Pierre Laval, hated as few men have been in French history, looked around last week for men he could trust. Even among Vichy's weaklings and pro-Fascists he apparently found chilly comfort, fired five of them in a Cabinet reshuffle.
Vichy explained that the changes were necessary to bolster its labor policy (rounding up workers for German factories) and to meet "military and colonial demands" by concentrating power in Laval's hands. The outside world had another explanation: the rats were beginning to scurry about on a sinking ship.
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