856D.24/46
The Under Secretary of State (Welles) to the Chief of Staff, United States Army (Marshall)
My Dear General Marshall: The Foreign Minister of the Netherlands left with me yesterday the attached memorandum.23 He told me that he had already given a copy to Mr. Harry Hopkins but asked very earnestly that I myself do what I could to obtain careful consideration of these requests by the ultimate authorities here. I am therefore taking the liberty of sending this to you personally.
The general picture which the Minister gave me concerning the situation in the Netherlands East Indies was exceedingly good. He said that the Netherlands Navy had more than sufficient arms and ammunition for its use and that they had in the islands all of the heavy artillery and coast artillery which they required. He spoke of the general determination to resist as being more than satisfactory and he said that the spirit and morale of the armed forces were admirable. Rifles and small calibre ammunition constituted, he said, their most urgent need.
Believe me [etc.]
- Not printed.↩