PAP PARIS This telegram must be closely paraphrased be- Dated May 14, 1940 fore being communicated to anyone. (D) Rec'd 6:43 p.m. Secretary of State Washington RUSH 659, May 14, 7 p.m. (SECTION THREE) We were at one of the most terrible moments in human history. France would fight on but the French soldiers, brave as they were, could not stand against simultaneous attacks by tanks on the ground and bombs and machine gun bullets from the air. Reynaud then implored me to obtain additional aeroplanes from the United States. I told him I feared there were none to be had. He then said that the war with Italy would involve Italian submarine attacks on all shipping in the Mediterranean. The British and French had an inadequate number of destroyers. He knew that the United States had a large number of old destroyers which could be used effectively against submarines. He implored me if possible to have the Government of the United States declare these destroyers to be without military value and sell them to the French and British Governments. BULLITT WC |