740.0011 European War 1939/11680: Telegram
The Consul General at Beirut (Engert) to the Secretary of State
[Received June 5—9:20 a.m.]
190. Local atmosphere especially in French circles has undergone certain almost imperceptible changes in the last few days. Collapse of the Iraq uprising75 despite facilities put at the disposal of the Germans by the French authorities in Syria has made the latter feel a little foolish especially as they had already visions of a plentiful supply of oil piped to Tripoli and an easy exchange of other commodities as intimated in the second paragraph of my 179, May 30.
[Page 719]On the other hand now that Crete is gone and we see the beginning of a new phase of the war most Frenchmen here are for the first time realizing the possibility of a complete German military occupation of Syria. Heretofore such a contingency had been regarded as too remote to require serious thought but today even those who believe in obeying Vichy are asking themselves whether Pétain would want Syria to become part of occupied France. And as few Frenchmen can conceal their natural hostility to the Germans they do not relish the prospect of Nazification in a part of the world they had considered immune. Not much desire of abetting further Axis infiltrations is left and even the High Commissioner is said to have warned Vichy that he could not be responsible for the consequences if Germany continued her activities here on a large scale.
In this connection a French officer said to me the other day “We have been in Syria for 20 years and do not propose to get out.” He was somewhat taken aback when I replied “American institutions have been in Syria for a hundred and twenty years and did not propose to get out either.”
There has been a slight revival of French morale and ever since the shipment of war materials to Iraq many officers havei declared themselves slightly out of sympathy with Vichy’s policy. They feel the British have every excuse to justify occupation of Syria but they still lack complete confidence that Great Britain is strong enough to take over Syria and protect it against a determined German attack. The Germans have been clever enough to sense this change and are now posing as the real protectors of the French Empire against impending British aggression.
Repeated to Vichy.