740.0011 European War 1939/14697: Telegram
The Consul General at Casablanca (Russell) to the Secretary of State
[Received September 5—4 a.m.]
440. The Chief of Staff of the division whose headquarters are at Casablanca informed Mayer in answer to the latter’s question that the war material being shipped from this port to Dakar was released by the Germans following representations by the French that their inability to defend Syria had been due to the lack of sufficient equipment. The French who were of course delighted to regain possession of some of the material stored under German surveillance following the Armistice had made the most, he added smilingly, of the American threat on Dakar.
Colonel Moll also said that the members of the German Armistice Commission in Casablanca are very discouraged over the turn of events in Russia and that reports received from Tunisia indicated that the Italians did not seem to think that they would be able to resist the anticipated British offensive in Tripoli. The Colonel is confident [Page 426] that within 2 or 3 months the Axis forces will have been driven out of North Africa and feels that when this has occurred, the political position of France vis-à-vis Germany will be much stronger than at present. The Germans, he thinks, are realizing that French collaboration is not sincere (it is difficult for the French not to show pleasure as well as surprise at the strength of the Russian Army) and are not likely to release much more war material for shipment to Dakar or elsewhere. French policy, he admitted frankly, was opportunist but necessarily so and he personally had no doubt about what French reaction would be if the United States ever could and did offer 3000 planes and 3 or more divisions “in North Africa”. Incidentally, he could not understand our alleged interest in Dakar. How could we get anywhere from there?
Moll was certain that reports which have reached the Consulate that the number of Germans attached to the Armistice Commission here had been materially reduced were incorrect. He did confirm, however, that German effectives in France were very substantially smaller than they had been. He had even heard that three Italian divisions had been sent to Alsace to replace German forces. He added that the German commission here was making strenuous efforts to enlist Germans and other central Europeans who were serving or who had served in the Foreign Legion. They were not meeting with much success, however, even among ex-legionnaires who were incorporated in labor battalions in the east of Morocco and living under very primitive conditions.