740.0011 European War 1939/12820: Telegram
The Ambassador in France (Leahy) to the Secretary of State
[Received 1:55 p.m.]
808. Embassy’s telegram 802, July 3, 4 p.m.18 Ostrorog18a informs us that a telegram has now been received from Arsene-Henry indicating that probably a decision was reached at the recent Imperial Council meeting in Tokyo in favor of a move against Russia. The so-called northern party seems to have “won out,” according to Henry, and has been strongly supported by German influence at Tokyo. The German motives he reported are threefold: first, for obvious military [Page 996] reasons, to create further difficulties for Russia; second, in the hope of bringing about a clash between the United States and Japan; and third, because Germany has no desire to see the Japanese move south toward the Dutch East Indies, an area with respect to which the Nazis have aspirations of their own. Ostrorog remarked that obviously Germany “did not recognize the Nanking regime for nothing” and some commitment for a move against Russia may well have been obtained from Japan.
- Vol. v, p. 522.↩
- Stanislas Ostrorog, of the French Foreign Office.↩