Evening star., 1942-02-27
4 French Batt|eships
Seen Big War Threat
L Put in One Point
Vessels Are NeutroIized
If Kept Separated,
Writer Points Out
BY PERTINAX.

The 26,0O0-ton French battleship
Dunkerque was shifted from Mers-
El-Kebir to Toulon by the middle Of
this month. Twice in the past, the
orders given out by Vice Premier
Admiral Jean Darlan for that pow
erful naval unit to sail home were
Cancelled on representations made
by United States Ambassador Ad-
niral william D. Leahy. What the
United States Ambassador to Vichy
said to the chief of the French state
to obtain that result has never been
disclosed.
However, British Prime Minister
Winston Churchill told the House
Of Commons on April 8, 1941, that
such movements of ships would
alter the balance Of power" and
diplomatic sources had 1t around
the same date that, in accordance
with promise Marshal Petain VOL
unteered to subscribe, the French
vessels in North African ports were
not to be moved to metropolitan
waters.
Those incidents occurred about
q year ago, at the very moment the
German high command was pre-
pairing for the spring offensive in
the Near East which ended in the
subjugation of Yugoslavia and
Greece, in the onslaught on Soviet
Russia. 1t is significant that the
abortive attempt of last year should
be resumed and this time brought
10 completion while all the armed
forces Of the Reich are being re-
grouped and rearranged for another
major trial of strength.
Unimportant, Darlan Holds.
What explanations have come
from Vichy on the subject? 1t is
difficult to imagine them in full
since the pledge entered into by
the old marshal was never divulged
in Its actual wording. However,
last year, Admiral Darlan's argu-
ment was that to send ship from
one maritime sector of France to
another was merely matter of
routine and could not be regarded
As politically important. That as
sertion of the principal Minister at
Vichy was certainly expressed anew
during the last few days. 1t does not
stand two minutes reflection.
Since July, 1910, the four modern
battleshipS under the French tri-
color have been kept widely scat
tered and three of them were not
able to fight. Only the Strasbourg,
In Toulon. was fully recovered from
the wounds inflicted on her at Mers-
el-Kebir, where she managed to
escape. The Dunkerque, which was
left in the naval base near Oran,
could not, locally, be repaired en-
tirely. The Jean Bart. $4,000 tons,
sent from Lorient to Casablanca on
the eve of the armistice at very great
risk as she was hardly sea-going at
that time, is still unfinished, and
the Richelieu, of the same tonnage,
was hit in Dakar by British tor
pedo.
To have them all together IN a
naval arsenal, where their complete
reconditioning could only be ques-
ton Of time, could not but make
tremendous difference. Separated
from one another by hundreds or
thousands of miles, those units are,
indeed, neutralized. Gathered under
one single commander, they have
weight which at the proper moment
might be thrown in the scales with
dire consequences.
Increase in Pressure.
Already, a by no means negligible
number of cruisers, destroyers and
submarines are at the disposal Of the
Vichy government. That govern
ment boasts that, hitherto, 1t has
successfully withstood German pres
sure and kept them out of the war.
But isn't it to be feared that Ger
man pressure will increase in pro-
portion to any substantial expansion
Of the fleet on active service? The
argument. of the routine can, thus,
summarily be dismissed.
As to the Vichy government itself,
II sincere in its profession Of neu-
trality, in its oft-repeated statement
that, in all its dealings with Ger
many, the provisions of the armistice
mark a limit on which it will never
trespass, shouldn't it avoid tempting
the Nazi command with the display
Of a renascent navy? Nobody can
feel sure that, sooner or later, the
Jean Bart and the Richelieu will not |
join the Strasbourg and the Dun
kerque.
If Marshal Petain was pledged to |
have the French Navy scuttled on
the day 1t becomes clear that the |
Germans are ready to use force to
seize it, the whole affair would as
sumo a different complexion. Un-
fortunately. that kind of commit
ment would involve such reversal
Of the policy followed in Vichy that
nobody dares expect it.
released BY the North American
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