740.00112 European War 1939/9–2344: Telegram
The Minister in Sweden (Johnson) to the Secretary of State
[Received September 245:40 a.m.]
3844. For the Department only. My 3824 September 22, 7 p.m. When I saw Boheman yesterday I said that I was very glad to receive the information he had given me but that I could not refrain from expressing disappointment that the measure did not include all Swedish ports without exception. Boheman said that he had hoped that would be the case and that a number of the individuals (the Cabinet and the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Riksdag) who had a hand in the decision had the same view. He said that it had been the original intention of the Government as soon as Finland had ceased hostilities with Russia to take drastic action cutting off Swedish trade with Germany and that it had been planned to close all Swedish ports to all trade with Germany. He then remarked, and it is fair to say without any suggestion of bitterness or truculence, that the present decision would have covered all the ports if it had not been for the Anglo-American démarche. He said he did not believe we realized the extent to which this pressure had been resented by the Government and in particular by the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Riksdag, more than half of whom are members of peasant origin with a deep-rooted resentment of any foreign interference (see my 3842, September 23, 8 p.m.80). I told him that it appeared to me that events of this week in Denmark81 were of such an extraordinary nature that his Government would have been justified in any action even action which would have entailed a total break of relations with Germany. I reminded him of the remark which lie had made to me in a conversation of September 4 (my 3476, September 4, 8 p.m.) that when anything happened in one of the northern countries we should find that Swedish actions would be completely inconsistent with neutrality. Boheman said that he remembered making that remark perfectly and that he still stood by it. On September 4 he said the Swedish Government had secret information which led them to believe that on September 15 there would be a general insurrection in [Page 640] Denmark or Allied invasion or both; that the Swedish Government was prepared in such an event immediately to ship arms and ammunition with soldiers to Denmark and that they would be fighting anyone who was fighting the Danes. That determination he said still holds good and he made a remark about the large number of young highly trained men Sweden now has under arms with the plain intimation that it would be those soldiers who would carry their arms and ammunition into Denmark. I commented that if this were realized it would mean that Sweden would be fighting Germans in Denmark with all the natural consequences. Boheman smiled and shrugged his shoulders.
While he gave me the definite impression that he personally regretted that the present decision of closing the Baltic ports did not include all ports, he said that he thought there was much to be said for the argument of those who had been opposed to complete cutting of trade at this time that an insurrection in Denmark or an Allied invasion of Denmark would be a much better peg on which to hang severance of all relations with Germany with their consequences.
A prominent Dane now on a visit to Stockholm who is a member of the underground movement called to see me today and I asked him what he thought would be immediate developments from the German actions of this week. He replied that he believed nothing serious would come of it until the underground movement received “the signal”. He said that the Danes had an extraordinarily high degree of discipline and this discipline would be maintained until they received the signal for an uprising. They are hoping he said hourly for an Allied invasion. As Legation has previously reported and confirmed by this gentleman, the Germans have deported 1,700 Danish police to Germany presumably to serve as hostages. My informant today stated there are about 6,000 members of the police force still remaining in Denmark. He said that last week before the trouble started the police got their wind up and knew that something was coming. At that time the 6,000 left their posts and “went underground” where they still are.