This telegram must be closely (Paris) Vichy paraphrased before being Dated July 28, 1942 communicated to anyone. (SC) Rec'd 5:47 p.m. Secretary of State, Washington. 1099, July 28, 5 p.m. Bern's 3431, July 25, 11a.m. We have EndEavored thus far without success to obtain confirmation of the visit of a German Naval Commission to Toulon on July 14. Both the military and Naval Attaches have been given categorical denials of this information by reliable official contacts. While it is always possible (since presumably it would have been undertaken with greatest secrecy) that such a vist may have occurred unknown to our informants, it does not seem likely that it could have been carried out without the knowledge of some of our reliable sources of information. The statement attributed to the informant mentioned in Bern's telgram that "France now has 106 submarines" does not coincide with our best information which indicates that the French have only about half this number. We shall continue, however, to follow this closely. In so far as Darlan is concerned, a member of his staff states that while he is still as anti-British as ever, b~_n undErtakEn wit.h grza~- may h.~vz occurrid unknown s~m ~.ik~_ly theft it could th~ knowlzdg~ of ,~om‚ of our r~lisbl~ sources of information.. Th~ to the i-nfo.rm~nt m~htion~-d in BErn' s now h~s 106 subm2rin~s" do~s information which indicates .. z h~lf this number. ~ sh~1! t~l~gram that "France not coincide with our best th2t the Fr‚nch hsv~ only about continuE, ho,~,,zv~r, to follow this c!os~ly. st~ff st~t~s that D~rl~n is' conc~rnzd, ~ member of his anti-British |