File No. 861.00/1703
The Ambassador in France ( Sharp ) to the Secretary of State
[Received 10.54 p.m.]
3770. Subject of your 3660 [3600], April 22, 3 p.m.,1 was [submitted] to Foreign Office 23d instant when Embassy was informed this whole matter had been communicated in detail to Ambassador Jusserand two days previous with instructions that he bring it to the urgent attention of State Department.
[Page 150]Mr. Pichon now writes that he has been informed by French Consul at Vladivostok of arrival in that port of a first contingent of 6,000 Czechs expected to be followed by several others aggregating 50,000 in all. However, competent military authorities believe that this number will not easily be reached. Nevertheless, the military attaché of the French Embassy at Tokyo has been instructed to proceed to Vladivostok there to provide for the billeting and ultimate transportation of these troops. Moreover, French and British staffs are considering the question of retaining in Russia such Czech elements, doubtless still numerous enough, who have reached Siberia with a view to their transportation by Archangel or Murmansk.
Foreign Office while appreciating the difficulties advanced by Federal Government regarding transportation from Vladivostok lays stress on the paramount political and military interest in assuring the transportation of these troops to France and requests me to submit these considerations to the Federal Government urging that the matter of transportation by such route as may seem most feasible be closely examined.