810.20 Defense/1371
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Liaison Officer (Wilson)
The Ambassador of Ecuador83 called this morning in order to discuss with me the question of acquiring arms under the provisions of the Lend-Lease Act.84
After I had outlined to him the various steps to be taken by each interested government in order to obtain the amounts allotted by the Joint Army-Navy Advisory Board, he told me that he had just received a telegram from his President asking whether the Ecuadoran Government could obtain twenty million rounds of 7.92 caliber ammunition, ten million rounds for machine guns, and ten million rounds for rifles. If these cartridges could be delivered as soon as possible and, in any event, within the fiscal year ending June 30, 1942, the Ecuadoran Government would expedite the steps necessary to acquire the armaments allotted by the Joint Army-Navy Advisory Board.
Consultation with Colonel MacMorland85 revealed that no ammunition of this caliber is being manufactured at present in the United States and that in order to do so it would be necessary for the factories to change their machinery. This would not be worth their while for such a small order. Colonel MacMorland went on to say that the only rifle and machine gun ammunition that is now being manufactured consists of .30, .50, and .303 calibers. I transmitted this information to the Ambassador and he asked whether there might be some stocks of the 7.92 cartridges on hand. I passed this inquiry on to Colonel MacMorland, who answered that he was certain that no such stocks existed. This reply was conveyed to the Ambassador.
The Ambassador told me that the machine guns in question were manufactured by the Skoda Works in Czechoslovakia and that the rifles were Mausers and Mannlichers.