740.0011 European War 1939/12891: Telegram
The Consul General at Algiers (Cole) to the Secretary of State
[Received July 8—1:10 a.m.]
297. From Murphy. My 244, June 14, 7 p.m. Weygand’s Aide tells me that the military automotive equipment in question consisting of about 1,000 vehicles was duly delivered to the German Armistice Commission representatives in Algeria. The officer in charge accepted the equipment and in fact complimented the French oil the care which apparently had been exercised to maintain it in good condition. The equipment was shipped to Libya and it now develops that the German [Page 389] military authorities there have protested vigorously that a large portion thereof has obviously been sabotaged, and an acrimonious discussion is going on between them and the German representatives here who accepted the equipment.
The same source tells me that when the delivery of this equipment was discussed some time ago at Wiesbaden the French Government succeeded in exacting from the Germans a quid pro quo amounting to 1,500 tons of automotive gasoline and cotton textiles to a value of approximately 6 million francs for delivery to North Africa. My informant states it is not at all certain that the Germans will make delivery under the circumstances but General Weygand wished us to know about the transaction.
Repeated to Vichy. [Murphy.]