HITLER HASN'T ASKED FOR FRENCH FLEET

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 121, 24 May 1941, Page 9

HITLER HASN'T ASKED FOR FRENCH FLEET

DARLAN BROADCASTS

No Request To Declare War On Britain fnitml Press Association.—Copyrisht. Rec. noon. VICHY, May 23. Darlan. broadcasting to the nation asserted that Hitler had not asked for the surrender of the French I- leet -The whole world knows and the British better than anvhodv' that. 1 will not give up the fleet to anybody.*' he added. 'France retains her fleet ami Fmpire under the current agreements with Germany." Hitler had not asked France to declare war on Britain, nor had he demanded any colonial tcrritorv. 'Why should Hitler ask me to declare war against Britain?" he asked. "Germany, who started the wai by herself, considered herself capable of finishing it alone against any possible combination." Darlan stressed Frances defeat in the war and recalled her unpreparedness in the past, calling on the French people to support the Vichy Government and the policy of collaboration with Germany, started by Marshal Pctain at Montoire. He said that France had freely chosen the road she is taking. 'Hitler asked me to Berchtesgaden. but the question of France abandoning her sovereignty was not raised at any time during the conversations." he added. "It was necessary, before France chose between life and death, and Petain has chosen life. "Germany could have wiped France from the map last June, but didn't. Germany has now agreed to negotiate with the French Government. The future of France directly depends on the negotiations now proceeding." Truth Xot Revealed According to a British Official Wireless report Darlan referred to Vichy's negotiations with Hitler, but it is significant that he disclosed no precise details of the concession made by France, even going so far as to state that none had been sought. With much emphasis he declared that France would keep her fleet and Fmpire, adding that in the recent talks there was never any question of France's abandoning her sovereignty. It is. however, known throughout the world that substantial inroads into that sovereignty have already been made and are continuing.

The French colonies are no longer intact. German aeroplanes are encountering no opposition in their use of Syrian aerodromes as posts for carrying German assistance to the Iraq rebels, and in French Morocco German penetration through the German Armistice Commission and the activities of ■tourists'' is proceeding unhindered.

It may well be that the full German demands have not yet been revealed, for towards ihe end of his broadcast Darlan staled that negotiations were still in progress.

There was no comfort for the French people in the speech, through which Darian shielded himself behind IYtain. The speech did nothing to relieve the anxiety under which iho.-e in occupied France are suffering. Outside Franco it will do nothing to alter the belief that Vichy has become a willing tool of Hitler and that progressively the territories and resources of France will be at the disposal of the enemies of France and the Knglish-speaking world.

Britain's altitude towards Vichy as expressed in Mr. Fden's speech remains unmodified.