740.0011 European War 1939/4198: Telegram
The Consul General at Casablanca (Goold) to the Secretary of State
[Received 9 p.m.]
42. Referring to the Department’s telegram No. 21, June 24, 1 see no evidence of the assumption of any initiative by any of the high officials looking to the organization of resistance. They are the purest conventionalists who will probably follow whatever orders they get, even to fighting for Hitler.37 This applies to all services.
Younger men are preparing to join the British. Some aviators will fly their planes, and some naval commanders will take their ships to Gibraltar. Many of the more spirited men in the Government at Rabat mean to go with Great Britain, among them Marchal,38 I am sure the Department will be glad to know.
But these men are much concerned about their families against whom reprisals well may be taken and anxiously inquire as to the possibilities of transit visas for Canada.
The truth of the armistice terms is carefully concealed from the public and the press has assumed an unfriendly attitude to Great Britain. In short, the spectacle is that of human nature at its worst, acting just as Hitler would have it act.