740.0011 European War 1939/10286: Telegram
The Ambassador in France (Leahy) to the Secretary of State
[Received April 24—1:50 p.m.]
476. Lagarde,27 Chief of the African and Near Eastern Division, this afternoon made no attempt to conceal his disappointment over the increase in the number of the German Armistice Control Commission in Casablanca and frankly said that French policy several months ago of trying to reduce the number of Italians had been a strategic error: “Better any number of Italians”, he said, “than the Germans”. However he felt that we should not take “too tragic” a view of the situation for the present. The Germans have agreed to limit the number to 200 [Page 305] and the French will do what they can to prevent the number from being exceeded. Noguès is keeping them under close surveillance.
Furthermore, he said no visas issued by De Brinon are being honored in Morocco and a new system has been installed which will preclude issuance of a visa to Morocco without a number specifically authorized by the Sûreté Nationale at Morocco. Cancellation of our program for supplying North Africa at this time he said would merely be playing into the Germans hands and would certainly be misunderstood here. It would he felt but further strengthen the hands of the collaborationists.
The Italians, he said, under the new arrangement will still have control of the area near the Moroccan-Algerian frontier.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .
- Ernest Lagarde.↩