852.00/8450: Telegram
The Ambassador in Spain (Bowers), Then in France, to the Secretary of State
[Received 3:10 p.m.]
525. For the Secretary and Under Secretary. Viscount Momblas representing Franco’s Foreign Office here, going back and forth constantly to Burgos, told me “very confidentially” last night that the Germans are very unhappy in Franco Spain and not popular. He says their arrogance has been resented and he would not be surprised to see them leave at any time. He tells me that when the press reported a decree had been prepared recalling the Jesuits and restoring their property in rebel territory the German Ambassador called on Franco. He said that the report had caused much distress and uneasiness in Germany where such a step was considered reactionary and contrary to the policy on which Hitler and Franco were supposed to agree. Franco heard him in silence and then pressing a button summoned a clerk and instructed that the decree be brought in. The clerk on returning with the decree explained that it had been printed and would be published in the official gazette the next morning. “See that nothing interferes with its publication in the morning,” said Franco.
Such an unprecedented confidence from such a source convinces me that Franco is fearful of the effect of a European war with him aligned with Germany. This would drive the democracies to align themselves effectively with the Spanish democracy and mean his destruction in the end. Should the Germans act against France from their airdromes and artillery bases on the frontier regardless of Franco’s wishes it would mean French military intervention at once. I suspect Momblas intended me to report his confidence as evidence of Franco’s hostility to Hitler’s new adventure. Should war come, however, Franco will be tied to Hitler’s destiny unless the Germans with their planes, tanks, artillery, are sent out of Spain at once.