859.00/1053: Telegram
The Ambassador in the United Kingdom (Winant) to the Secretary of State
[Received September 10—4:23 p.m.]
6008. Text of note sent to Danish Minister quoted in Department’s 5355, September 215 was promptly given Foreign Office. We received today from the Foreign Office the text of a communication which Mr. Eden16 sent to the President and Chairman of the Danish Council in reply to one which had been addressed to Mr. Churchill on September 1. Mr. Eden’s communication reads as follows:
“In the absence of the Prime Minister and on his behalf I thank you for the telegram which you addressed to Mr. Churchill on September 1st assuring him of the keen desire of all Danes to further the cause of the United Nations. I take this opportunity to inform you that His Majesty’s Government have watched with sympathetic attention the recent developments in your country. It seems clear that King Christian and the Danish people have taken a courageous stand against the barbarous invader and his attempts to harness their country to his war machine. Action such as this which levies a new toll on the German war potential is a valuable contribution to the general war effort and one of which you can be justifiably proud. On behalf of His Majesty’s Government and the people of Great Britain, I express to you our deepest sympathy in the sufferings which your countrymen must now undergo and my hope that the day is not far distant when they can unite with your gallant seamen who sail with us and other free Danes here and elsewhere to hail a Denmark to whose liberation all Danes will have made an active and worthy contribution. I am sure that Mr. Churchill cordially endorses these views.”