740.0011 European War 1939/8963: Telegram
The Consul General at Beirut ( Engert ) to the Secretary of State
[Received March 12—11:10 a.m.]
70. My 42, February 19, 1 p.m. The same informant states that [with] two armies at the gates of Greece and Thrace, he doubted whether the Eastern Mediterranean could withstand the impending grandiose attempt to obtain control of its shores. He went on to say it was obvious that Germany was now in a position to exercise terrific pressure on Turkey and Greece and the French here felt the communiqué issued at the end of Eden’s50 stay in Athens was so pathetically weak that it did not deceive anybody.
I asked him whether he thought that Darlan’s51 defiant warning to the British yesterday was due to his belief that the British could not win. He said it was partly that but chiefly because Berlin probably insisted he must say something to counteract the effects of the Lease and Lend Bill.52
He then asked me if I really believed passage of the bill would make any difference to the outcome of the war. I replied that I most emphatically thought so and hoped he would tell the High Commissioner that I thought so. I added that we were the last people in the world to allow ourselves to be bullied or frightened. As for Syria we realized that Germany was seeking a new road for her ambition to gain unobstructed access to the Middle East. But we refused to believe that the French and natives in Syria were ready to fall in with German plans and, I begged him to remind the High Commissioner that the Nazis feared only those who were determined to defend themselves. The penalty of subservience was contempt at the hands of the aggressors and in Syria could only end in loss of honor for the French and every hope of independence for the natives.
[Page 691]I felt it necessary to be very outspoken because the spirit of defeatism referred to in my 49, February 26, 9 a.m., has been growing, apparently both as a result of recent instructions from Vichy and ceaseless German propaganda in connection with the situation described in my 61, March 6, 9 a.m. Element of coercion seems to be ever present and I therefore consider it important that we constantly point out possible serious consequences if matters are allowed to drift. Passage of the Lease and Lend Bill should enable us to say to men like General Dentz that we have entered into a new relationship with all enemies of aggression and that every inch one of us surrenders also weakens the position of the rest. He should therefore give thoughtful consideration to his opportunities.
Repeated to Vichy.