Wairarapa Times-Age WEDNESDAY,, NOVEMBER 19, 1941. VICHY AND THE NAZIS.

Wairarapa Times-Age, 19 November 1941, Page 4

Wairarapa Times-Age WEDNESDAY,, NOVEMBER 19, 1941. VICHY AND THE NAZIS.

TT has just been reported that the Vichy Government has issued a denial of “fantastic rumours of Franco-German political relations.” Exactly what ground the denial covers is not indicated at time of writing, but nothing is more obvious than that the Vichy Government in fact is going as far as it dares towards placing the whole resources of France, including its armed forces, at the-disposal of Nazi Germany. The true character and aims of the men who now arrogate the right to speak and act for France have been exposed pretty completely, but the exposure is still proceeding.

Not many days ago, for example, a French convoy of live ships was stopped by a British naval squadron and taken into a South African port for examination, after an unsuccessful attempt had been made, obviously on German instructions, to scuttle two of the ships. While Vichy was still protesting that the ships carried no contraband of Avar, but only food, it was disclosed that the cargoes included rubber, hides and other materials which undoubtedly would have been taken over by Germany as soon as they arrived in France.

Now it is stated that the Vichy Government has secured Germany’s permission to re-establish and enlarge the French Navy. This is decidedly bad news if it is true, for it would be preposterous to suppose that Nazi Germany would grant any permission of the kind unless she believed that in the outcome an addition would be made to her own fighting strength. Almost simultaneously it was reported that the Germans have stopped the manufacture of aircraft in unoccupied France and have ordered all plane-building material to be handed over to the German Armaments Commission for use in Germancontrolled factories.

This last is the normal Nazi policy. It has been suggested that the Germans intend to give the Vichy Government full control of the French Navy,- and to hand over naval materials and supplies, in the- hope that the force thus constituted “will challenge British naval supremacy,” no doubt in asserting the right to run cargoes of contraband for Germany and in other ways. It is highly probable, however, that what the Germans are really hoping to do is to gain full and undisputed control of the French Navy.

11l view of what the men of Vichy have clone to betray their country within its metropolitan boundaries, in Syria, Indo-China and elsewhere, it may be supposed that so far as their own inclinations are concerned they would make no difficulty about handing the French Navy over to the Nazis. Happily, however, there are other factors to be taken into account —amongst them the restiveness of the French armed forces and civilian population under Vichy rule and the influence of the United States —and it seems possible that some at least of the hopes based by the Nazis upon the collaboration they are offered so readily by the men of Vichy may yet be disappointed.

So far as executive organisation goes, the stage is set and prepared for the complete betrayal and subjection of France to the Nazis. This was made clear in August last, when a change in the Vichy Cabinet, was announced to give Admiral Darlan still greater powers than he had previously exercised. In addition to his numerous other offices he was made Minister of National and Empire Defence. The following account of the change was given in a semi-official statement issued in Vichy: —

While keeping his office as Vice-Premier, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, and Secretary of State for the Navy, Admiral Darlan now takes over all military powers. The Secretaries of State for War, Navy, Air and the Colonies are under him. . . . The Minister of National Defence is responsible for the general organisation of national defence, for the distribution and use of the armed forces, and for the general inspection of the forces.

At the same time, Marshal Petain, in a broadcast, announced the creation of a Ministry of Political Justice, which would submit to him a list of those considered responsible for the fall of France, and outlined a programme of which the first item was the suspension, under threat of severe penalties, of any and every kind of political activity. The programme for the rest provided for the doubling of the police force and for other measures designed to keep'the people of France-in controlled subjection.

Tn its setting of events, this programme'sufficiently demonstrates that Darlan and his accomplices are determined to go as far as they dare in co-operating with and helping Nazi Germany. If Marshal Petain is to escape responsibility for his part in this vile conspiracy it can only be on the ground that he is a very old and tired man, no longer fully aware of what he is doing. The news regarding the re-establishment of the French Navy is of sinister significance in itself and as it bears on the outlook in North Africa and elsewhere.