740.0011 European War 1939/9249: Telegram
The Minister in Greece (MacVeagh) to the Secretary of State
[Received March 23—3:15 a.m.]
157. The Turkish Ambassador, just returned from Ankara, said yesterday that after seeing his President50a he could assure me that [Page 666] Turkey is “determined to resist” but while insisting that the Turkish and British staffs “are in complete agreement as to how best to fight the Germans” would not state definitely that his country will enter the war unless she is herself attacked even should Bulgaria join Germany in attacking Greece.
The Swedish Chargé d’Affaires50b who accompanied the Turkish Ambassador from Istanbul says that the Turks are “scared to death”. He reports conversations with Von Papen in which the latter indicated two motives behind a drive on Greece: (1) to prevent the British from attacking Italy from Albania; and (2) to cut off Turkey from the west after which she would be expected to succumb peacefully to pressure. He says Germans in Ankara claim they have 700,000 troops in the Balkans which could be devoted to the Greek adventure including a whole division of parachutists but that the campaign will be over in 2 weeks. When asked whether Yugoslav permission to pass by Monastir would not be helpful Von Papen replied, “Yes, of course, my dear, but it will not be necessary.”
Driving down by automobile from Alexandroupolos to Athens the Turkish Ambassador noted a few British officers in Salonika, British anti-aircraft units guarding the Vardar bridges and lengthy British motorized trains of signal corps engineers and artillery all the way from Verria to Athens. He also talked with men of a Greek mountain artillery regiment who said they were taking positions on the heights above Verria. A new battalion of New Zealand troopers arrived in Athens yesterday.