852.00/4347: Telegram

The Ambassador in Italy (Phillips) to the Secretary of State

17. My 11, January 9, 11 a.m.21 In recent conversations with Italian officials regarding Spain they admit quite frankly that both Italy and Germany are still resolved to allow no Communist government to be formed in Spain—Italy even more than Germany as it fears that any Communist triumph would spread to France and bring about a German move against France. Hitler, it is said, would not permit Germany to be surrounded by Communist countries in the East and Communist France in the West. Thus it is believed here that any weakening of France in the sense of increased Red influence there might precipitate a major European conflict.

For these reasons as well as to bar the entry of communism into the Mediterranean area, Italy is prepared to go even further than Germany in its determination to prevent the establishment of a Communist state in the Iberian Peninsula.

According to one Foreign Office official the close cooperation between Italy and Germany must be viewed in this light. He said that the German Government had become so intensely sensitive each time that Hitler had made a gesture of friendship toward France and had [Page 228] been repulsed, that there was positive danger of allowing Germany to remain with the belief that it was isolated in Europe. It was therefore in the interests of general European peace, he continued, that Italy felt it wise to enter into close contact with the Germans. Also the Danubian situation which presented constant possibilities of friction between the commercial interests of both Italy and Germany made it highly desirable for the two to work together.

With respect to the success of the present Franco-British move to check interference and provide more rigid control in Spain, Italy’s primary preoccupation appears to be to stop the flow of supplies and men coming in from France. If Italy can receive assurances from France that the latter is prepared to put an end to French assistance to the Communists in Spain, Italy would be more willing to take similar measures with regard to Franco’s government. Italy apparently does not feel that Soviet Russia without France can be an important factor in helping to bring about a victory of the Valencia Government. The Italians give the impression that they do not believe that Soviet Russia will embark on a war in order to achieve the desired results in Spain and although the Russians will undoubtedly continue to send reenforcements of munitions, money and men, this aid will not be effective if the French channel of access is closed. In Italy more blame is attached to France for continuance of the war even than Soviet Russia and the Italian newspapers are bitterly critical of the French attitude. There has been no editorial comment on the reports of German volunteers in Morocco but news stories are so presented as to give the impression that these reports are part of the general campaign of the Popular Front Government in France and are not accurate.

In connection with the Moroccan situation, the Soviet Ambassador told me yesterday that he was deeply concerned and feared that the problem presented by these German volunteers was creating a very grave situation. He had just talked by telephone to his Soviet colleague in Paris who told him that the French Government was also much exercised over the presence of the Germans in North Africa.

Phillips
  1. Not printed.