CURRENT INTELLIGENCE BULLETIN - 1956/11/09

• Document Type: SPECIALCOLLECTION
• Collection: Current/Central Intelligence Bulletin Collection
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): 03015184
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 14
• Document Creation Date: October 25, 2019
• Document Release Date: October 31, 2019
• Publication Date: November 9, 1956

CURRENT
INTELLIGENCE
BULLETIN
for Release: 2019/10/23 CO3015184
3 . 5 (c) Pl;/
9 Novembe:r 1956
Copy No. 112
DOCUMENT NO.
NO CHANGE IN CLASS. X
11 DECLASSIFIED
CLASS, CHANGED TO: TS Se,C
NEXT REVIEW DATE: _�
DAT E : 641EWER:
AUTH: HR 70-2
OFFICE OF CURRENT INTELLIGENCE
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
This document contains classified information affecting
the national security of the United States within the
meaning of the espionage laws, US Code Title 18, Sections
793, 794, and 798. The law prohibits its transmission
or the revelation of its contents in any manner to an un-
authorized person, as well as its use in any manner
prejudicial to the safety or interest of the United States
or for the benefit of any foreign government to the detri-
ment of the United States.
TO-P-SEC-RET
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CONTENTS
1. NEW ISRAELI ALERT
(page 3).
2. SOVIET MECHANIZED UNITS MOVE OUT OF BUDAPEST
(page 4).
3. SOVIET MOVES IN THE MIDDLE EAST CRISIS
(page 5).
4 SLOWDOWN OF BRITISH TROOP MOVEMENTS
(page 7).
5. LAB7R PARTY ADVISER COMMENTS ON BRITISH SITUA-
TION (page 8).
6. THE HUNGARIAN SITUATION
(page 9).
7. USSR EXTRACTED POLISH SUPPORT AT UN WITH THREAT
OF OCCUPATION (page 11).
8. POLES MAY ABANDON FIVE-YEAR ECONOMIC PLAN
(page 12)
9. CHINESE COMMUNIST TREATMENT OF SUEZ HOSTILITIES
page 13).
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I. NEW ISRAELI ALERT
A new alert of Israeli forces opposite
Jordan and Syria on 8 November, with
"hundreds of city and interurban busses"
lined up on the streets of Tel Aviv, is
believed to indicate that preparation
was being made for a heavy troop move-
ment and possible initiation of hostilities
against Jordan and Syria. This alert,
however, appears to antedate the day-
long policy talks which preceded Prime Minister Ben-Gurion's
announcement late on 8 November that Israeli forces would
withdraw from the Sinai after UN forces occupied the Suez
Canal zone.
re-
ported that 40,000 Israeli troops were already massed on
the Jordan-Syrian border "poised for a sudden attack at any
moment. Air reconnaissance over Syria and Jordan has in-
creased recently."
Israel's build-up opposite Jordan and
Syria may reflect an intention to retaliate against sharply in-
creased incursions into Israel by organized terrorist groups
from those countries. On the night of 7-8 November fedayeen
attacked along the entire Jordan border and in the Negev and
Gaza areas.
Israel may also feel that quick action
to seize West Jordan is necessary in view of reports of pos-
sible Soviet military aid to Egypt, Syria and Jordan. Seizure
of West Jordan would give Israel a defensible frontier. Its
annexation has been a long-standing Israeli objective.
9 Nov 56 Current Intelligence Bulletin
.Page 3
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2. SOVIET MECHANIZED UNITS MOVE OUT OF BUDAPEST
Comment
During the evening of 8 November there
was a steady movement of Soviet tanks
and other motorized equipment both north
and west out of Budapest. This has given
rise to speculation about a move against
the West or an attempt to bolster the
Austrian border.
The termination of large-scale resistance
in Budapest may be the occasion for this
move. One of the Soviet divisions probably involved in quell-
ing the riots normally is located to the west on the Austrian-
Hungarian border. There is no evidence of substantial resist-
ance to the north of the city or in Czechoslovakia near the
Hungarian border.
The USSR's reaction to Austria's strong
condemnation of Soviet aggression in Hungary and alleged
Austrian "interference" is not likely to go beyond a propa-
ganda tirade or a Soviet show of force on the border.
Reports of other Soviet ground force move-
ments--massing on the Polish border and tank units entering
Bulgaria--have not been confirmed.
9 Nov 56
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a.. SOVIET MOVES IN THE MIDDLE EAST CRISIS
Comment on:
A member of the Soviet delegation to
the United Nations reportedly told Arab delegates on 7 Novem-
ber that the Israelis have no intention of returning behind the
armistice lines and that a UN police force would only shield
them in their present positions. He said that if it were neces-
sary, the USSR would be able to provide sufficient volunteers to
force the Israelis back. According to a Saudi Arabian UN
9 Nov 56 Current Intelligence Bulletin
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delegate, members of the Soviet delegation met for a long
time with Arab representatives on the morning of 7 Novem-
ber
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4., SLOWDOWN OF BRITISH TROOP MOVEMENTS
Britain has postponed troop sailings
from Britain to the Mediterranean.
The troopship Empire Orwell did not
leave Southampton as scheduled on
7 November and,
will not depart
before 9 November, if then. British
press reports of 8 November stated
that the troopships Devonshire and Empire Clydgscheduled
for departure on 9 November with 2,000 support troops, had
been delayed because of the cease-fire. These postpone-.
ments cancel all known planned 7-9 November shipments,
which were to carry the last elements of the 3rd Infantry
Division. None of the ships which left earlier is known to
have turned back. The first was due to reach Malta on
9 November.
The British Air Ministry announced on
7 November that three squadrons each of Canberra and
Valiant jet bombers, almost half of the jet bomber strength
based on Cyprus and Malta, are now on their way back to
Britain.
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5 LABOR PARTY ADVISER commENTs ON
BRITISH SITUATION
Denis Healey, close adviser to Hugh
Gaitskell on foreign affairs, states
that Eden may be able to hang on for
a few weeks or months only because
the Conservatives cannot agree easily on his successor.
Healey thinks that even the center of the Conservative
party may turn against Eden as the extent of Britain's "dis-
aster" becomes more obvious.
The British Laborite charges Eden has
destroyed all the basic tenets of Britain's postwar foreign
policy, and that no one in the Commonwealth or Asia will
trust Eden any longer. He says trouble in the Middle East
is not over, and every Arab will say that Britain and France
gave in because of the Soviet threat. Healey believes Nasr
will remain and rebuild his prestige among the Arabs.
9 Nov 56
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6, THE HUNGARIAN SITUATION
Although some resistance centers in
the provinces appear to have been
eliminated by Soviet troops, fighting
has cOnfirfued in Budapest on a dimin-
ished scale and apparently in the
uranium mine area near Pecs in south-
west Hungary,
location stated that
Hungarian soldiers were throwing their weapons away but
that the "population is arming itself and getting prepared:"
The Kadar regime has admitted that
famine threatens Budapest and has called on all workers
to ensure the delivery of food supplies. "Transport in the
territory of Budapest," a 7 November broadcast declared,
"is in a shattered condition; work has ceased in the fac-
tories?' According to a press report, the USSR has author-
ized the entry into Hungary on 9 November of an Interna-
tional Red Cross convoy carrying medical supplies for
Budapest.
The government has issued a series
of decrees designed to re-establish its political and eco-
nomic authority throughout the state. Government minis-
tries have been ordered to resume operations on the basis
of their 1 October organization, civil service workers have
been ordered to return to their jobs by 10 November, and the
prerevolutionary executive committees of regional govern-
ing bodies have been designated as the ruling authorities
in the provinces. Revolutionary bodies formed early in the
uprising will be permitted to serve in an advisory capacity
within regional governments and within the various ministries,
but they have been ordered to disband within the Hungarian
military forces, since "they have rendered central direction
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In the army impossible." This order, signed by the increas-
ingly important deputy premier Ferenc Muennich, in his
capacity as vice chairman of the Council of the Armed Forces,
also instructed members of the army at present in barracks
to remain at their posts, and members who have become sep-
arated from their units to stay where they are until further
measures are announced.
Unconfirmed rumors are circulating in
Hungary that Soviet units are rounding up young Hungarian
men in Budapest for deportation to the USSR.
9 Nov 56
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7, USSR EXTRACTED POLISH SUPPORT AT UN WITH
THREAT OF OCCUPATION
Polish first secretary Gomulka agreed
to support the Soviet Union in the United
Nations on the Hungarian issue only be-
cause of a vigorous Soviet threat to oc-
cupy Poland if he failed to do so
An
emergency session of the Polish politburo
held on 4 November had considered the
possibility of abstention on the issue.
The USSR reportedly offered several
concessions to soften the threat, includ-
ing agreement to the dismissal of Marshal
Rokossowski as minister of national
defense and his replacement by General
Berling, commander of the wartime
Polish Communist army which fought with
the Soviet armies.
Gomulka
stated at a recent private gathering that he believes the
main problem of Polish foreign policy remains the German
danger, and that only the friendship of the USSR will guar-
antee for Poland the maintenance of the Oder-Neisse line.
This theme has been stressed in recent Polish propaganda
and probably was a major factor in Polish unwillingness to
differ openly with the USSR.
In spite of this unwillingness to oppose
Soviet policy, Polish propaganda has not endorsed Soviet
intervention in Hungary. According to the American em-
bassy in Warsaw, the press has approached the situation
"as though disarming a time bomb," and most of its state-
ments on the subject have been in general terms. The popu-
lace has expressed revulsion at Soviet actions, and a large
but orderly demonstration of students waving Hungarian
banners decorated in black took place in Krakow on 5 Novem-
ber.
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POLES MAY ABANDON FIVE-YEAR ECONOMIC PLAN
Trvbuna Ludu,
The Poles are prepared to abandon the
current five-year economic plan (1956--
60) as being of dubious "practical impor-
tance," and to devise instead a short-term,
possibly two-year program, according to
Polish Communist Party paper.
The paper noted that the five-year plan
was prepared under conditions of "undue optimism," and that
a number of its provisions are "not suitable for the new eco-
nomic plan."
Comment The principal purpose of revising the
economic program would be to moderate
the previous Soviet-imposed emphasis on heavy industry,
which is a basic cause of Poland's present economic diffi-
culties. Gomullca, in his 21 October speech, stated that
Polish industry had been developed too swiftly to maintain
a balance with other economic sectors. A change in the
Polish plan would probably affect over-all co-ordinated
bloc plans, but the extent of the effect cannot be gauged
until details of the plan are released.
A more rational economic program would
tend to decrease trade with the other bloc countries and in-
crease it with non-Communist countries. To prevent this
loosening of economic bonds, the Soviet Union reportedly
is willing to grant Poland a million tons of wheat (worth
$60-75,000,000), enough to meet the country's import re-
quirements for one year.
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9, CHINESE COMMUNIST TREATMENT OF
SUEZ HOSTILITIES
Peiping's current propaganda on the
Suez crisis has assumed the dimensions
of a major campaign comparable to the
"liberate Taiwan" movement in 1954.
Regional broadcasts and many of Pei-
ping's foreign.languageprograms are devoting virtually their
entire news coverage to reports of Egyptian developments.
"Spontaneous" mass demonstrations in support of Egypt are
reported all over China.
The Chinese Communist line generally
parallels that of the Soviet Union, but in some respects
Peiping goes further than Moscow in its denunciation of
Britain and France and in attacks on the United States. In
their official statement of 8 November, for example, the
Chinese called American support of the Canadian proposal
for a UN police force part of a "vile scheme" to take over
Egyptian territory. The US rejection of the Soviet proposal
for joint Russian-American intervention is cited as evidence
the US is "conniving at British and French aggression."
Peiping may thus be acting as spokesman for the Sino-
Soviet bloc to put across ideas Moscow itself hesitates to
voice at this time.
On 7 November, Peiping broadcast a
report that more than 250,000 Chinese have written the
Egyptian ambassador to express their "ardent desire to
volunteer." "Volunteer" participation is not mentioned in
the 8 November statement, however, which says only that
the Chinese government and people are willing to adopt
"all effective measures within our ability, including the
supply of material aid!'
Chou En-lai has
asked what sort of material assistance president Nasr needs
and how it should be sent.
9 Nov 56
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