Office of the Historian

890E.01/147: Telegram

The Consul at Beirut (Gwynn) to the Secretary of State 50

Beirut, August 23, 1942—7 p.m.
[Received August 24—9:07 a.m.]

300. In paragraph 9 of my 289, August 16, I said “it might lead to conflict et cetera”. I put it that way as I was anxious not to go beyond de Gaulle’s thought though I suspected he really meant armed conflict. He having repeated the same thing today I asked him to explain frankly what his statement implied. He said clearly, that if Churchill refused to cede in this matter he would request the British to leave this territory and if they refused to leave he would take measures to force them out.

Repeated to Cairo.

Gwynn
  1. Repeated to the Ambassador in the United Kingdom as No. 4017, August 24, 10 p.m.↩