740.0011 European War 1939/11694
Memorandum of Conversation, by the Under Secretary of State (Welles)
Lord Halifax came to see me at my house this afternoon as a result of a message he had sent me stating that he desired to see me urgently.
The Ambassador desired to request in the name of his Government that this Government bring pressure to bear upon General Weygand [Page 358] to refrain from permitting French military or naval forces under his control to attack the Free French forces under the command of General de Gaulle.
I said to Lord Halifax that in my judgment a request of this character made by the United States to General Weygand would result in the same kind of statement on the part of General Weygand which had been made to the representatives of this Government in the recent past, namely, that General Weygand would resist any attack upon the territories under his jurisdiction from whatever source such aggression might come, but that he was under the ultimate orders of Marshal Pétain and that he would have to be subject to that authority.
I said, however, that what this Government could and would do would be to inform General Weygand that if the forces in North or West Africa under the control of General Weygand were to attack the Free French forces in central or West Africa, not only would that be tantamount to a state of civil war, but such action on the part of General Weygand would result in gravely impeding the channel of communication through which the United States was giving assistance to British forces in the Middle East, and that, consequently, if such action took place, the United States could naturally no longer continue to carry out the terms of any agreement it had entered into with General Weygand to supply North Africa with material assistance.