740.00116 European War 1939/359: Telegram
The Minister in Egypt (Fish) to the Secretary of State
[Received December 4—9:45 a.m.]
325. In reply to a question raised in Parliament last night the Prime Minister is reported by the press to have stated that the Egyptian Government had protested against the bombing of the civilian population in Egypt. However upon inquiring at the Foreign Office this morning the Legation was informed that no actual protest had been lodged. What had been done was to call the attention of the Italian Government to damage resulting from Italian air attacks and to state that it was intended to draw against Italian property under sequestration to provide provisional relief for air raid victims and repair of their houses. The matter has been handled through the Swiss Government since it had particularly to do with property under sequestration and the Swiss were in charge of Italian interests here. Had it been desired to lodge a formal protest the Foreign Office said the message would have been communicated through the medium of American diplomatic channels.
In his statement before Parliament the Prime Minister gave total civilian casualties from air raids in Egypt from June 22 to date as 155 civilians killed and 425 wounded. It may be noted that half of these casualties resulted from a raid over Alexandria during the night of November 18–19 which according to a recently released report resulted in 76 persons killed and 204 wounded, most casualties occurring in the poor quarter of Babsidra. Aside from this raid loss of life and property, damage has been relatively light. Only five deaths outside Alexandria are on record, one at Maadi and four in the Port Said area.