740.0011 European War 1939/10967: Telegram

The Chargé at Tangier (Childs) to the Secretary of State

152. Monick informed me at Rabat that upon his return to Algiers from Vichy on May 5th he had had a long, and for us, highly important conversation with General Weygand:

1.
Weygand stated to him that he was thinking day and night of the responsibility he would have to take and that he would take. While he could not discuss in advance those eventualities with American representatives he was anxious to know in the most precise terms concerning the help he could count on from the United States. Weygand stated that in his mind the timetable of the help he was to receive was as important as the help itself.
2.
I understand from the above that while Weygand does not desire to have discussions or negotiations with representatives of the United States concerning which he would feel obliged to render an accounting (the Department will recall in this connection the action Weygand felt obliged to take with respect to the first communication made to him by us last year), nevertheless, he is most anxious for the preparation of his own plans that he should be acquainted through those of his staff most in his confidence with a definite plan of what the United States may be able to extend to him for the day of action. It must be emphasized that what is in Weygand’s mind in this respect according to Monick is a concrete plan in all its possible details capable of being applied systematically from the moment that zero hour is reached.
3.
Monick informed me he attached the utmost importance to the foregoing as it is the first occasion in his many talks with Weygand [Page 334] since the Armistice when the latter has gone so far as to commit himself so definitely to the possibility of undertaking a decisive stand under given circumstances.
4.
I asked Monick if my Government was in possession of all necessary information concerning French North Africa’s military needs and he stated that it was.
5.
The Department will no doubt be aware that the British Government has repeatedly approached Weygand with the suggestion of staff talks and that he has consistently ignored these approaches. This is information I have had from my British colleague.

Childs