740.0011 European War 1939/30184/10: Telegram
The Ambassador in the United Kingdom (Kennedy) to the Secretary of State
[Received May 27—6:45 p.m.]
1400. Personal for the Secretary. My impression of the situation here now is that it could not be worse. Only a miracle can save the British expeditionary force from being wiped out or as I said yesterday, surrender. I feel that Reynaud’s visit yesterday was much more serious than appears on the surface. I think the possibility of the French considering a peace move is not beyond the realm of reason and I suspect that the Germans would be willing to make peace with both the French and British now—of course on their own terms, but on terms that would be a great deal better than they would be if the war continues. The method to be used to force the French to consider peace is probably annihilation from the air of one city after another. I talked with an airman this afternoon who has been in charge of one of the air squadrons and he said Calais is practically razed to the ground, that the fighters cannot locate the bombers any longer because of the terrific amount of smoke. The people here whose judgment I respect feel that if they start doing this to Lille and other French cities the French will not take it very long.
I realize this is a terrific telegram, but there is no question that it’s in the air here. The result of that will be a row amongst certain elements in the Cabinet here; Churchill, Mattlee, [Attlee?]87 and others will want to fight to the death, but there will be other numbers who realize that physical destruction of men and property in England will not be a proper offset to a loss of pride. In addition to that, the English people, while they suspect a terrible situation, really do not realize how bad it is. When they do, I don’t know which group they will follow—the do or die, or the group that want a settlement. It is critical no matter which way you look at it.
- Clement Attlee, British Lord Privy Seal and Leader of the House of Commons.↩