[Enclosure]
Memorandum by the Counselor of Embassy in
France (Murphy), Temporarily at Algiers
Algiers, December 5,
1941.
I received the visit this afternoon on my return from Casablanca
of Mr. J. Lemaigre-Dubreuil, who arrived on Thursday from Dakar
[Page 495]
en route to
France. M. Lemaigre-Dubreuil is the owner of the newspaper Le Jour and has important interests in
the edible oil industry, particularly West African peanut oil.
He tells me that his invested capital in French West Africa is
in the neighborhood of 60 to 70 million francs. He has
industrial interests in the occupied zone. He is the proprietor
of the Lesieur edible oil plant at Dunkirk which was bombed by
the Royal Air Force a few days ago, causing damage, he says, to
the extent of four million francs.
Mr. Lemaigre-Dubreuil has always professed the friendliest
sentiments in respect of the United States, and ever since
General Weygand’s arrival in French Africa, has evinced a desire
to support his administration. He claims to be, and I believe he
is, anti-German, for sentimental reasons and because he is
convinced that German domination of France will in the end cause
him to lose his own business, as it will lose to most Frenchmen
the direction of their own affairs. He has said repeatedly that
we should understand that some French business men still believe
their interests would be best served by a German victory, and
that a British victory would only mean the bolshevization of
France.
The purpose of M. Lemaigre-Dubreuil’s visit was to tell me that
he considered General Weygand’s dismissal in the nature of a
major catastrophe which might well lead to France’s loss of her
African empire. Therefore, he said he proposed to work for the
establishment of a French African provisional government which
would be independent of Vichy. He declared that he is in contact
with leading French officials and military authorities in French
West and North Africa whose names he will disclose to me at a
later date. I know that he has important connections. He said,
however, that his plan is dependent on American support. He
believes that nothing can be accomplished unless the United
States would be prepared to consider the following program:
- 1
- —Recognize such a provisional government immediately
it is established;
- 2
- —Provide transport ships to carry French effectives
and military equipment now at Dakar to French North
Africa;
- 3
- —Arrange for the immediate shipment of arms and
ammunition to North Africa against
payment to be made by the provisional government
with gold now stored in French Africa;
- 4
- —Be prepared to send an expeditionary force of at
least three divisions to French North Africa;
- 5
- —Guarantee the complete restoration of all the French Empire to France
after the termination of hostilities;
- 6
- —Accept French command of military forces in French
Africa;
- 7
- —When French Africa proclaims its independence the
United States should send at least four warships to
Bizerta as a demonstration
[Page 496]
of its sympathy with the purpose
of the French African provisional government to resist
axis aggression.
Mr. Lemaigre-Dubreuil insisted that under such plan it must be
demonstrated that the French are acting independently of the
United States and that we must be careful to avoid any
appearance of collusion.
Mr. Lemaigre-Dubreuil also recommended that in any dealings with
French Africa, the United States must use the greatest
discretion as the Germans today are maintaining a most active
surveillance of everything which concerns this area. He said
that after all there were only two ways of defeating the
Germans: (1) by force or (2) by duplicity. He said that thus far
the French position is that not having any means to resist by
force, of necessity they must resort to ruse. In his own case,
for example, as his business requires him to go from the
occupied French zone to Africa, since his interests lie in both
places, he is even going to the extent of having a police record
carefully prepared which will be shown to the Germans indicating
that he is a collaborationist and pro-nazi.
I told Lemaigre-Dubreuil, whom I have known for a long time, that
his ideas are most interesting; that at the moment I could give
him no indication of the policy of my government with respect to
French Africa, because as I understand it, that policy is at
present under discussion at Washington. I could only tell him
that as he already knows, our general policy is to assist all
those who offer resistance to axis aggression.
M. Lemaigre-Dubreuil, who is now en route to Paris, and who, of
course, runs a grave risk should his actual plans become known
to the German authorities, promised that he would keep me
informed of future developments. He expects to return to French
West Africa on December 22.
