893.20/438
The Chargé in Germany (Gordon) to the Secretary of State
[Received June 3.]
Sir: I have the honor to report that General von Seeckt, who retired in 1926 as Commander of the German Army, left Germany some time ago for China, where he is now reported to have arrived at Shanghai on May 8, presumably for the purpose of assisting in the military training of the Chinese Army.
As early as January of this year, it was rumored that General von Seeckt was negotiating with the Nanking Government which desired to secure his services as military adviser. This rumor was subsequently denied in official circles, and even by the General himself, but from information which has come to hand from reliable and intimate sources since the time of Seeckt’s departure, there appears to be no doubt as to the nature of his visit to China. The German press, however, maintains the fiction of the purely private character of the General’s visit. Hugenberg’s Lokal Anzeiger, for example, under a Shanghai date line, stated that the German Consulate there had denied the fact that von Seeckt had arrived in China to undertake the organization of the Chinese Army, that he had visited friends in Batavia, and that he had come to Shanghai for the same purpose.
Although the employment of a German military officer by China, in a capacity as above indicated, would seem to constitute a clear violation of Article 179 of the Treaty of Versailles37 on the part of both Germany and China, military attaché circles in Berlin are noncommittal and appear not to attach importance to the matter.
Respectfully yours,
- Treaties, Conventions, etc., Between the United States of America and Other Powers, 1910–1923 (Washington, Government Printing Office. 1923), vol. iii, pp. 3329, 3404.↩