740.0011 European War 1939/8761: Telegram
The Minister in Greece (MacVeagh) to the Secretary of State
[Received March 4—10:10 a.m.]
113. Mr. Eden arrived here yesterday accompanied by Air Vice Marshal Elmhurst [Elmhirst?] and General Mallabry [Mallaby?] of the War Office and was immediately received by the King. I saw him this morning at his invitation and afterwards talked to the Under Minister for Foreign Affairs and my Yugoslav colleague.
Mr. Eden said he thinks the immediate German aim is to “subdue” Greece either by threats or by invasion with the idea of taking over her territory for the establishment of air bases but that even if she is successful in this it will not affect the war seriously since Great Britain is rapidly cleaning up in the Middle East and will be “sitting pretty in Africa.”
He is satisfied that Greece will hold firm and indicated that Britain will give her all the support possible, adding that he believes it will take about a month for military action to develop on the Greek frontier on account of the state of Balkan roads. To my remark “you are sending reenforcements”, he said “I am not saying anything about that to anybody, not even to the United States or to the British [Page 654] Minister in Athens. We are treating the matter as reenforcements to the air force.” (See my telegram 106 of February 27, 3 p.m.)
He expressed himself as delighted with his reception in Turkey and stated that the Turks are both loyal and fully aware of the German menace to themselves but said they have neither the force nor the equipment to undertake offensive action. If Greece is attacked he thinks that they may possibly declare war and give the British the use of their air fields and other facilities but stated that Germany’s main effort in the Balkans will be directed against them and a drive to Salonika will be only a flank affair. He himself does not concur in this view but said it is a possible one and must be taken into account in judging the Turkish attitude. He said Sir Stafford Cripps reported Russia unlikely to make any move at present.
I communicated to Mr. Eden the substance of Mr. Lane’s30 number 134, March l,31 and he said he had run across the same situation in Ankara and that Saraçoğlu32 had laughingly remarked “Every time I see the Yugoslav these days there seems to be a malentendu; the next time will be malentendu number 4.” Mr. Eden said he believes the trouble is that the Yugoslavs have not made up their minds what to do in the case of an attack on Salonika. He called in the British Minister to Yugoslavia, now in Athens, and they agreed that an attempt should be made to get the Turks and the Yugoslavs together through the good offices of the British representatives in Ankara and Belgrade. In conclusion he remarked, “I believe that Greece, Turkey and Yugoslavia will all eventually come into the fight but there will be a lot of slipping and slipping before that happens.”
I found Mavroudis very depressed. Without knowing that I had just seen the British Foreign Minister he volunteered that he could tell me nothing about him except that despite his cheerful optimism his trip to Turkey had actually established only one new fact, and that a bad one for Greece, namely that the latter can expect no military aid from the Turks. Later the Yugoslav Minister33 also told me that he believed Mr. Eden’s trip had not been a success and showed himself even more defeatist than ever, saying that it is now too late to do anything against the Germans whose domination of Europe has been certain ever since the collapse of France.