Berlin and Vichy
Relations between the United Powers and Vichy are becoming increasingly strained as evidence accumulates that Germany is bent on diverting to her own purposes both the French fleet and French industrial capacity, particularly its capacity for the pro- duction of aeroplanes and tanks. On the subject of the fleet, and notably the Dunkerque,' which has been brought back from Oran to Toulon, the United States Government has made forcible representations and received assurances which the State Depart- ment does not seem to consider adequate. This is manifestly a question of capital importance. The British and American fleets are necessarily scattered owing to Japan's aggression. If to the formidable nucleus of the German fleet and the remnants of the Italian fleet, which still includes one or two powerful battleships, were added the 'Dunkerque ' and other lesser units of the French navy the strategic dangers created would be grave. Any action calculated to forestall that would be justified. The same must be said of action against the French munition- factories, whether in the occupied or the unoccupied area, which are being systematically exploited by the Germans. There is talk, for example, of an output of 2,000 aeroplanes of German design from French factories at a time when evidence accumu- lates daily that the air-arm, both by itself and in co-operation with ships or troops, is likely to be the decisive factor in every theatre of war. To bomb French factories and kill French workers is utterly distasteful, but to allow Germany to secure an immunity for production in France which she cannot hope for in the case of production in Germany is to go halfway towards losing the war.
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