851.48/271b: Telegram

The Acting Secretary of State to the Ambassador in France ( Leahy )

237. We are sending you another telegram outlining a provisional solution of food supplies to unoccupied France.86

While this Government is glad to make this offer it is necessarily concerned by the continued reports of German infiltration into North Africa. The Consulate at Algiers has reported, for example, on March 14, that there has been massive infiltration into Morocco, which however was subsequently denied by the Legation at Tangier.87 The [Page 270] French Government will appreciate that this Government is not in a position to recommend any solution of the food problem in an atmosphere of suspicion created by reports of German concentration in French Colonies and uncertainty with respect to this situation.

You should seek an early opportunity to bring these considerations personally to the attention of Marshal Pétain.88 You should state, moreover, that this Government fully appreciates the situation imposed by the Armistice terms on the French Government which we hope also appreciates our desire to be of assistance. We are confident that the Marshal will understand, furthermore, that in determining the extent of the assistance we can grant his Government and people we shall necessarily be influenced and restricted should the French Government accede to German demands for cooperation over and above the obligations assumed under the Armistice terms. In the negotiations which are at present under way in regard to relief the situation would also be greatly assisted if the French Government could gradually transfer its naval units to Atlantic ports in North Africa from the Mediterranean.

The activities of the Germans in North Africa as well as their infiltration into that country are a matter of such importance to the Department that you should continue to keep its preoccupations in this regard before the attention of the Vichy Government. Please maintain close contact with the Consuls in North Africa as well and endeavor to check their reports.

Welles
  1. Telegram No. 238, March 18, 8 p.m., p. 131.
  2. Telegram No. 66, March 17, 8 p.m., not printed.
  3. Marshal Henri Philippe Pétain, French Chief of State.