893.24/466
Memorandum by the Second Secretary of Embassy in France (Higgins)95
Since the beginning of the Sino-Japanese War there has been a Chinese Munitions Purchase Commission in Berlin. I have seen this morning a memorandum sent by it to the Chinese Embassy here giving the terms of a German offer for the sale of a quantity of munitions for immediate delivery to the Chinese Government. This stuff is urgently needed. The memorandum is dated September 1, 1938. The material offered for sale consists of:
- 1.
- 120 75–millimeter field pieces at approximately 4,000 pounds sterling apiece.
- 2.
- Shells for the above.
- 3.
- 60 105–millimeter field pieces (presumably howitzers) at approximately 5,000 pounds sterling apiece.
- 4.
- Shells for the same.
- 5.
- 100,000 Mauser rifles and ammunition at 14 pounds sterling apiece.
The material is all new and of the most recent models. Calculating from the above figures, it will be noted that the total order would amount to over eleven million dollars. Terms are 25 percent cash and the rest credit, F. O. B. Rotterdam. The Munitions Purchase Commission is at present engaged in trying to make arrangements to get together the necessary cash, approximately three million dollars.
- Copy transmitted to the Department by the Ambassador in France in covering despatch No. 2894, September 2; received September 16.↩