125.6336/12–848
Memorandum of Telephone Conversation, by the Chief of the Division of Chinese Affairs (Sprouse)
Mr. Winckler61 telephoned today to inform me of his Embassy’s, receipt of a telegram from the French Ambassador at Nanking62 containing the following information in regard to Consul General Ward and his staff at Mukden:
On November 27 the French Ambassador at Nanking had received a message from the French Consul at Mukden, in which it was stated that after Consul General Ward had refused to surrender his radio transmitter to the local authorities all “U. S. citizens in Mukden were interned in their houses”. In reply to my question, Mr. Winckler said that the internment was reported to have begun on November 20. Mr. Winckler said that he did not know how the French Ambassador at Nanking had received such a message from his Consul at Mukden.
The foregoing information was obtained pursuant to my suggestion to Mr. Daridan63 of the French Embassy that it would be helpful to know if the French Foreign Office had received any messages from its Consulate at Mukden.