Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1941-06-08
BY MAI. GEORGE FIELDING
ELIOT.

THE current line" forthcoming
from Vichy seems TO be following
an all too familiar pattern.
Those Of long memory will recall
how Britain was adjured, again and
again. not TO crack down" on Italy
in order not to make impossible the
position of the royal family, the
army, etc, etc, who were endeavor-
Ing to restrain the extremists" and
with whom, one of these days, a
comfortable deal could be made.
Also to be recalled are the SINH
lar arguments forthcoming from
time to time from Berlin ever since
l933-the 'moderates' must not be
driven into the arms Of the Nazi
fanatics. So go easy, boys, and all
will be well
Now We have Gen. Wevgand as
the moderate who is resisting"
the extremist point of view as rep
resented by Admiral Darlan. We
have. of course, had this before:
For a long time we were told with
every trapping Of verisimilitude that
Marshall Petain was really resist
ing the Germans. that Gen. Wey-
gand's army in North Africa was
his ace in the hole. that he was
able by threatening Germany with
Gen. Weygand to prevent Ger
many from going too far in her
demands on France.
Then the facts as TO the progress
sive weakening of Gen. Weygand's
position began TO leak out. the ex-
tent of German inflltratlons in
North Africa in particular became
known. and the propaganda line
thus become bankrupt was as usual
coolly abandoned in favor of the
new collaboration" thesis with all
its various offshoots.
Suspicion Is Justified
1t is not, therefore, wholly I'M
reasonable that the revival Of the
Weygand tale should be regarded
with certain degree of suspicion,
when it is suddenly trotted out Just
as American pressure on Vichy
becomes really threatening and
might result in American occupa-
ton of the French possessions in
the Western Hemisphere or. even
worse from the Nazi point Of view,
a joint Anglo American recognition
of the Free French.
Were the latter to occur. and
were the very considerable British
forces in West Africa and British
bases at FreetoWn, Bathurst and in
Nigeria to be employed in aSsocia-
ton with the De Gaulllst Army in
Equatorial Africa. there seems little
question that Dahomey. the Ivory
Coast, French Guinea and the Niger
territory could quickly be brought
under Free French control and the
way cleared for direct attack on
Dakar.
This might in turn have roper
cussions in Morocco Of a nature
with which the Germans are not
at the moment prepared to deal:
they need time. and in the face of
such a threat. when a time-saving
measure is adopted, it ought to
be examined very carefully. 1t has
Deen Ine historic NdZl prdctlce 10
gain by political means the time
necessary for the preparation of
military strokes: The creative in
terlude" of which Air Gen. Erich
Quade writes in the "Boersen lei
tung.'
AS pointed out in previous arti-
Gle of this series, Germany has
invariably succeeded in offensive
operations prepared after these
creative interludes" have been al
lowed. 1t would, of course, be a
fine thing, mighty stroke of mil
itsry and political significance, if
Gen. Weygand and the French
forces in Morocco, Algeria, Ttlnisia,
Syria and West Africa could be
swung into the democratic orbit.