Evening star., 1943-11-20
Thwarted Pefain Coup
Believed Intended 10
Clear Way for Allies
By THOMAS F. HAWKINS.

BERN, Switzerland, Nov. 90
Marshal Henri Philippe Petain's
reported plan to draft a demo-
cratic constitution, which the
Nazis prevented him from pro-
mitigating, was viewed here to-
day as an attempted master
stroke to make way for a regime
that would be acceptable to the
Allies when France is freed.
1t is known that the 87-year-old
marshal, who is reliably said to have
offered his resignation in protest
against the thwarting Of his plan,
recently told friends he was seeking
a way to prevent bloody revolution
between the Vichy regime and the
French Committee of National Lib
Grafton when the Germans are
driven out. Friends who know him
we'll say he believed his decree would
accomplish this result.
The Berlin Foreign ONCE spokes-
man gave guarded confirmation to-
day of reports Of crisis at Vichy.
Berlin Denies Resignation.
Falling back on an old formula
when French collaboration is not
going so well, the spokesman was
quoted by the Basler Nachrichten's
Berlin correspondent as declaring
the political situation at Vichy was
an internal affair."" not subject to
discussion.
He added that a new stage of
developments had not yet been
reached, but without question inner
political developments are going on"
He declared, however, "rumors"
that Petain had resigned, go far as
is known at the WilhelmStrasse are
nonsensical."
(The Morocco and Dakar radios
In French Africa said today that
a Vichy broadcast had announced
the resignation of Marshal Pc
tain--a report which was not
confirmed from any other source.)
The marshals decree would have
directed France back to the demo-
cratic constitution of 1875, it was
said, and he would have renounced
Pierre Laval as his successor. The
Nazis banned both speech and
decree.
Opened Way for Return to France.
Although it was regarded as
doubtful that Petain intended to do
anything that would ease the path
OF Gen. Charles de Gaulle, president
OF the French Committee of National
Liberation, it was pointed out that
by charting path back to demo-
cratic administration, he also could
have opened the way for the COM
mlttee's return to France.
For II the De Gaulle administra-
tion re-entered France and accepted
the Petain decree, the restored Ma
tlonal Assembly, including the 1910
elected legislators who fled abroad,
could accept that administration
Marshal Petain's decree would have
annulled any act since Parliament
ceased to sit in 1910 which conf1icted
with his program of turning the
nation back to democracy.
The texts of the decree and the
speech in which Petain was to have
announced it to Frenchmen last
Saturday were published by the
journal de Geneve yesterday
Aware of the methods employed
to get them out of France, this
writer accepts both texts as 100 per
cent bona fide.
The best information here was
that every collaborationist In Vichv
was doing everything in his power
to persuade Marshal Petain to
change his mind about resigning
from Office.
CThe British radio, quoting
advices from Stockholm and
Bern, said that Petain "is in a
private villa under strict German
guard The broadcast, recorded
by United States Government
monitors, said that everything
points to an acute crisis in
Vichy.D
Information leaking across the
French frontier said last night that
a number of the marshals closest
friends, including three generals,
had been arrested.
(T'he Nazi news agency DNB
said in a broadcast recorded by
United States Government mon
itors that Hubert la Gardelle,
Vichy Minister of Labor, had re-
signedD
Although it is certain that by his
speech, even though it was not
broadcast, Marshal Petain tried one
of the biggest coups in his long
career, it remains to be seen whether
he will stick to his decision to resign
and thus openly oppose the Ger
mans.
Persuaded to GO Along"
1t was recalled that when German
troops entered the unoccupied zone
in November, 1912, Marshal Petain
declared that> the French German
armistice of 1910 had been broken
and left France free to defend her.
self He was reported have brif1y
considered going to North Africa,
but later was said to have been
NY SOlldOOl UlOlllSGS 10 It.
main in France and to "go along"
The Office of War Information in
New York said last night the Journal
de Geneve had printed the following
as the test of Marshal Petain's radio
speech which was banned by Nazi
authorities:
'Fren, hmen: The National AS
sembly of July 10, 1910, has given me
permission to promulgate by one or
more acts the new constitution. It
combines the principle of national
sovereignty and the right of free
suffrage of citizens with the neces-
sity of sharing the stability and au-
thority of the state.
Represents French Legality.
"It is respect for legality that is a
condition for the stability of coun-
try. Beyond this legality there can
lie only adventurous rivalries, fac
tions ami anarchy, fighting and civil
war.
To-day represent French legality
M