THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 1942 THE RETURN OF LAVAL

New Zealand Herald, Volume 79, Issue 24250, 16 April 1942, Page 6

THE New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 1942 THE RETURN OF LAVAL

The return of Laval is a sinister event. This suspect and defeatist in the first Great War, this opportunist who as his riches grew swung from the Left to the Right, who played Mussolini's game over Abyssinia, who in the dark days of May and June, 1940, intrigued against continuing the fight in Africa, and whose collaboration with Hitler was too much even for Petain to stomach —this sallow traitor with the dark impenetrable Mongol eyes has returned to power. Since Petain ordered his arrest in December, 1940, Laval has patiently bided his time and he has found it as Germany clears the decks in the west for the attack on Russia in the east. So he , is consistent in one thing—his fear ' of the Soviet and anxiety to help ' Germany in its destruction. On the eve of the armistice the journalist Knickerbocker urged that France should fight and that if she gave in then she was finished. Laval's reply 1 was characteristic of the man: "You see, I don't think France is Germany's primary object. I think her real aim is Soviet Russia." As Germany turns to the east for what she ' hopes is the final account Laval declares himself for friendly relations • with the conqueror. This can only mean active military and possibly 5 naval assistance to Hitler. While - French troops may not be sent to the Russian front, they may be effectively equipped and under anglo- , phobe officers, of whom there are enough in France, be stationed on the French coast for the purpose of • resisting a British-American invai sion. Hitler dare not risk a successful attack in the rear. With the example of Dakar in his mind, he has 1 perhaps determined to leave to . Frenchmen, strengthened with Ger--3 man regiments, and with Germans at all the key points, the task of oppos--5 ing the liberation of their own i. country. Laval makes no secret of his hatred of Great Britain. His proposals for friendly relations with the United States and Germany do not include the British Empire. In the view of Petain, Laval and their confederates the fall of France was the prelude to the fall of Britain. All that concerned Laval was that he should be on the winning side. He may have never wavered from the belief that Germany will ultimately triumph. But in any case he is now so deeply compromised that Germany's defeat must mean his destruction. As Japan's successes have grown and with the failure of Great Britain to conquer Libya and shake the allegiance of the French troops in North Africa, Laval no doubt feels that now is the time for all French traitors to strike with Hitler. Were the French and Italian navies to join forces in the Mediterranean our capacity to reinforce ' Admiral Somerville in the Indian Ocean would be small. At the most critical hour in the war Laval may think that the weight of France will turn the scale in favour of Germany. Any pledge to withhold the use of the French Navy is valueless. It can indeed be used for convoying supplies to Rommel and raw materials from West Africa for German use. Laval would protest that this were merely collaboration. But his profound interest in German victory gives only one significance to his return to power: a surrender, immediate or eventual, of all the resources and arms of France to Hitler. In spite of infinite patience the United States must now despair of its policy of conciliating' Vichy France. Supplies of food to Marseilles and of oil and machinery to North Africa have been the methods of the State Department to keep Marshal Petain loyal to the expressed terms of the armistice and steadfast in his pledge not to use the French Navy against Great Britain. American goodwill and generosity have not prevented Vichy from repeatedly going beyond the terms of the armistice. Yet the Marshal's policy of stalling as long as possible for time and ultimately conceding only a portion of German demands owes a good deal to American buttressing. Dire threats in respect of the million and a-half French prisoners and continual pressure from Hitler and the whole brood of pro-German French in Paris have driven him to take back Laval. He must know that this will mean a rupture with America, for whom all Frenchmen have something more than friendship. Such a betrayal of France, racked with sufferings and brutalities, will eventually recoil in a fearful vengeance on her traitors.