CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN - 1954/01/07

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: Current/Central Intelligence Bulletin Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 03003774
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: August 20, 2019
• Document Release Date: August 30, 2019
• Publication Date: January 7, 1954

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7 January 1954
Copy No. 84
CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN
DOCUMENT NO. 17
NO CHANGE IN CLASS.
Li DECLASSIFIED
CLASS. CHANGED TO: TS S C
NEXT REVIEW DATE: O. 9
MTH: HR 70-2 wia
DATEVIEWEft_
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Office of Current Intelligence
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
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3.5(c)
3.3(h)(2)
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SUMMARY
SOVIET UNION
I. Soviet Union completes first new tanker (page 3).
FAR EAST
2. Disturbances seen inevitable among Korean prisoners on release
date (page 3).
3. Rhee government asks Chennault to form volunteer air group
(page 4).
WESTERN EUROPE
4. Reynaud presses for immediate plan for French withdrawal from
Indochina (page 4).
5. Dejean favors expanding recruiting of Germans for Foreign
Legion (page 5).
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SOVIET UNION
I. Soviet Union completes first new tanker:
observations of a Leningrad shipyard by
AM US naval attach�suggest that the
/USSR has completed one 500-foot tanker
and has two other ships under construction.
Comment: From a Soviet press statement
on 29 November, it appears that the other two ships are also tankers.
These are the first major ocean-going merchant ships known to have
been constructed by the Soviet Union since the war.
FAR EAST
2. Disturbances seen inevitable among Korean prisoners on release date:
General Thimayya and other Indian officials
in Korea are becoming more disturbed over
the inevitability of disturbances and brutal
retaliations among the prisoners even if
they are released on 23 January, according to American representa-
tive Young. They state that the Indian forces do not have control over
the anti-Communist camp to the extent many persons assume.
Comment: It is probable that as the dead-
line approaches leaders among the anti-Communist prisoners will
take action against any of their fellows who have wavered in their
decision not to return north. Also, the Communists among these
prisoners may attempt to create maximum bloodshed in order to
point up the alleged illegality of the release and the continued "forcible
retention" of the prisoners by the UN Command. There is no evidence
that the Chinese Communists or North Koreans will intervene with
military forces.
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3. Rhee government asks Chennault to form volunteer air group:
in
early December the South Korean ambassa-
dor to Formosa officially asked General
Chennault to form an international volunteer
aviation group for Korea similar to the old Flying Tigers in China.
Chennault agreed, provided that the United States give full approval
and support, that qualified personnel and resupply for the unit be
assured, and that the group be sufficiently fluid to "fight communism
from or in any country."
Comment: This report may reflect South
Korea's frustration over its inability to obtain the increased air sup-
port from the United States which it has requested. In late October
President Rhee sent President Eisenhower a detailed request for aid
which included three F-86 fighter-bomber wings and a composite wing
comprising reconnaissance, air transport, and tactical air squadrons.
The suggestion to Chennault is probably in
connection with long-range air planning and does not necessarily indi-
cate that the Rhee government intends to engage in military operations
in the near future.
WESTERN EUROPE
4. Reynaud presses for immediate plan for French withdrawal from
Indochina:
Vice Premier Reynaud is pressing the
French cabinet to adopt immediately a
policy of withdrawal from Indochina,
according to French assistant secretary
for the Associated States Jacquet. He told the American embassy
in Paris on 5 January that he, Foreign Minister Bidault, and Defense
Minister Pleven had had great difficulty last week in preventing Reynaud's
view on this proposal from prevailing.
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Jacquet added that unless a precise plan
for action in Indochina were presented within three to six months,
public pressure would not permit the National Assembly to support
any government not offering a prompt solution.
Comment: Reynaud represents the majority
opinion in the cabinet, which favors a five-power conference, including
Communist China,to end the Indochina war as part of an over-all
settlement of Asiatic problems. He had long called for an end to
the Indochina burden and last july recommended that a phased with-
drawal begin by the end of 1954.
5. Dejean favors expanding recruiting of Germans for Foreign Legion:
French commissioner general Dejean told
Ambassador Heath in Saigon on 4 January
that his solution for hastening victory in
Indochina would be to expand the Foreign
Legion forces there with six new regiments recruited almost entirely
in Germany. He said there would be no difficulty in this if Chancellor
Adenauer "would look the other way."
Comment: The West German populace
would be greatly aroused, as it was in early 1953, by any resumption
of overt legion recruiting. It is therefore improbable that the Bonn
government would agree to such a proposal.
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