852.00/5645: Telegram
The Counselor of Embassy in Spain (Thurston) to the Secretary of State
[Received 10:15 p.m.]
663. The Minister of State has handed to me a copy of a note dated June 3 he has addressed to the British Chargé d’Affaires for delivery to the Non-intervention Committee.
After reiterating the disapproval of the Spanish Government with respect to the control system, which placed it on a parity with the rebels, and presenting its version (my telegrams 652, May 29, 6 p.m. and 653, May 30, 9 a.m.) of the incidents which led to the bombardment of Almeria, the note presents the following résumé:
- 1.
- The Government protests against the bombardment of Almeria.
- 2.
- That as a consequence of the control system Spanish sovereignty has been abused and Spanish honor insulted.
- 3.
- The Spanish Government reserves the right to claim recompense for the material and moral damages inflicted by that part of the German Navy entrusted with control service under the Non-intervention Pact—a pact Germany and Italy systematically violated.
- 4.
- The Spanish Government demands of the states, parties to the pact, guarantees to the end that the exercise of its right to effect acts of war in its waters will not produce incidents such as those cited.
In conclusion it states that the Government is willing to submit for examination by competent international organizations the accuracy of the fact that the act of aggression emanated from the Deutschland.