BERLIN AND VICHY

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 61, Issue 251, 5 August 1941, Page 3

BERLIN AND VICHY

REPORTED DEMAND FOR BASES, AMERICAN STATEMENT DENIED. (United Press Association-Copyright.) LOND ON , Ah gh St .4. The latest news of the relations between Germany and Vichy is a denial by Vichy, of a New York report that Count. Fernand de Brinon, Vichy’s representative in Paris, has returned to Paris with a rejection of German demands. The Vichvi statement said that Count de Brinon had not taken back any message about German-French relations. The New York report said it was believed that Germany was demanding the cession of French bases, including Dakar, and the return of M. Laval to the Cabinet. It was also said that Vichy had been given to midnight on Saturday to answer, and that the ultimatum was rejected by Marshal Petain, General Weygand, and Admiral Darlan. If the ultimatum was rejected, it was reported, Germany would resume the attitude of a conqueror to the conquered. Paris newspapers continue to clamour for more co-operation between Vichy and Germany, but so far there has been no decision on home and foreign policy. There is still no news of what the Vichy Cabinet was discussing during the week-end. From French reports, it is suggested that Marshal Petain will have to make an important decision 1 soon.

General Hhntziger, Vichy’s Minister for National Defence, is being convassed as the one most likely to become mftre powerful in the near future. He and Admiral Darlan had a two-hour conference on Saturday. At Marseilles, a Vichy spokesman reports Marshal Petain as having said, at the end of the Cabinet meeting, that he was prepared to sacrifice his personal popularity for the salvation of France. It is not certain, a London spokesman pointed out, whether Marshal Petain means his popularity with France or with Germany. The French Communist Party, which is Openly advocating opposition to the 'Germans, is making conditions more difficult for Hitler to gain hi,s ends. The monthly newspaper published by the party praises the British - Russian agreement and urges closer unity between the anti-Hitler nations.