740.0011 European War 1939/21452: Telegram
The Consul General at Algiers (Cole) to the Secretary of State
[Received May 7—4:23 a.m.]
296. For the Under Secretary from Murphy. May I again urgently invite your attention to the lapse of time which has occurred in the despatch of a qualified American Army officer to contact the group mentioned in my March 1441 (your 104, April 16, 4 p.m., and 111, April 18, 4 p.m.42). The leaders of the group now inform me that an Allied intelligence agent has been in contact with them and according [Page 299] to him, London is sending a military expert to meet a representative of the group on May 20.
The group is in a state of effervescence over the Madagascar operation as an example of what should not happen in French North Africa. They continue to plead for our cooperation in organizing an effective coup d’état well in advance of any military intervention urging that the technique of ultimata and debarkation without prior accord with someone inside the country who controls an effective organization is costly and may in this area prove disastrous. They point out that the French Army and Naval authorities in North Africa have orders to resist military intervention attempted by anyone except the Axis. They confirm that Vichy’s orders are to that effect and that in case of Axis intervention, the North African authorities must await Vichy’s specific instructions. They fear that Axis rejoinder to the Madagascar intervention will be some form of action against Tunisia which may happen before we have perfected our liaison and preparatory to organization with our friends here.
If Allied forces debark here without prior accord with an effective organization inside the country, the rank and file military undoubtedly will obey orders (see my 276 April 29, 4 p.m.43). Once the shooting has started it would be impossible to stop it before much blood has been shed unnecessarily. They refer in that connection to Darlan’s message to the Governor General of Madagascar44 urging maximum resistance, hurling invectives against the British. They say that they fully understand that the American authorities cannot disclose to them their plans in advance but they do not understand our apparent dilatoriness in sending a qualified Army officer (see my 167, March 18, 3 p.m., and my 203, April 2, 10 a.m.45) to discuss organization with them and at least work out many preliminary details. They feel that the time available may be shorter than we imagine.
The group is sending this morning the person mentioned in my 248, April 18, midnight, to Vichy in order to keep them fully informed of the trend as it concerns this area. They will convey to us any data of interest they may obtain. They find a ray of hope in the reasonable tone of the Laval note and commentary on Madagascar.
In cooperation with Eddy46 at Tangier the group is establishing an independent radio contact with us as part of the American chain in this area.
[Page 300]They feel that there is a possibility that American official representatives can be obliged to leave this area or that they may be deprived of cipher privileges.
I am very much impressed with the group’s earnestness of purpose and their potential usefulness (please refer to the last paragraph of the enclosure of your letter of March 547). I feel that we should provide the military contact now. May I not have the benefit of your advice? Please acknowledge the receipt of this telegram. [Murphy.]