Evening star., 1943-06-29
Crisis at AIqiers


Generals de Gaulle and Giraud and
their respective partisans is broaden
Ing into something much more seri-
Gus. Ceasing to be a French fac
tional quarrel, it is complicating if
not endangering the Allied position
IN North Africa, and threatens to
drive wedge between Frenchmen
and the Anglo-American forces there.
whose mission has been to liberate
French North Africa from the Axis.
The tenseness of the current situa-
ton is revealed in copyright ar
ticle by Kirke l.. Simpson, staff
writer of the Associated Press. The
authoritative character of this ar
ticle underScores its sensational i'm
plications.
Mr.. Simpson states that, with
trans Mediterranean military opera
tions on a major scale closely i'm
pending the Washington Govern
ment is revealed as ready to back up
General Eisenhower, Allied supreme
commander in French Africa, to the
limit in whatever steps he may find
necessary to eliminate any threat to
success created by the political con-
trovery' between the French fac
tionS. The writer can say this on
the basis of unimpeachable authOri-
ties who cannot be directly quoted"
Mr.. Simpson goes on to itemize the
threats" which General Eisenhower
is not expected to tolerate They
include delays in the execution of
Allied offensive plans, the leopard
izing Of Allied supply lines in North
Africa, and undermining the morale
of French forces commanded by
General Giraud to a point where
they could not effectively participate
in "projected trans Mediterranean
operations"
Those statements point clearly to
De Gaullist propaganda and in
trigues as the chief source of diff
Guilty. But Mr.. Simpsons fortnight
article merely confirms what press
dispatches from North Africa have
been indicating for some time. This
is that General de Gaulle and his
followers, bent on gaining complete
ascendancy, are agitating against
the Allies as we'll as against their
French factional opponents. More
than once AnglO-American pressure
has alone averted an open break and
possible fighting between the rival
French parties The Allied interest
has been to keep the peace in North
Africa and maintain it both as an
effective springboard for further op-
erations against the Axis and as
source of trained manpoWer for the
projected campaign across the Medl-
terranean. General Giraud and his
followers have been content to sub
ordinate politics to the war against
the Axis. Not so De Gaulle and his
followers, who have impugned Anglo
American motives and played upon
nationalistic sentiments to rouse
suspicious of Allied policies. Unfor-
tunately this propaganda is making
headway among the French popula-
ton of North Africa. The very fact
that the Allies seem to favor Giraud
rebounds to the prestige of De Gaulle
in minds representative from years
of humiliation which have bred a
touchy inferiority complex.
Here, indeed, is difficult problem
for Allied craftsmanship. De Gaulles
whole record is that of a man deaf
to compromise and bent on getting
his own way-"or else" Yet to grant
him all he wants means recognizing
him and his movement as the sole
and authentic authority representing
France and its empire. However,
this means bitterly antagonizing his
opponents in North Africa and per-
haps in France itself. If De Gaulle
continues to force the issue, there
will probably be trouble whichever
hard choice is taken by the Allied
authorities. The one bright spot in
the situation is that the American
and British governments appear to
be working in complete understand
ing.