868.248/58: Telegram
The Minister in Greece (MacVeagh) to the Secretary of State
[Received December 28—12:45 p.m.]
379. My telegram No. 375, December 21, 3 [4] p.m.88 My inquiries having disclosed no apparent agreement I laid before the Premier personally on December 23 the views expressed in the Department’s telegram 309, December 19, 8 p.m., and have now received from him a communication dated yesterday setting forth his reasons for not agreeing with those views, and making a further urgent appeal for the fulfillment of the United States Government’s offer to Greece.
[Page 603]The Premier’s appeal is contained in a first person note and an attached memorandum. Pertinent portions of the note read as follows: (in translation from the French)
“Two months have already passed since Greece became a victim of the unjustified aggression of a Great Power, 2 months during which this country, insufficiently equipped, has been obliged to sustain a hard struggle for her independence and for the principles of liberty trampled under the feet of the aggressor. Tomorrow unforeseeable developments may bring us to grips with still greater forces and oblige us to face considerably more formidable technical means. If under such circumstances we should not be assisted in our efforts to procure the material necessary to support the spirit of the nation, our sacrifices may have been made in vain and the consequences which would follow may be grave.
“I consider it necessary to insist very strongly on this point, Mr. Minister, and to appeal once again for the assistance which is necessary, nay indispensable, to enable us efficaciously to confront the imperious exigencies of the hour. I like to hope that your great country will not ignore Greece’s confident appeal and that it will realize with all the sympathy which we feel we can expect, the necessity of coming to her assistance without delaying further.”
The memorandum reads as follows:
“With reference to the communication of the United States Minister, according to which the Greek Government should accept the offer of the British Government of 30 Defiant planes instead of the 30 Curtiss-Wright P–40 which the United States finds difficult to deliver, owing to their having been reserved for the needs of Great Britain, it seems necessary to make the following observations.
“In answer to the Greek Government’s appeal for the urgent supply of 60 fighters made to the United States Government, the American Under Secretary of State notified the Greek Minister to Washington, the 20th of November last, that, owing to President Roosevelt’s personal intervention, the United States Government were conceding ‘30 planes of the latest type, of those under construction for the United States Army’ reserving themselves to consider subsequently the ceding of the remaining 30.
“Shortly afterwards, on November 27th, the Under-Secretary of State informed the Greek Minister at Washington that, after consideration of the matter by the competent American authorities, the 30 promised planes would have to be ceded out of those under construction for Great Britain. However, the British Government, having been consulted in the matter, refused to consent to this solution insisting that they could not give up the planes being constructed on their account.
“On December 13th, the Department of State notified the Greek Minister to Washington that the competent Ministers, Messrs. Hull and Morgenthau, had attended to the question of the planes, but that the British Purchasing Commission had declared that they were unable to cede the P–40 planes, instead of which ought to be delivered to Greece an equivalent number of those under construction for the [Page 604] United States. In any case, the Greek Minister was advised that the United States’ promise concerning the delivery to Greece of 30 planes continues to hold good.
“Following this it was proposed that the Greek Government accept in lieu of the above the delivery of 30 Defiant planes which, it was asserted, without [would] suffice to meet the Greek needs.
“At this point a cable was sent to the Greek Minister in Washington, Mr. Diamantopoulos, making clear the reasons why the Defiants, proposed as a substitute for the promised planes, could not fill the needs which they would be called upon to meet. These reasons are that Greece, having to face a great power with a strong air force today and very probably having to confront one of the most modern and most powerful air fleets in the near future, must, in order to effectively meet the needs arising from the above, ensure the supply of the latest and most powerful aircraft. The Defiant plane, therefore, does not seem to possess the required qualifications. What is needed is a light pursuit plane of the latest type, while the Defiant is a rather heavy two-seater fighter plane, comparatively slow on the ascent. For these reasons it is no longer in use in Great Britain for the pursuit of the attacking German aircraft.
“It is unnecessary to point out how important it is for the effective carrying out of the war and to the end of repelling enemy aircraft attacks against the country, that the Greek Air Force be supplied with the most appropriate means, and not with material of substitution. Already it appears that Greek airplanes may shortly have to meet German airplanes on the front in Albania. In consideration of this possibility, and in view of the hard fight which the former is carrying on, in spite of insufficient means, the Greek Government are willing to accept any sacrifice in order to obtain the proper material. In fact, the latter, despite the limited means of payment in dollars, have decided to give over out of the meager stock of which they dispose the entire sum required for the payment in full of the 60 planes that were expected to be supplied from the United States. It is hoped, therefore, that the United States Government will not wish to deprive Greece of her precious aid at this critical hour, when she is engaged in an unequal struggle for her liberty and for the principles of freedom which the great American Nation has always defended.
“In this hope the Greek Government believes that they may without fear of misunderstanding insist upon their request for the supply of ‘planes of the latest model out of the lot now being constructed for the United States Army’ and which were the subject of the original promise of the United States Government. If this description did not refer to type P–40—of which mention was made later on, in the statement informing the Greek Minister of the refusal of the British Government to give up the planes of this type being constructed on their account—it certainly did not concern the ‘Defiants’ which are not being produced in the United States and which are already no longer being produced in England. What was meant, as was moreover clearly stated, was the latest type of fighter planes which is now being supplied to the United States Air Force and whose characteristics were not defined in the original communication to the Greek Minister.
[Page 605]“The Greek Government gratefully hastened to avail themselves of this offer, conscious of the fact that the planes at present being constructed in the United States—irrespective of type—rank among the finest in the world. They were willing, therefore, knowing that the country was in urgent need of such planes successfully to face the dangers threatening it, to undergo any sacrifice in order to obtain them.
“The reasons mentioned in the notice of the United States Minister, and concerning the difficulties which the use of such latest model aircraft would present to the Greek Air Force, do not seem to justify any anxiety. The fact that the mechanism of this type of plane is extremely complicated is not reason enough to prevent the supply of such planes to the Greek Air Force which is at present using several complicated planes of recent model, with which they are already familiar. It would, therefore, merely be a question of additional training for its pilots. As regards modern aerodromes, such are now in process of construction with the assistance of British engineers. Lastly, concerning the matter of spare parts, the aircraft being produced at present are always delivered with their spare parts. At any rate all the above are problems for which an appropriate solution may be found.
“It is sincerely hoped, therefore, that the United States Government, in their undoubted interest in the struggle of a small nation resolved to stake all its vital forces in the fight against brute force, will be willing to support this endeavor by supplying the Greek Government with the necessary technical means of which the United States dispose.”
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