Crisis at :Vichy
The curtain has not, as these words are written, been raised on the drama which to all appearance is being enacted at Vichy. Various confident versions of what is happening there must rest to a large extent on surmise. But the succession of Cabinet meetings and the secrecy which is being rigorously imposed leave little room for doubt that tense discussions of demands proffered by Hitler are taking place. The personal position of M. Laval may be one subject of dispute, but matters more important than that are clearly in agitation, and the Cabinet is deeply concerned, and to all appearance radically divided, regarding them. In one way or another, whether by merely affording passage for German troops or by actually handing over ships and ports, France is being called on tc facilitate Germany's war on Britain. Marshal Pemba, there is reason for assuming, is for resisting the demands, but how far he is ready to carry his resistance, and what support he can count on among his colleagues, are questions to which the answer lies behind the still unfitted curtain. It is worth observ- ing, however, that General Bergeret, Air Minister in the Petain Cabinet, has just made a speech indicating that no French colonial territory will be surrendered, and that General Weygand, who is emphatically of the same mind regarding that, has sent General Nogues, the French Resident-General in Morocco, to maintain liaison. Decisions affecting the whole relationship between the Vichy Cabinet and Germany, with what may well be important consequences, for good or ill, on the course of the war, may be looked for at any moment.
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