Imperial Valley press., 1942-12-04
by
Peter
Edison

ing SO involved that only direct
showdown can resolve The differ
euCtS
From neutral point of
view, i, = possible to appreciate
how General de Gaulle can have
no love for Admiral Darlan, and
in the same breath il is posi-
hi to Justify the deal which Lieut..
Gen. Dwight u. Eisenhower
made with Admiral Darlan in
North Africa. That deal unques-
tiCna6ly made possible the speedy
American occupation of North
Africa and il saved thousands of
American casualties. But in try
ing 10 reconcile de Gaulle to
/ this course of action. the Amer
i leans and the British have TO ne
j gotiatc with a most difficult per
>0naIity. That is where much of
the trouble comes in.
The Washington grapevine on de
Caulir = that he has become eX-
ceedingiy bard to &c. along with.
] Even some of his most ardent fol-
/ lowers say he nov surrounds him
i sell with pictures of Napoleon and
/ has complex Furthermore. he
/ has supposedly become terribly suS-
! piciOuS OF everyone. NariouS peo-
+ pie Who have seen him at his
/ Syrian headquarters have come
away tremendously Gnimpressed
HE WHO GETS ~ SIsED
Actions Of the Britist towards de
Gaulle have in recent months Civ
en- the impression that London
would be willing to see the Fight
ing French leader eaSed out of his
position British action in stop
pins q Fighting French broadcast
from London. in opposition to Dar-
ian, is a typical slap in the face
for de Gaulle. There have been
reports that the British offered
him command of 4 tank force in
the Near East, which he refused
and why not There have been re-
ports de Gaulle has said he would
/ accept command under General
Giraud. which might be a solu-
ton, if Darlan would do likewise.
Bu; in all This belitting of de
Gauiie. one of the greatest diff
cuities is that de Gaulle has be-
come symbol. He was The first :.
and almost the only French gen
cral with CUTS enough 10 fight. AT
time when other sO-called
French leaders were collaborating
with the Nazis all over the place,
de Gaulle wanted to keep on hat
, ing Hitler ana you cant kick Il
man around tcO much for that.
If there had been no Charles
De Caulle there might have been
no figures of stature large enough
around which TO rally the Free
French movement. Now known as
the Fighting French movement, it
has its official headquarters in Lon
don and oneratee through a French
National CorlCil This council is
organized like a government, but
il is not a government in any
sense Of tho word and it has no
standing in France and no fun dip
'cmatic RECOGNITION from any cf
the United Nations.
TIE TiPOFF
All the members Of the French
/ National Council are known as
/ counSelcrs instead OF ministers.
/ But if YOU were asked TO name anv
i cne Of these tOD men. You couldn't
! IL, ie
! the tiroff on how much standing
he Fighting French movement
would have if de Gaulle as its head.
we're looped off. All these mem
hers Of the council are in the
/ eamr ,Ositlcn as Tom jefferson.
Inn Madison or the Adams bows
oack I'M l17G. What standing would
tlp- have had if there hadn't been
. Gcor9e Waahinoton around whom
'lev could rally?
II j. rot disrcSpcctfl;i to susn"ct
int TN" men in the French Ma
fenaI Council in London may not
/ j." Of tn" stature of Jefferson or
sdamq for manv of de GaulleS
,wn trouble would seem 10 stem
frnT0 tie DJilIn@ ana hauilng
"'nc1" IiG councillors. when de
Garlic vas first organizing the
Free Eranc'l movement, he had
Nc nniitic1I 3mbitiOns. All he
W2ried 10 do Was fight Germans,
Which i, certainly one of the
ucbIcsi of ell human desires.
Bat since he was symbol and
he only here the FIGHTING French
had to rallY around, it was perhaps
pGural tnat he should become
tne head Of = movement and fall
into the clutches of the politicians
Vic would insist that ne demand
rccoppiJi9a and start vanking him
round in every direction.
General dc Gaulle's troubles
! srobab!" bpgan there