The President’s orders to these escorts were to attack any U-boat which showed itself, even if it were 200 or 300 miles away
from the convoy. Admiral Stark intended to carry out this order literally, and
any Commander who sank a U-boat would have his action approved. Everything was to be done to
force an "incident". This would put the enemy in the dilemma that either he could attack the convoys, in which case his U-boats would be attacked by American Naval forces, or, if he refrained from attack, this would be tantamount to giving us victory in the Battle of the Atlantic. It might suit us, in six or eight weeks* time, to provoke Hitler by taunting him with this difficult choice.
The Prime Minister said that he had thought it right to give the President a warning. He had told him that he would not answer for the consequences if Russia was compelled to sue for peace and, say, by the Spring tff next year, hope died in Britain that the United States were coming into the war. The President had taken this very well, and had made it
clear that he would look for an "incident" which would justify him in opening hostilities.
Dealing with
supplies for Russia, the Prime Minister said that we might have to make some sacrifices, but this would be well worth while so long as the Russian front remained in being.
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