740.0011 European War 1939/16893: Telegram

The Consul General at Algiers (Cole) to the Secretary of State

606. From Murphy. Your 325, November 21, 6 p.m., last paragraph. I am told that 2 weeks ago Darlan, after a long series of German complaints that the German Armistice representatives in French Morocco were ignored and mistreated, restricted unnecessarily to their movements which were controlled by French liaison personnel and not allowed “to occupy in the eyes of the native population the dignified position to which representatives of the great German Reich were entitled”, yielded to their demands for more liberty of movement. They have always enjoyed the technical right to wear uniforms and [Page 482] carry side arms just as the Allied Armistice Commission representatives did in Germany after the last war. The French insisted in the beginning that unpleasant incidents would be avoided if the Germans ordinarily did not assert their right to appear in public in uniform. They have not been granted, according to reliable sources here, police powers.

Repeated to Vichy, Casablanca and Tangier. [Murphy.]

Cole