HSM                                          (Paris)
This telegram must be                             Bordeaux
closely paraphrased before being communi-                   Dated June 17, 1940
cated to anyone.  (Br.)                           Rec'd 10:36 a.m.
 
 
Secretary of State
 
     Washington.
 
     TRIPLE PRIORITY
 
     12, June 17, 2 a. m.
 
     My telegram No. 11, June 16, midnight.
 
     Baudoin sent for me at midnight to inform me that one hour before in the name of the
Petain Government he had requested the Spanish Government to ask the German Government on
what terms it would grant an armistice.  The communication to the Spanish Ambassador which he
later read to me urged that the request be transmitted at the earliest possible moment and that the
bombinb of French cities might cease immediately.
     In his expose of the reasons compelling his Government to take this grave step he said that
the French army "is completely smashed'; that slaughter of further thousands must be stopped;
that the fight was hopeless.  If the terms of surrender received however are "unworthy of the
honor or dignity of "France" they will be made public and their