3 SEPTEMBER 1943, Page 22

M. JACQUES LORRAINE has written an able and, in the

circumstances, an acute and well-balanced account of the diplomatic struggle for the soul—and the assets—of Vichy. He avoids the temptation to wit-eh other historians of this depressing period have succumbed of proving too much on very slender evidence, and his deductions from the limited evidence at his disposal are generally moderate and convincing. He prints one or two interesting documents from the Vichy archives, and for the reader who keeps the general course of the war in mind, this rather specialised narrative will be full of enlightenment.