations erected at the expense of this
Government would of course revert to the Cuban Government.
  As now envisaged by the War Department, there would be stationed
at the base a maximum of 3,600 officers and enlisted men, including
about 1,400 personnel of the British Royal Air Force preparing for
active combat duty in war zones. Entire responsibility for adminis-
tration, discipline, etc., would of course remain in the hands of the
United States Commandant.
  The establishment of such an operational training unit will result
in very considerable movements of materiel and supplies for con-
struction, operation, maintenance, and subsistence, and of personnel,
through Habana, and between Habana and San Antonio de los Ban-os,
mostly by highway. The United States Government is confident that
the Cuban Government will be agreeable to cooperative arrangements
for the expeditious handling in Cuban ports of ships and official cargo



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