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Enclosure No. 1. in är. Butler's despatch No. 280 of 49er 7th,

1939 to H. M. Aubassador, Washington.

MENORANDU K

?

Mr. Amleto Vespa has been intimately acquainted

with Manchuria, Mongolia and 3iberia for nearly

thirty years, and speaks Russian, Chinese and

Mongolian fluently. The Japanese "inherited" him

from their Chinese predecessors in Lanchuria, and

from 1931 to 1937, he was employed by the Military

Mission in Harbin as a go-between and interpreter

and constantly accompanied Japanese forces on their

expedition. He is thus perhaps one of the few

foreigners who have had frequent opportunity of

observing Japanese and Russian forces in action on

the Manchurian frontiers.

His recent book, "Secret Agent of Japan", makes

it evident that he has no love for the Japanese and

he may, erefore, be credited with impartiality at

least when he states that, in the sporadic border

warfare of the past five years, the Russiana have

in all cases taken the initiative. He credits the

Japanese with sincerity in their professed desire

to avoid war with the Soviet Union. In explanation

of the Japanese anxiety tout an end to frontier

tension, he suggests at the maintenance of large

forces in Manchuria is not only very costly in money

but also in life, since the intense cold has always

entailed large casualty lists. The Russians, on the

other hand, are better equipped to withstand cold,

and their armies in Siberia, so fer from being a

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