STATE OF TENSION

Evening Post, Volume CXXXI, Issue 31, 6 February 1941, Page 9

STATE OF TENSION

VICHY AND HITLER

CRITICAL STAGE REACHED

I (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, February 4. Though only the scantiest information, derived mainly from indirect sources, is available in London, little doubt is felt that the state of tension which exists between the Vichy Govi eminent and Herr Hitler has reached a critical stage. Contradictory rumours have been current on all aspects of the latest developments, but a report which finds general acceptance in the Press is that Admiral Darlan, at the meeting in Paris yesterday, gave Hitler's personal ambassador, Herr Abetz, some indication of Marshal Petain's reply to Hitler's recent Note, which has been described as curt and threatening. "The Times," in a leading article, says: "Everything indicates that a crisis has been reached and that the strongest pressure is being brought to bear on Vichy to accept the Gerrr n demands, whose precise nature can still only be guessed. "The appointment of M. Laval to a leading position in the Cabinet would be a personal humiliation to the Marshal, who dismissed him recently for more than sufficient reasons. It would also be an affront to a large majority of the French people, whose opinion of this astute turncoat was not formed yesterday. "But what Hitler really wants from the Vichy Government is something far more concrete and far more important. Unless all the omens are false, the principal point at issue is the possession of French Mediterranean bases and, possibly, units of the French fleet still congregated there."