File No. 763.72111N83/61
The Chargé in Norway ( Schoenfeld) to the Secretary of State
[Received August 22, 1.14 a.m.]
1040. British Minister informs me that on the 19th instant he delivered to the Minister for Foreign Affairs an aide mémoire which described as unsatisfactory the reply dated August 12 of the Norwegian Government to his representations regarding mining Norwegian territorial waters, reiterated the arguments in support of such a course, cited specific instances which had been observed by British naval forces at great risks to themselves of violations by German submarines of Norwegian neutrality, and which contained a statement that would be construed, and was intended to be construed [Page 1781] by the Norwegian Government, as a warning that if within a short period the measures demanded by the situation be not carried out, action would be taken to close Norwegian waters in the area affected by means of mines.
British Minister informed me in strictest confidence that the War Cabinet in London had decided that within 14 days, presumably counting from the 19th instant, the area in question would be mined by British or Allied naval forces if the Norwegian Government shall not, by that time, have taken the necessary measures. He said that the British Embassies at Washington, Paris, and Rome had been directed to recommend the issuance of instructions to this Legation and to the French and Italian Ministers here to give warning to the Norwegian Government.
I understand, meanwhile, that the British Minister has not given the Norwegian Government an intimation of an actual time limit within which Norway must take the measures deemed necessary, and that he is deferring doing so until our Allied colleagues and particularly this Legation are instructed to give such warning.
British Minister has also been authorized in his discretion and if it prove opportune to do so, to state to the Norwegian Government that it may count on aeroplanes and anti-aircraft artillery to be supplied by Great Britain in the unlikely event that Germany should attack Norway if her territorial waters are mined. As to this, I do not know whether the British Minister has made such a communication to the Norwegian Government.
My Allied colleagues are of opinion, which I share, that actual hostilities by Germany are unlikely. As to the instructions referred to in my 1037 of yesterday as having been sent to Norwegian Legations in Washington, London, Paris, and Berlin, demanding explanation of the violations of Norwegian waters by belligerent submarines, it would seem that if the Germans deny having used Norwegian waters they cannot logically object to the Norwegians mining said waters; if the Germans admit having used them, the Norwegian Government has a better case for mining than ever.