President Roosevelt to the Ambassador in Spain ( Hayes )43
My Dear Hayes: I have just received your letter of October 4, 1943, giving an account of recent developments in Spain. These are in general gratifying, and we have just learned that in all probability the Blue Division will have been retired from the front in a week.
It has been suggested that the Germans may form a sort of foreign legion, in which they will incorporate any members of the Blue Division who may decide, of their own free will, to continue fighting. It seems a little far-fetched to me, to suppose that any considerable number of these Spaniards would wish to remain on, especially as the voluntary character of their enlistment in the first place was subject to very considerable doubt. I wonder if this may not be a maneuver to maintain the Blue Division on the eastern front under another name.
Spain stands to lose in such a game, as you have been careful to point out to Count Jordana. I think it would be well for you to keep this reality before the Foreign Minister, in the hope that the Spanish Government will yet cleanly remove this awkward and ill-advised feature of Spanish foreign policy, albeit tardily, in the interest of the future of Spain’s foreign relations. If this situation could be completely corrected, and a statement issued by the Spanish Government, the effect would be more beneficial than any we may expect from half measures carried out secretly.
I well realize that you have been on the job steadily now for seventeen months, under most trying and difficult circumstances. You have, I feel, done a magnificent job and I want you to know that the very tangible successes you have achieved are fully appreciated here. I should have liked to call you home for consultation before this, but have felt it the part of prudence to postpone that satisfaction in view of the very rapidly evolving situation in the Peninsula.
Very sincerely yours,
- Copy obtained from the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library, Hyde Park, N.Y.↩