852.00/8747
The Acting Secretary of State to the Consul at Seville (Bay)
The Acting Secretary of State refers to the Consulate’s despatch no. 360 of October 18, 1938, in regard to a quantity of war material, allegedly of American origin, stated by the Spanish Nationalist authorities to have been captured from the Spanish Government forces.
The Department of State and the War Department have made a careful study of the memoranda supplied the Consulate by General Queipo de Llano and have come to the conclusion that it is extremely unlikely that any of these arms, ammunition, and implements of war were exported from the United States after January 8, 1937. All of the arms listed are old and obsolete, with the possible exception of the 37 mm anti-tank guns. The United States Government has a large supply of these guns on hand, but it has never at any time disposed of them. It is not believed furthermore that any private American manufacturer could have exported any guns of this type to Spain since the embargo went into effect.