File No. 860d.00/74
The Minister in Sweden ( Morris ) to the Secretary of State
[Received April 2, 12.26 a.m.]
1804. Following is memorandum on Finnish situation prepared for me by Captain Crosley:1
Civil war: After interviewing and observing leaders and other personnel on both sides, including a month of this with the Reds, the final outcome seems inevitable to me. The Whites must win.
Food: In southern Finland food is very scarce and grows more so. Much of the bread sold can only be eaten by a starving person. It is only a question of a short time when there will be starvation among the Reds and the civilian population in their control. This will most likely be avoided by the introduction of food by the Whites as they advance. In the north there is more food, the supply having been estimated for me by an apparently reliable source as sufficient for two months. The same source stated that “we will get food from Germany.” In view of the large percentage of the population, including women, now engaged in military activities, present and future production of foodstuffs and manufactured articles may be considered as negligible. Under German influence, as now seems most likely in the near future will exist, these conditions will improve.
Fuel: Owing to military activities, not much fuel is available.
[Page 780]Transportation: Because of all of the above, transportation of all kinds becomes more scarce and unreliable.
German influence: Among the Reds the Germans are hated. With the Whites are some Germans but many Finns who have served as much as two years with the German army and who are, so far as our interests are concerned, German. At the White front no German influence was observed. The officers and men at Ahlainen, front headquarters, could not have treated our party better. As we went north, first at Kristinestad we saw animosity against us which was marked at Seinäjoki and at Tornea, but did not result in any overt act against our party. The White officers are the jägers who have recently returned from the German Army. They wear a distinctive uniform and very much resemble Germans in manner and deportment. From a reliable source I learned that three German vessels had landed men and supplies in the White lines north of Mäntyluoto and south of Kristinestad.
- Capt. Walter S. Crosley, formerly Naval Attaché in Russia.↩