Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1940-08-31
Hitler Is Believed
Seeking 10 Control
'Unoccupied' France
Failure to Get Gold
In U. S. and Resistance
Of British Are Reasons
By PERTINAX.

ny ZEN 11INh<As
NEW YORK, Aug. 81 (N.AN.A).-
From trustworthy information which
has been received in this country
during the last few days, the trend
of French affairs can be summar-
lied as follows:
To understand the present posi-
ton, one must 60 back to June II.
On the morning Of that day, Mar
shall Petain delivered his famous
radio command: cease fire" Short
ly afterward, Paul Baudouin, the
Minister of Foreign Affairs, qualified
the request for an armistice the old
soldier had expressed. We shall not
accept dishonorable terms, said M.
Baudouin. Those words did not
mean (as many former Ministers
and Senators and Deputies wistfully
thought at that time) that the new
cabinet was already flinching in its
determination to stop the fighting,
but: Cd That 1t was determined to
redeem the promise given to the
British government not to surrender
the French fleet to the Germans
and Italians; (2) that it expected
the German military command to
refrain strictly from pushing its
troops into the area known today
under the name of "unoccupied
France
Hitler Seeks to Extend Occupation.
The government of Vichy has al
ways maintained that the conven-
tons of the armistice, arrived at
with Chancellor Hitler and Premier
Mussolini, fully complied with its
twofold claim. 1t is well known,
of course, that as regards the French
fleet, Prime Minister Winston
Churchill and his colleagues have
steadily refused to admit that the
French cabinets promise to them
had been fulfilled; hence the action
taken by the British Admiralty at
Mers-el-Kebir and elsewhere.
AS to the now occupied area"
Hitler and his advisers complied, on
June %, with the French demand
because they were convinced then
that England would be defeated be-
fore many weeks.
Today they know better. In or
der to continue and make more in
tense their offensive against Eng
land, in the North Sea as well as
in the Mediterranean, they want, for
all practical purposes, to control
"unoccupied France" as closely as
occupied France" Therefore, they
urge the government of Vichy to
accept additional conditions which
cannot but further restrict the
small share of authority, dignity and
freedom Of movement left to 1t.
New Turn in Discussions.
Last July it was reported that
Marshal Petain had sternly refused
to conform to the wish of the Ger
man government, as communicated
by Herr Abetz that the several
thousand political refugees of Ger
man origin, scattered throughout
France, should be delivered into
NaI hands. But about a fortnight
ago it was nevertheless announced
in the press that the Gestapo had
roped in few hundred of these
refugees.
That incident indicates the new
turn taken by the discussion be-
tween Vichy and Wiesbaden, the
seat of the armistice commissions.
Another point deserves to be
stressed. Since it had allowed two
fifths of France to remain outside
the pale of military occupation, the
German government was prone to
believe that the Vichy ministry
would be able to recuperate that
part of the gold reserve of the
Banque de France sent, some
months ago, to the United States,
an operation which could not but
rebound to the advantage of Ger
man economy. Inasmuch as the
Vichy government can be called in
dependent, Its legal title to that
gold cannot be disputed. But, as
far as the gold reserve is concerned,
the American Treasury treats the
whole of France as occupied terri
tory" The Germans are thus sup
piled with new motive to reopen
the issue settled June %.
What Task for Gayet?
The new French Ambassador, M.
Henri Haye, had first arranged to
arrive in this country about Sep
TENDER II or Is. He seems to have
revised his time table and will be
here much sooner. He is bringing
with him M. Lacone Gayet, who
belongs to the staff of the Bank of
France, from which the Popular
Front" had expelled him because
of his opposition to all kinds of
new deals" Only last week a new
financial attache, Herve Alphand,
has joined the French Embassy in
Washington. What new task will
then devolve upon M. Gayet? The
Vichy government is credited with
the intention to try once more to
get back the gold-so that the Ger
mans may be placated.
For the second time Pierre Laval
has visited Paris. Last July he had
attempted to win the assent of the
Germans to the transfer of the
French government from Vichy to
Paris-without any success what
ever; the German authorities in
Paris had merely referred him to
the commission in Wiesbaden. The
negotiation now conducted by M.
Laval looks like a revision of the
armistice convention of June %.
Occupation Indefinite.
The Vichy government when it
agreed to it foresaw, as Hitler did,
that British resistance was doomed
to fail in the near future. This
was one of the reasons why Mar
shall Petain, at any rate, did not
think useful to throw the French
fleet and the French oversee en-
pire in the scales against Germany.
He probably realizes today that two
months ago he had undervalued
the strength of Great Britain.
But nobody will dream that he can