863.00/1417: Telegram
The Chargé in France (Wilson) to the Secretary of State
[Received March 11—11:55 p.m.]
380. I dined with the Austrian Minister tonight and have just left him. At 3 o’clock this afternoon he saw Delbos and advised him [Page 424] of the first German ultimatum demanding postponement of the plebiscite and resignation of Schuschnigg. The Foreign Office advised him later that they had inquired of the British and Italian Governments if they would join with the French in a démarche at Berlin and had received a negative reply in both cases. Later in the afternoon the Minister advised Delbos of the second ultimatum delivered officially by the German Chargé d’Affaires in Vienna and threatening action by German airplanes if Schuschnigg did not resign by 7:30 p.m. Vienna time.
The news in Paris at 8 o’clock tonight received over the radio from Vienna was that Schuschnigg had in fact resigned. At 9:30 Adam, Chief of the Federal Press Bureau, telephoned the Minister to say that Miklas had refused the ultimatum and Schuschnigg was still Chancellor. At 10 o’clock Rochat49 telephoned from the Foreign Office to inform the Minister that the British and French Governments had agreed that their Ambassadors in Berlin should advise the German Government as follows: Their respective Governments protest most energetically against this act of coercion against an independent state based on military measures with the intention of creating a situation incompatible with Austrian independence; this is bound to cause the most serious reaction, the ultimate consequences of which cannot be foreseen.
Rochat at this time said that Puaux had just telephoned from Vienna that Schuschnigg was still Chancellor. About 10:30 the Minister spoke on the telephone with Hornbostel in Vienna, who also reported that Schuschnigg was still in office. Shortly thereafter however Adam again called from Vienna to say that Seyss-Inquart was now Chancellor. Rochat then telephoned to say that the French Government had received similar information. Rochat added that the Franco-British démarche mentioned above was in fact made in Berlin tonight though at what hour he did not know.
- French Director of the Cabinet of the Ministry for Foreign Affairs.↩