VICHY CONFLICT.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 61, Issue 17, 31 October 1940, Page 5

VICHY CONFLICT.

LAVAL OPPOSING PETAIN.

THE CARVING UP OF FRANCE. LONDON, October 30. Reports from neutral sources convey hints of the struggle which is being waged in Vichy over the peace demands of Germany and Italy; Marshal Retain, it is reported, is adamant in his refusal to yield to the pressure which is being exerted upon him by M. Laval to accept the dishonourable terms put forward by Herr Hitler and Signor Mussolini. Meanwhile the French Embassy in Washington repeats its assertion that there is no truth in the statement that France has agreed to make territorial concessions to the Axis Rowers.

The sequence of events is believed to be as follows:

Herr Hitler first saw M. Laval, and together they agreed on. terms providing for the cession of Alsace and Lorraine to Germany; the establishment of a “free zone” from Switzerland to the North Sea ; the cession of the Alpes Maritimes, Tunis and Algeria to Italy; most of French Morocco to Spain; Indochina to Japan; a joint German-Ital-ian-Frencli administration of tho French Colonial Empire; and the French Fleet and air bases’ in unoccupied Franco to be placed at the disposal of the the Axis.

M. Laval then returned to Vichy to place these terms before the Government, while Herr Hitler went on to confer with General Franco. M. Laval found that he could not persuade the Vichy Government to agree to the terms.

The next move was the meeting between Marshal Retain and Herr Hitler when the latter was returning emptyhanded from his interview with General Franco. All that is known of this meeting is contained in the French communique, which was as vague as human ingenuity could make it. It is said that Marshal Petain still persisted in refusing to accept the proposed terms.