852.00/3928
Memorandum by the Special Assistant to the Secretary of State and Chief of the Division of “Western European Affairs (Dunn) of a Conversation Between the Acting Secretary of State (Moore) and the Spanish Ambassador (De los Rios)
The Spanish Ambassador came in this morning by appointment to transmit to the Department a copy of an official statement issued by [Page 573] the Spanish Government7 with regard to the alleged activities of German and Italian war vessels in and near Spanish waters. This statement was published in the papers of today’s date.
The Ambassador, after delivering this statement, spoke of the conditions now obtaining in Madrid. He said that he had been on the telephone yesterday with his Foreign Office and had been informed that the situation in Madrid was extremely dangerous; that there was great difficulty in sending forward food supplies which, although was being done daily, had now reached the point which would require rationing of the food in Madrid. He also said that there was no guarantee of safety for the inhabitants of Madrid, that in fact all those who remained in Madrid were subject to being killed by the repeated bombardments of the Insurgent forces. He said that his Government had informed him that up to the present over one thousand women and children had been killed in Madrid by the bombing carried on by the attacking forces. This outside of any of the men who have been killed in the city. He stated that his Government had refused to admit that there was such a place as a neutral zone in the city of Madrid8 which was not subject to bombing by the Insurgents, because to admit a neutral zone would by the same act, admit that other parts of the city could be bombed.
The Acting Secretary stated that he wished the Ambassador and his Government to know that our decision to remove our nationals and officials from Madrid to Valencia9 had not been influenced by any political considerations but that we had been actuated solely by our concern for the safety of American lives in the face of the dangers any one in Madrid would encounter. The Ambassador said that he considered the removal of our nationals and officials to Valencia to be a wise course and that this decision had been well received by his Government who were doing all they could to cooperate in arranging facilities for this removal.
The Acting Secretary expressed to the Ambassador his regret at the trying circumstances under which his Government was laboring at the present time and the Ambassador replied to the effect that his Government were still hopeful of having a successful issue of the present situation.