740.0011 European War 1939/18100: Telegram
The Consul General at Algiers (Cole) to the Secretary of State
[Received 10:15 p.m.]
2. From Murphy.29 A reliable official just returned from Paris and Vichy tells me that the French Government has agreed to the reopening of the Japanese Consulate at Casablanca. An Attaché of the Japanese Embassy in Vichy is now in Casablanca for this purpose.
The officials add that in addition to Casablanca the Japanese had requested permission to open a Consulate at Dakar. When this permission was refused the Japanese protested that the United States is permitted to maintain a Consulate at that place. According to the official the French Government sustained its refusal.
[Page 225]My informant said that there is great apprehension on the part of members of the French Government regarding Axis intentions in the western Mediterranean. He said that there is evidence of the presence of German effectives in southern Spain. He shares the opinion of his friends in Vichy that an Axis move directed against Gibraltar and Morocco is a distinct possibility during the next few weeks. He declared that most members of the French Government discount the notion of an Axis move against Turkey on the theory that action in the eastern Mediterranean is too vast and complicated. According to him Vichy believes that the German Government faced with the necessity of presenting its people with a quick victory to improve morale will choose action in the western Mediterranean possibly accompanied by a move over Sicily and Tunisia.
This official is not alone in the opinion that some form of provisional government must be set up in French North Africa (see my 602, November 25, 7 p.m.30). He believes, as do others, that at the appropriate moment Marshal Pétain31 must be faced with a demand from the Allies that he permit the establishment in French Africa of an autonomous government or incur the risk of Allied action to cut off metropolitan France from the Empire. According to my contact the choice of the person to head such an organization should of course be left to the Marshal to whom it will be obvious that only General Weygand32 would be qualified.
My informant said that there is no doubt that the Marshal fears incurring American displeasure but that he will vacillate under the influence of his associates until confronted with a substantial show of force. The official states that the spirit of resistance in France is growing as a result of the heartening news from Russia and elsewhere but that the danger continues that the small clique of French collaborationists who are well known to the Department will not only not offer resistance to German plans but will cooperate fully in their operation.
This official and another reliable source scoff at Admiral Darlan’s33 statement (see Vichy’s 1630, December 30, 3 [5] p.m.34) that he agreed to deliver gasoline to Libya from Algeria only because the Germans threatened to occupy Morocco.
They place no credence in the statement but suggest that Darlan is sufficiently [apparent omission] to believe that if he prevails on the Germans to replace the gasoline taken from Algerian stocks we [Page 226] should be satisfied that no violation of the North African Agreement35 has occurred.
The official in question was in touch in Paris with members of the French delegation to the Armistice Commission who informed him that in connection with the North African supply program that Hemmen, German Chairman of the Economic Committee, had informally agreed to the operation of the four French ships, two of which are now in Casablanca and two in New York. This followed Boisanger’s36 vigorous presentation of the North African situation for the economic collapse of which Germany would be responsible, he said, if authorization for this shipping movement was refused. No official confirmation has as yet been received at Algiers from the French Government.
Repeated to Vichy. Copy to Tangier by courier. [Murphy.]
- Robert D. Murphy, Counselor of Embassy in France on special assignment in French North Africa to control and supervise the economic aid program.↩
- Foreign Relations, 1941, vol. ii, p. 479.↩
- Marshal Henri Philippe Pétain, French Chief of State.↩
- Gen. Maxime Weygand, former Delegate General of the French Government in North Africa.↩
- Adm. Jean François Darlan, Vice President of the French Council of Ministers, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Navy, and Defense.↩
- Foreign Relations, 1941, vol. ii, p. 502.↩
- Murphy-Weygand Agreement initialed at Algiers, February 26, 1941; for text, see telegram No. 249, February 28, 1941, 10 a.m., from the Ambassador in France, Foreign Relations, 1941, vol. ii, p. 226. For confirmation of the agreement, see note from the French Ambassador, June 3, 1941, ibid., p. 239.↩
- Yves Bréart de Boisanger, Governor of the Bank of France and President of the Control Commission for Banks.↩