CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN - 1952/04/29

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: Current/Central Intelligence Bulletin Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 02692627
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 9
• Document Creation Date: May 24, 2019
• Document Release Date: May 30, 2019
• Publication Date: April 29, 1952

Approved for Release: 2019/05/08 CO2692627,
l'UP S
SECURITY3NfORMATION
29 April 1952
Lopy NO. 52
CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN
DOCUMENT NO.
NO CHANGE IN CLASS.
i DECLASSIFIED
CLASS. CHANGED TO; TS S viezva
NEXT REVIEW OATF�
AUTHirlyil
IP I
DATE REVIEWER:
Office of Current Intelligence
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
TOP SECRET
3.5(c)
3.5(c)
3.5(c)
3.5(c)
SECURITY ORMATION
Approved for Release: 2019/05/08 002692627
_�������
Approved for Release: 2019/05/08 CO2692627
110P SECRET
3.5(c)
1.
2.
3.
SUMMARY
GENERAL
Britain backs UN stand on Korean prisoner exchange issue (page
French delegation to Moscow Economic Conference favorably
imnressed (Daze 3).
3).
page 4L
3.3(h)(2)
SOVIET UNION
4.
Soviet plant doubles allocation of tires for stockpiling (page 5).
FAR EAST
5.
Additional armor arrives in North Korea (page 5).
6.
Existence of operational Chinese airfields near Indochina border
doubted (page 6).
SOUTH ASIA
7.
Indian aide me moire on Tunisia accompanied by bitter comment
(page 6).
NEAR EAST - AFRICA
8.
Iranian Prime Minist
ion less secure (page 7).
9,
Greek Army officers
onsidering military coup (page 7). 3.3(h)(2)
WESTERN
EUROPE
10.
Adenauer remains firm on integration (page 8).
LA TIN AMERICA
11.
Bolivian Government party lacks control of its ranks (page 8).
* * *
3.5(c)
2
3.5(c)
Approved for Release: 2019/05/08 CO2692627
3.5(c)
Approved for Release: 2019/05/08 CO2692627
yop -uhEI
GENERAL
L Britain backs UN stand on Korean prisoner exchange issue:
British Foreign Secretary Eden has instructed 3.3(h)(2)
the Foreign Office to prepare a paper for cir-
culation to the other Commonwealth members
recommending support of the United Nations' re-
fusal to repatriate prisoners of war against their will.
Comment: The Foreign Office had previously
submitted to Eden a brief recommending compromise with the Communists
on this issue if necessary to prevent the collapse of the truce negotiations.
Prime Minister Churchill had informally expressed the view that prisoners
held by the UN must not be handed over to face reprisals.
The other Commonwealth countries contributing
to UN forces in Korea have not committed themselves on the prisoner ex-
change issue.
3.3(h)(2)
2. French delegation to Moscow Economic Conference favorably impressed:
According to a French Foreign Ministry official,
the French delegation to the Moscow Economic
Conference appeared favorably impressed by the
sincerity of Soviet desire for trade. Representa-
tives of French firms discussed deals at the conference, but these are still
subject to negotiation and export-licensing approval by the French Govern-
ment,
A Soviet offer of wheat at the conference for
delivery before the end of May has now led the French Government to re-
open bilateral trade negotiations. No agreement was made with Poland,
since French requirements for coal have been met. The protocols of
trade concluded with East Germany, Rumania and China are merely ex-
pressions of intent to promote the sale of the broadly defined commodities.
- 3 -
3.5(c)
Approved for Release: 2019/05/08 CO2692627
Approved for Release: 2019/05/08 CO2692627
'TOP RET
3.5(c)
4
3.3(
h)(2)
TOP
Approved for Release: 2019/05/08 CO2692627
3.5(c)
Approved for Release: 2019/05/08 CO2692627
SOVIET UNION
4. Soviet plant doubles allocation of tires for stockpiling:
the Erevan Tire Plant was making
\ a shipment of tires for stockpiling that was twice
as latge as originally specified in November 1951.
Comment: The shortage of tires for current
use is apparently being permitted to continue in order to accelerate both
the stockpiling program and exports to Communist China. In 1951 the
Erevan plant produced about 200,000 tires with tubes, approximately three
percent of the total Soviet production.
Continued shortages of tires since 1948 in the
Soviet Union are essentially the result of limited manufacturing facilities
rather than inadequate supplies of raw materials.
FAR EAST
5. Additional armor arrives in North Korea:
/the arrival of additional tanks and self-pro-
pelled guns in the Pyongyang area.
at least 43 tanks
and 22 self-propelledartillery pieces have been brought into Korea on
freight cars from China. The unidentified North Korean unit whichorigi-
nated these messages is to receive some of this armor.
Comment: Both the North Korean 105th Tank
Division and 10th Mechanized Division are located in the Pyongyang area,
and could reasonably be the recipient of these tanks.
- 5 -
Approved for Release: 2019/05/08 CO2692627
3.5(c)
Approved for Release: 2019/05/08 CO2692627
*TOP S ET
Existence of operational Chinese airfields near Indochina border doubted:
the American Air
'Attache in Saigon believes that there are no
operational airfields in the Pinghsiang-Lungchou-
Ningming triangle of South China, several miles
from the Indochina border.
Comment: This contradicts a report of 5March
that French air patrols had sighted two parallel paved runways, each
6,000 feet long, at Lungchou.
SOUTH ASIA
7. Indian aide memoire on Tunisia accompanied by bitter comment:
ecretary General Bajpai of the Indian Ministry
f External Affairs on 25 April read to American
mbassador Bowles the contents of an aide
emoire on the Tunisian question, which was
n y isen Ica to that reportedly distributed on the same day by the
Indian UN delegation in New York.
Bajpai commented bitterly that the United
States grossly underestimated the depth of Asian feeling on colonialism.
He deplored the American tendency to take the pro-Westernism of Asian
leaders such as Nehru for granted. He implied that several Indian cabi-
net members had wanted the aide memoire to follow a more strongly anti-
Western line.
Comment: Bajpai had told Ambassador Bowles
on 11 April that he generally approved of the reasons given him by the Am-
bassador for the United States' abstention on the Tunisian question. Since
that date Prime Minister Nehru, who apparently inspired the aide memoire,
seems to have communicated some of his personal feelings to Bajpai.
- 6 -
3.3(h)(2)
3.3(h)(2)
3.5(c)
Approved for Release: 2019/05/08 CO2692627
Approved for Release: 2019/05/08 CO2692627
%TOP S ET
3.5(c)
NEAR EAST - AFRICA
8. Iranian Prime Minister's position less secure:
American Ambassador Henderson reports that 3.3(h)(2)
Prime Minister Mossadeq is now facing serious
difficulties and opposition within Iran. Evidences
of dissension have appeared among his leading
supporters, notably Maki and Kashani, and the new Majlis, instead of being
amenable to Mossadeq, appears to be more critical than had been anticipated.
Mossadeq now recognizes that he must accommo-
date himself to the Shah's wishes, and the Prime Minister's decision to give
the assurances necessary for the resumption of American military aidwas
the result of strong pressure from the Shah.
Comment: There are growing indications that
the economic consequences of Mossadeq's policies may do more to unseat
his government than any of the diplomatic or political influences to which
he has been subjected. The Prime Minister's hold on the government has
not been appreciably weakened, although he failed to appear at the opening
of the Majlis on 27 April.
In spite of the Shah's presumed victory in in-
ducing Mossadeq to give the Mutual Security Act assurances, there is no
evidence that the Shah is ready to remove the Prime Minister.
9. Greek Army officers
considering military coup:
A group of army officers led by a Greek Rally
deputy, retired General Kosmas, are
"beginning to talk" of an armed coup to be headed
by opposition leader Papagos. The move, aimed
at ending mg e protracted government crisis, is supported by Generals
Ketseas, Dovas and Ioannou.
-7
3.3(h)(2)
3.3(h)(2)
3.5(c)
'Approved for Release: 2019/05/08 CO2692627
Approved for Release: 2019/05/08 CO2692627
tOP
3.5(c,
Comment: There has been considerable dis-
satisfaction in Greece over the purge of pro-Papagos army officers during
past months, and plans for a coup may have been discussed. The Marshal
would be unlikely to support such an attempt, however, now that he and his
supporters are increasingly optimistic over the possibility of unseating the
government.
Since all the officers supporting this
move were potential victims of the government-instigated purge,
could be part of a maneuver foreshadowing a more determined governm
effort to oust them.
WESTERN EUROPE
10. Adenauer remains firm on integration:
Chancellor Adenauer is attempting to correct 3.3(h)(2)
the misinterpretations arising from his radio
interview of 24 April and to make it clear that
he has not changed his attitude toward integration
with e West. He a in ended merely to state that if Germany were
unified, the projected Allied-German treaties could be modified by the
consent of all participants.
3.3(h)(2)
3.3(h)(2)
The Federal Republic has since informed the
French Government that it still accepts the provision in the contractual
agreement that any unified German Government shall be bound by the
terms of the contract.
American officials in Bonn comment that during
the interview the Chancellor had evidently been thinking only of local poli-
tics, and not of the possible repercussions abroad.
LATIN AMERICA
11. Bolivian Government party lacks control of its ranks:
the Nationalist Revolutionary Movement in
Bolivia has no control over its members and
is "at the mercy of armed Communist miners,"
3.3(h)(2)
3.5(c)
Approved for Release: 2019/05/08 CO2692627
Approved for Release: 2019/05/08 CO2692627
SECRET
3.5(c)
Comment: The government party is split by
the struggle of various factions for dominance. The principal factions
are President Paz Estenssoro's relatively moderate group and the extreme
nationalists headed by Juan Lechin, Minister of Mines and Petroleum and
an important labor leader. Lechin has urged the miners to keep their
arms, presumably to strengthen his position.
9
3.3(h)(2)
3.5(c
TOP CRET
Approved for Release: 2019/05/08 CO2692627