852.00/9173: Telegram
The Ambassador in Spain (Bowers), Then in France, to the Secretary of State
[Received 8:44 p.m.]
631. From Matthews:
“No. 25, April 25, 6 p.m. I had a long talk with Gazel54 yesterday afternoon. He said that the French attitude with respect to Spain is one of ‘considered optimism’. By this he meant that after carefully weighing all the factors involved the French are ‘optimistic’. The various reported troop movements including those in Spanish Morocco have been explained as necessary to facilitate food supplies for the troops in question (he emphasized the general food shortage in Spain) and this explanation seemed well founded. There were to be no troop movements in the region of the Pyrenees of sufficient importance to [Page 776] worry the French. ‘And I can assure you that we are well informed on these matters’ he added. While the French would have preferred perhaps a somewhat different distribution of troops in Spain they accepted the reasons given as logical (food, return to home regions, et cetera) and felt that in addition as a ‘small favor’ to Spain’s recent allies some movements were made to help German and Italian withdrawal as soon as practicable and their wish to detract attention from the east. He felt that the German fleet maneuvers were along the same line. He confirmed the departure of several thousand Italian legionaries from Spain and active preparation of the German Condor legion (specialists) to depart immediately after the victory parade at Madrid, the date of which is not yet officially set. What interests France more than the presence of the Italian legionaries is their air planes; there are at the present time some 50 in Mallorca and an unknown additional quantity in continental Spain.
Perhaps the most important factor in the French Embassy’s optimism was the solemn and categorical assurance given Marshal Pétain and Gazel on Saturday by General Jordana that no secret military or semimilitary commitment has been given by Spain to either Germany or Italy other than what is contained in the published text of the Anti-Comintern Pact. Gazel said that he warned Jordana on the danger that the Germans and Italians might take advantage of Spanish friendship on their presence in Spain to make temporary use of Spanish territory for naval or air bases and referred specifically in this connection to the unauthorized bombing of Minorca by Italian planes during the surrender negotiations on the British war vessel. He said that Marshal Pétain left Jordana in no doubt as to the consequences of such misuse of Spanish territory. Jordana was quite cordial throughout the interview.
Gazel likewise seemed more encouraged that German and Italian influences will progressively diminish and more convinced that the country’s present state of exhaustion will constitute an overwhelmingly determinant in favor of Spanish neutrality in the event of a general war.
In spite of Spanish complaints at delays in returning Republican arms and munitions, Gazel said these are in part at least due to Spanish procrastination; for example, a number of Republican planes (most of which are of American manufacture, he added) have been awaiting delivery at Toulouse for some days but no Spanish pilots have arrived yet to take them and the same is true of crews for Spanish fishing boats and merchant ships.
The French Consul at Alicante has at last been released. The daily influx into Spain of refugees, however, continues at 400.”
Copy to Paris.
- Counselor of the French Embassy in Spain.↩