740.00/754: Telegram
The Ambassador in France (Bullitt) to the Secretary of State
[Received April 10—9:25 a.m.]
686. I talked with Bonnet briefly tonight. He asked me to inform my Government that “it was five minutes before twelve”. There might be war at any moment.
He could not predict where the first blow would be struck. Poland, Rumania, Yugoslavia, Greece or the French and British possessions in North Africa might be the scene of the first attack. It was clear, however, that Germany and Italy had decided to rush their attacks and it was now merely a question of where and when general war would begin.
Today’s consultations between the French and British Governments as well as the meeting of the French Permanent Committee of National Defense had been concerned with the question of Albania and the Italian threat to Greece. The French and British had anticipated an Italian attack on Corfu and both the French and British Admiralties had given orders to their fleets with a view to meeting this eventuality.
He had just heard from Rome that Ciano had assured Lord Perth that Italy would not attempt to seize Corfu and would not attack Greece.
In view of the assurances that Ciano had given Perth during the past week this assurance reassures Perth but no one in Paris.
I venture to suggest that in your calculations for the future you should not exclude the possibility that decay in resistance to Germany and Italy among the smaller states of Europe may continue and that England, France and Poland may in the near future face war under desperate circumstances.