740.0011 European War 1939/16127: Telegram
The Ambassador in France (Leahy) to the Secretary of State
[Received 6:10 p.m.]
1374. My telegram No. 1367, October 24, 1 p.m. Lagarde asked us to call this afternoon and said that following our conversation yesterday word had been received of an “Anglo-Gaullist” advance into French Somaliland from the north. Since this operation seems to be “serious” he said the French “will be obliged to take steps to defend themselves” and he requested that we so inform the Department. (He gave no indication of total French forces in the Djibouti area but did confirm that four battalions of Senegalese troops, which the French last year vainly sought authorization to send to Indochina, are still there.) While he did not appear excited over this development he reiterated that he does not think the British attitude is defendable on any basis of military strategy.