Evening star., 1941-11-19
Weygond Already Out,
Writer in Madrid Saws
By HENRY J. TAYLOR,
9orelsn Correspondent of The STAR and

Foreisn Correspondent OF The STAR and
North American Newspaper Alliance
MADRID. Nov. 10 BY Wireless -
Now that l am free from the dras-
tic censorship imposed by Vichy au-
thoritleS. l can report on the i'm
portant developments under way in
France. Strictest scrutiny of every
word sent by cable or spoken by
telephone or radio from Vichy has
"een enforced since Sunday.
The arrival of Gen Maxine Wey-
gand, commander Of French forces
in North Africa. in Vichy on Satur-
day was timed to come just after the
departure Of German Ambassador
Otto Abetz and a big party Of as
sistants in a feet of luxurious linn
cuisines. Previous to his departure,
Abetz openly visited former Premier
Pierre Laval. leading French col
laborationist." The arrival of Gen
Weygand was the signal for en-
forcement of complete censorship.
Any reference to the North African
commander beyond the fact that he
had arrived and sketchy innocuous
statements was prohibited.
Darlan Acting as Censor.
Vice Premier Jean Darlan actually
took over the job of passing on all
cable messages personally if they
referred to Gen. Weygand in any
way. Curiously enough, a dispatch /
filed on Sunday after a talk with
Marshal Henri Petain was the last
dispatch to escape the drastic GEN.
sorship.
Gen Weygand's outstanding
characteristic is his loyalty This
was the basis for his close aSSocia-
ton with the late Marshal Ferdi-
nand Foch during World War 1 and
it explains his willingness to take
orders from Marshal Petain during
the present crisis. Politicians always
have offended Gen. Weygand, and
he is suspicious of them today, just
as he has been in the past. This
suspicion has brought Gen. Wey-
gand into conflict with Admiral
Darlan and his henchmen. who are
determined to get rid of the North
African commander. In their efforts
to do this they are salving their
consciences with the remark that
one individualiSt like Gen. Weygand
Is not warranted in obstructing an
entire nation committed to collabo-
ration with the Germans.
The Germans want a free hand
Immediately in North Africa, which
is controlled by the powerful armed
forces under Gen. Weygand's COM
mand. Gen. Weygand continued to
exercise this control by virtue of the
decree under which Marshal Petain
originally placed him in command.
To obtain a free hand in Africa
German Envoy Abetz threatened to
establish separate national"
French government in Paris under
Laval. He essertedly pointed out
to Marshal Petain that with Ger
man backing Laval would find 1t
easy to have his regime accepted by
the hard-pressed people of France.
He further pointed out that liquida-
ton of the Vichy regime would be
automatic if Gen. Weygand was
permitted to remain at the helm
in North Africa.
Weygand Dismissed.
The recent death of Gen. Charles
Huntziger. French war minister, in
a plane crash did not result in con-
sideration of Gen. Weygand to sue
ceed him, as the French people have
been led to believe. What actually
happened was that Gen. Weygand
was dismissed from his North
African command as soon as he
arrived in Vichy.
The implications behind Gen.
Weygand's dismissal are confirmed
by the announcement that Marshal
Petain is planning to visit Paris in
the immediate future for his first
trip to occupied France since the
signing of the Franco-German ar
mistice. The aged marshal will tour
the occupied areas congenially and
place the Germans in the light of
benefactors of the French people.
All this is preliminary to con-
tinental love feast" which will take
place in Vienna about New Year
Day. I saw the actual preparations
for this demonstration when I was
in Berlin last week.
There are $50 to 400 Germans in
French North Africa at the present
time. They have no military equip
ment. no planes and no tanks. They
undoubtedly are lonesome and hop
ing for strong reinforcements Of
their coamtryn1en In the near future.