740.0011 European War 1939/2116

Memorandum of Conversation, by the Secretary of State

The Minister of Norway called at his request. After some preliminary exchange of sympathetic interest regarding the calamity which has befallen his country by reason of foreign invasion, the Minister said that he expected to give out a statement about the way Norway had been treated, et cetera, and requested me to read it. This I declined most respectfully to do and proceeded carefully and fully to explain to the Minister that it would not be best either for his country or mine for me to pursue steps of this nature; that it would create misunderstanding, criticism and attempts to develop disturbances; that, therefore, it was my practice here in the State Department not to read statements of foreign diplomats in Washington intended for publication. The Minister said that he understood fully my viewpoint and he seemed to acquiesce cheerfully in the position I expressed. I did not, therefore, read the paper he had with him or receive any synopsis of it.

[Page 153]

The Minister, as I understood him, exhibited much bitterness against Germany. If he included Great Britain and France, it was in such a veiled manner that I did not follow him in this respect.

I requested the Minister’s opinion as to when the German expeditionary force must have sailed in order to reach the northern ports of Norway before the British and the French sowed the mines along the North Coast on Monday morning last. He replied promptly that, in any event, the Germans would have been obliged to organize their expeditionary force, get it to the point of departure, and sail at least twelve hours in advance of British and French action. In other words, he was convinced that the Germans initiated and launched their invasion well in advance of the mine-sowing by the British and the French.

The Minister stated that he had not heard from his Government since early yesterday; that none of his cables had been answered, and he interpreted this to mean that the Germans were in rigid control and not permitting communication between him and his Government. He said that he could not tell thus far exactly what kind of military control the Germans were imposing on his country; that when the German officials first reached Oslo, they called on the proper officials of the Government of Norway to turn over the entire country to the military control of Germany; that the Cabinet and other authorized officials convened at once and conveyed a negative reply to this demand; that thereupon the German officials made it clear that they would crush any resistance.

C[ordell] H[ull]