760F.62/631: Telegram
The Chargé in the Soviet Union (Kirk) to the Secretary of State
[Received August 31—6:55 a.m.]
273. The Czechoslovak Minister here states that he regards the conversation between Litvinov and the German Ambassador referred to in my 271, August 22 [29], 9 a.m., as a part of the series of démarches which Germany is said to have recently been making in various capitals and he characterizes the Ambassador’s observations to Litvinov as a bid for Soviet neutrality in case of a conflict. The Minister says that the German Ambassador presented to Litvinov the argument that the intervention of France against Germany in aid of Czechoslovakia would amount to an act of aggression on the part of France and that consequently the Soviets need not be bound to intervene and adds that Litvinov in rejecting this argument declared that if Germany should move against Czechoslovakia his Government would live up to its commitments to the full.
The Czechoslovak Government, the Minister continued, would go far in concessions in the present crisis but that there was a limit to such a course and that if that limit should be reached his country would fight and fight on a larger scale than was generally believed possible. He felt sure that France and the Soviet Union would come to the aid of Czechoslovakia and although he avoided specifying the exact nature of Soviet aid, he preferred personal confidence in [Page 563] the efficacy thereof. He admitted, however, that the position of England had not been definitely clarified in spite of the fact that the British Government must realize the danger which an unchecked Nazi Germany combined with Italy constitutes in Europe and particularly in the Mediterranean. The Minister added that he does not believe that Germany in reality wants a general war and that the justification for any optimism lies in the hope that the British Government will declare to Germany that England will not stand aloof in the event of a conflict and thus confront the German Government with the choice between a compromise in the Czechoslovakia controversy and the necessity of engaging in a major conflict. Other democracies the Minister felt should also make clear their position against aggressor states and in that connection mentioned appreciatively the recent utterances emanating from the highest sources in the United States. The Minister concluded with the statement that he believed that Hitler personally who is reported to be in an abnormally nervous state at the moment, was not convinced that England would move and that it would require the operation of that conviction to restrain him from pursuing his present course as well as some “psychological pressure” to enable him to desist from that course before it should lead to its inevitable end.