852.00/5409
Memorandum by the Secretary of State
The Spanish Ambassador came in and handed me a Memorandum, a copy of which is attached hereto.85 I thanked him and stated that I would give the matter very full and careful attention and consideration and make reply to him at the earliest date possible.
I remarked to the Ambassador that, speaking entirely individually and without any reference to the merits of any question of any kind, I would venture to inquire as to how many men were now engaged in the civil strife in Spain from other countries. The Ambassador rather promptly replied that only 16,000 were thus engaged upon the Government or Loyalist side; that perhaps 80,000 Italians and many thousands of Germans in particular, aggregating all told near 130,000, if the Moors and Moroccans were to be included, on the other. I inquired where the soldiers were from who were fighting on the Government side, and he mentioned France, Belgium, the United States, and one or two other countries. He finally said that these reports about large numbers of Russian soldiers being on the Loyalist side in Spain were untrue, that only some flyers, who were magnificent, and some drivers of tanks comprised the Russian citizens participating. He said that with the foreign troops withdrawn, the Government or Loyalist side could win within two months, but that with them remaining the time would be indefinite. He finally added that in population the Insurrectionists comprised 9 million and the Government side 13 million, but that this was only a rough approximation since many citizens of the territory controlled by Insurrectionists had removed to other parts of Spain under Government control.
- Not printed; it requested interpretation of certain regulations of the Neutrality Law.↩