740.0011 European War 1939/18075: Telegram
The Ambassador in the United Kingdom (Winant) to the Secretary of State
[Received December 31—1:28 p.m.]
6286. Last night I had a long talk with Eden43 covering his Russian trip. His papers covering the detailed conversations with Stalin are not available as he had only one original which had gone to the printer in order to have copies made for Cabinet distribution, but I hope to send you a detailed statement tomorrow. The substance of his messages which he forwarded here I have already transmitted to you.
Incidentally we discussed the Saint Pierre and Miquelon situation. He told me that he realizes the Free French had gotten off base and had made a mistake but he hoped that in considering the incident [Page 570] we would relate it to the total war situation and he felt it would be a mistake to humiliate De Gaulle or to build up the Vichy Government at this time. He told me that he had information which made him feel that the Germans would use such a position to do damage to supporting elements in France. I told him I would transmit his estimate of the situation to you.
In your message No. 5885, date December 15, 7 p.m.44 you cabled me to ask him to contact our Embassy in Moscow. He did this and had several talks with our people there.
- Anthony Eden, British Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.↩
- Vol. i, p. 197.↩