740.0011 European War 1939/10886: Telegram
The Ambassador in the United Kingdom (Winant) to the Secretary of State
[Received 9 p.m.]
1906. For the Secretary and Under Secretary. Following is text of a letter which the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs handed me personally this afternoon, with the request that it might be given the earliest consideration possible.
“I should be grateful if you could at once convey to your Government the following information which we have received in the last 2 days about the position in Syria.
On the 10th May our Consul at Aleppo reported that 3 German Heinkel planes, each carrying 6 passengers, arrived there from Beirut on the evening of the 9th May escorted by one small French plane. Two of the Heinkels left on the morning of the 10th May and we have what seems to be reliable information showing that they reached Mosul the same day. According to our Consul at Aleppo, one of the passengers was a German General, who received members of the German colony and friends at his hotel.
When our Consul General at Beirut took the matter up with the head of the Political Bureau of the French High Commission on the morning of the 12th May the latter at first professed ignorance but in the end telephoned to the High Commissioner, who is at Damascus.
General Dentz confirmed that the planes had landed at Aleppo, though not at Beirut. He said that this had been done without previous notice and that the planes claimed to have lost their way. He said that his orders were to allow German planes to land only if they were in trouble, and in that case effect immediate repairs and order the plane out of the country by the shortest route. He maintained that, in pursuance of these instructions, he had isolated the planes and crews while overhauls were effected and then asked them to leave.
[Page 704]As a sidelight on this explanation I should add that General Dentz himself informed our Consul at Damascus on the same day that two of the planes that had landed at Aleppo were Iraqi and the third plane French.
Our Consul General at Beirut has further reported that about 10 aircraft flew over his house early on the morning of the 12th May at intervals of a few minutes, heading eastwards. One of the planes, which came low, seemed undoubtedly to have had Italian markings, but it was not possible to identify the others. The head of the Political Bureau told Mr. Havard that he thought all the machines must have been French as there were a hundred French aircraft in Syria which were periodically exercised. Commenting on this statement, Mr. Havard says that aerial activity on such a scale is most unusual.
Our Consul at Damascus also has reported unusual aerial activity on the night of the 11th to 12th May. He has heard various reports that 13 German planes bearing French colours have alighted at Damascus in the last 2 days and the British Vice Consul saw 2 troop carriers and 6 bombers on the aerodrome on the morning of the 12th. When he questioned General Dentz, the High Commissioner would not deny that Axis planes had landed at Damascus, and one of the senior French officials there practically admitted it.
General Dentz went on to say to our Consul that his instructions did not at present provide for a German occupation of Syria, but if those orders came he would obey them.
So much for enemy planes. Both our Consul at Aleppo and our Consul General at Damascus have received reliable reports to the effect that a substantial quantity of war material has been despatched from Aleppo for Iraq. According to the former, two trains left Aleppo on the morning of the 12th each carrying 400 tons of munitions from the French dumps. The head of the Political Bureau admitted the despatch of war material to our Consul General at Beirut, but asserted that it was being sent to strengthen the French frontier defences in case rebel parties tried to force their way into Syria. Our Consulate at Aleppo, too, had heard that the trains were leaving nominally for a frontier post in Syria but, according to a reliable report, the French N. C. O.’s who superintended the despatch of this material were convinced that it was intended for Iraq.
The foregoing reports are disquieting. They show that the Germans, with the connivance of the French authorities in Syria, are already making use of Syria for their preparations to send airborne assistance to Rashid Ali in Iraq. So far, such assistance does not seem to have been sent on a large scale. If, however, this use by the Germans of Syrian territory for military purposes continues, it is evident that the results will be very serious indeed. I can not help wondering, therefore, whether there is anything that the United States Government can do to stiffen French resistance to these German activities in Syria. No doubt the State Department are receiving full information [of] all these developments from Mr. Engert, your Consul General at Beirut, and are already considering what can be done. I would, however, suggest that immediate action at Vichy, and perhaps also by Mr. Engert, might be very useful. If only Vichy can [Page 705] be induced to send instructions to their authorities in Syria that no facilities of any kind are to be given to German military operations, and that no use is to be made of Syrian aerodromes for sending German or Italian help to Rashid Ali, that would be the most satisfactory solution. Failing that, perhaps an attempt might be made to stiffen General Dentz, whatever Vichy says, but in view of his admission to our Consul at Damascus this does not seem very hopeful.”