(2 of 2)
In Vichy U. S. Ambassador William Daniel Leahy held a conference with the Marshal and told him that the British had agreed to let more food shipments into France. Since Laval and the British despise one another, the Ambassador did not have to stipulate that the British would undoubtedly change their minds if Laval got supreme power. From North Africa General Maxime Weygand proclaimed that France would never agree to the occupation of Bizerte or any other part of Tunisia, and from farther east came news of the British capture of Bengasi (see p. 36). These things helped to keep the Marshal's spine stiff in the face of an enemy who had conquered France and might be expected to take what he wanted instead of dickering about it.
Day earlier the Marshal had called Admiral Darlan. General Huntziger and Foreign Minister Pierre Etienne Flandin together for a meeting of his Ministerial Council. Flandin opposed and Darlan got into an argument over the extent of collaboration that should be offered to Germany. The Marshal held to his stand that collaboration should be offered, but that it must be within the terms of the Armistice. On Laval's demands he was obdurate. Laval might return to a "Ministry of State as a member of a committee"—nothing more. Admiral Darlan went back to Paris with this offer in his pocket.
In Paris he talked to Hitler's Abetz again. He talked to Laval and to Fernand de Brinon, Vichy's Ambassador to Paris and Laval's man. Laval, playing for all or nothing, flatly refused the Marshal's offer. If he had expected the Germans to force him on Vichy, he was disappointed. Admiral Darlan had apparently persuaded Herr Abetz of his own worth as a collaborator, and he returned again to Vichy with the blessing of Herr Abetz and his boss. The Paris radio began praising Darlan and the German radio complimented Marshal Petain on his "spirit of comprehension."
Next Move? The old Marshal still held the fortress. He had forced Adolf Hitler to accept his own man as working chief of the Government, had retained supreme authority for himself. The French Fleet and Empire remained French. Foreign Minister Flandin resigned and Admiral Darlan became France's new strong man: Vice Premier, Foreign Minister, Navy Minister and Pétain's successor-designate. For the moment tension was eased. How long it would be before Adolf Hitler began pressing new demands, no one knew.
In the midst of the tension a strange story had been broadcast to the world. The story: Marshal Petain and Admiral Darlan had flown to North Africa and rioting was going on in Vichy. The story originated in Bern, was broadcast by the German radio, picked up and repeated by the British radio. Germany claimed that its radio had broadcast a denial with the story, that the British radio had left out the denial and repeated the story to stir up bad feeling between France and Germany. Maybe this was true. Or maybe Germany just wanted to tell France what could happen if the new collaborators didn't collaborate.