In the early morning hours of Friday, Nov. 27, Marshal Petain was awakened in Vichy to receive a letter from Adolf Hitler. His eyes still bemused by sleep, the old man read the words that ended his last vain hope of building up a new French state on the terms of the armistice signed at Compiegne. Because of "treachery" on the part of high officers of the French armed forces, the Führer wrote, he had ordered the demobilization of the remaining units of Vichy's Army and Navy. The great naval base of Toulon,...
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