740.0011 EW 1939/31968: Telegram
The Ambassador in Turkey (Steinhardt) to the President, the Secretary of State, and the Under Secretary of State (Stettinius)1
1880. Most secret for the President, the Secretary and the Under Secretary.
An American newspaper correspondent informed me this afternoon that the Turk censor had told the foreign correspondents this morning that no further press despatches referring to the battle on the Island of Leros would be passed by the censors.
I interpret the foregoing as indicating a desire by the Turks to conceal the increased assistance which they are rendering to the British on the islands who are being hard-pressed, and who are said to have been out-numbered for several days as the result of the landing of German reinforcements. This interpretation is supported by the fact that the lighthouses on the Turk coast in the vicinity of Leros were extinguished last night to permit the landings on Leros by the British of Greek guerrillas.
- No record has been found of the forwarding of this message to Roosevelt, who was aboard the U. S. S. Iowa en route to Africa at this time.↩