Evening star., 1945-06-22
Letter From Churchill
To Reynaud Cited in
Defense Of Petain
By the Associated rress.

PARIS, June "a preliminary
deposition received yesterday in the
defense of Marshal Henri Petain
ascribed the wartime "misunder-
standing" between Britain and the
Vichy government to former Pre-
mier Paul Reynaud's failure to read
all of letter sent him by Prime
Minister Churchill on the eve of the
French armistice in 1910.
Petain, who was chief of state in
the Vichy regime, faces trial for
treason next month.
A Supreme Court official said the
deposition was given to the French
consul in Washington by Prof. Louis
Rougier, who said he was Marshal
Petains representative in London
when the French Army was collaps-
ing.
The official said Prof. Rougier's
deposition stated that "gentlemens
agreement" existed between Mr..
Churchill and Premier Reynaud on
the question of permitting France to
sign a separate armistice.
Explanation Offered.
Prof. Rougier appended a letter
from Camille Chautemps-a former
French premier who had served in
Reynaud's government and briefly
in Petain's first which
gave this explanation:
When Mr.. Churchill was informed
that France intended to conclude an
armiSUice, he sent note to Premier
Reynaud in two parts. The first
part rejected the French armistice
plan on legal grounds. But the sec
. ond part said Mr.. Churchill would
not oppose the signing of an armis-
tice if he were assured that the
French fleet would not be handed
over to the Germans. Premier Rey-
maud never read this half, the letter
in the deposition said.
Thus when Premier Reynaud re-
signed, Mr. Churchill interpreted
this to mean that his successors had
consented to turn the French fleet
over to Hitler, the letter said. This
misunderstanding" subsequently
brought about clashes between the
British and French navies and en-
bittered London -Vichy relations, the
letter added
Gen. de Gaulle, in recent inter-
view in the Paris newspaper, Ce Soir,
gave this version of the events be-
tween June 10 and June IT, 1910,
when the armistice was signed:
Marshal Petain and Generalissimo
Maxine Weygand left Mr.. Churchill
in no doubt that they intended to
surrender to Hitler When Italy at
tackled France June 10, Gen. Wey-
gand urged Reynaud to ask for an
armistice. The next day Weygand,
without informing Reynaud, asked
Mr.. Churchill to come to France.
Premier Angered.
Infuriated, Reynaud told Gen. de
Gaulle he wanted to replace Gen.
Weygand. Gen. de Gaulle said he
recommended the late Gen. Charles
Huntziger, and personally received
Gen. Huntziger's assurance he would
continue the war if he were given
the supreme command.
The same night Gen. de Gaulle
said he found Gen. Weygand telling
Mr.. Churchill that it was impossible |
for France to continue fighting
Marshal Petain was present at
dinner that night, Gen. de Gaulle
and Mr.. Churchill, re-
fusing to permit pessimism, leaned
over to Marshal Petain and said:
I'VE had some difficult times in
1918, but we came through them.
We will come through these, too."
Marshal Petain replied dryly: I'm
'18, I gave you 40 divisions to save
the British Army. Where are your
40 divisions that we need to save us
now?"
Plans for continuing the war from
North Africa with an Army of 500,-
900 men were Cancelled, Gen. de
Gaulle said, as were projected at
tacks on Italian ports.
Reynaud Resigns.
On June II, Marshal Petain at
tdShCo oO1 11lS
cabinet meeting for having promised
Gen. de Gaulle that he intended toI
keep France at war, Gen. de Gaulle's
account continued.
Gen. de Gaulle was in London two
days after seeking British shipping
for plan to move French troops to
North Africa. That same day, he
said, Britain proposed that France
and Britain conclude an act of
union.
Gen. de Gaulle said he telephoned
Paris Immediately, and discovered
that Premier Reynaud had resigned,
and Marshal Petain had become
Premier.
Convinced there was no further
reason to return to France, Gen. de
Gaulle said he told Mr.. Churchill
he would remain in London. On
the afternoon of June II, he added,
they heard Marshal Petain had
asked Hill for an armistice.