740.0011 European War 1939/9253: Telegram

The Consul at Casablanca ( Stanton ) to the Secretary of State

11. Referring to the Department’s 31, March 15, 2 p.m., to Tangier, reports regarding German infiltration of 6,000 soldiers and 800 officers are unfounded; a careful checkup from reliable informants indicates that there are no additional official members of German Commission so that a total of about 56 may be accepted as correct. The total number of unofficial German representatives including mining engineers, newspapermen and Gestapo agents may not exceed a score except for various suborned French, Polish, Czechoslovak, Belgian, Spanish, et cetera, fifth columnists who are working in German pay. However, recent reports indicate that incoming German agents familiar with native conditions have been creating difficulties in the dissident area running east and south of the Atlas Mountains from Oudjda via Tafilet to Agadir where German military prestige has ranked high.

[Page 276]

A curious side line: a reputed British woman known to the French to be a Nazi agent has been detained by the French theoretically for pro-British activity but actually to forestall the Germans who hardly can demand the release of a British subject.

Repeat to Embassy at Tangier and Vichy.

Stanton