852.00/5508: Telegram
The Ambassador in Italy (Phillips) to the Secretary of State
[Received May 24—3:10 p.m.]
241. My 239, May 23, noon.90 In discussing with Ciano this morning the report that the British Government had proposed an armistice in Spain he told me that the British proposal had in fact been received but that as he had only just returned from Budapest he had not yet had time to study it. He felt, however, that it was not a “very neutral proposal” in view of the fact that Franco’s forces were hourly making important advances in the Bilbao region and it could hardly be expected that there could be a cessation of hostilities just at the moment when Franco was about to achieve an important success.
- Not printed.↩