Franklin Roosevelt Administration: Reply to Protest Against Bombings in France

The American Chargé in Vichy, Mr. S. Pinkney Tuck, on September 7 was called in by Monsieur Laval who said that in recent bombings of Le Havre and Rouen by combined military forces of the United Nations a number of people were killed and others wounded and that he, M. Laval, desired to enter a protest to the American Government since it was reported some American flyers participated. Mr. Tuck's immediate reply was that these air forces were bombing military plants in the employ of Germany and that, of course, the Americans do not desire to see the French people suffer any more than can be avoided since they have already suffered to an incalculable extent under German occupation but that M. Laval must be assured that the military plants operated by or for Germany and other German military properties in France will be bombed at every opportunity in the future.

Sources: Dept. of State Bulletin, September 12, 1942; ibiblio