893.24/460
The Vice Consul at Saigon ( Palmer ) to the Secretary of State
[Received September 6.]
Sir: I have the honor to report that war materials are continuing to be received at Haiphong and to be despatched from there across the border into China. Details as to the quantities of the various commodities comprising the traffic are not known.
Presumably no munitions are being accepted by the railroad line which runs to Yunnanfu (because of an agreement with the Japanese). Airplanes, gasoline, etc. are not on the list of banned articles. Munitions are generally routed by rail from Haiphong through Hanoi to Langson, on the border, where they are transshipped by motor truck into China. There is said to be an extremely heavy traffic over this route.
[Page 606]The French cargo ship Min of the Messageries Maritimes arrived at Haiphong from France early in the second week of August with a very large cargo of munitions. (The vessel’s tonnage is: displacement, 18,006; gross, 7,997). To minimize the risk of an explosion in the port of Haiphong, the vessel’s cargo was discharged with great despatch and the railroad service was practically given over to transporting it—to the exclusion of all other goods—into China.
Respectfully yours,