851.34/164: Telegram
The Chargé in France (Matthews) to the Secretary of State
[Received 10:11 p.m.]
964. For the Secretary and Under Secretary. Department’s 713, November 13, 5 [4] p.m. I was received alone by Marshal Pétain this afternoon and presented to him as persuasively as possible our interest in purchasing the Jean Bart and the Richelieu. He listened with keen attention. When I had finished he replied as follows:
“I have given the most solemn assurances that the French Fleet, including these two ships, shall never fall into Germany’s hands. I have given those assurances to your Government; I have given them to the British Government, and even to Churchill personally. I reiterate them now. They will be used to defend French territory and possessions. They will never be used against the British unless we are attacked by them. I cannot sell those ships even if I wanted to. The terms of the armistice prevent it and even if they did not the Germans would never permit it. We are under their heel and powerless. If I were free I would gladly sell them to you, on condition that they be returned to us after the war and thus save them for France. Under present circumstances I must repeat I have neither the right nor the possibility of selling them.”
He said this with great seriousness but with no sign either of surprise or resentment at the suggestion. He then talked for half an hour of France’s present situation which I am reporting in a separate telegram.41