793.94/16311: Telegram
The Consul at Hanoi (Reed) to the Secretary of State
[Received 9:10 p.m.]
36. My telegram No. 31, November 7, 3 p.m.49 This afternoon the Chief of Staff informed me that he estimated the total number of Japanese troops now in Tongking as about 14,000 and that the evacuation of Japanese towards Hainan had been retarded by a shortage of transports. He expected the greater part of the above number to be gone from Tongking (except garrisons at Haiphong and Gialiam) by the end of November. The Indochina authorities were at a loss to understand this movement and the evacuation of South China unless some move toward the south was contemplated. He discounted the persistent rumor that this movement of Japanese forces would begin alleged peace negotiations between China and Japan and was more inclined to believe that the undoubted heavy concentration at Hainan were in anticipation of German-Russian conversations paving the way to a Japanese-Russian understanding that would give Japan a freer hand in the Far East.
Sent to Cavite for repetition to the Department, Chungking, Peiping, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Canton.
- Not printed.↩