1941: France

The year 1941 marked the moral partition of France, something which had not occurred since the kingdom of France was divided by the Plantagenets. What, during the preceding year seemed the unavoidable outcome of French defeat at the hands of the German armies, now appeared to be the logical development of a well-conceived and precisely carried out plan aimed at a permanent lowering of the potential strength of France. An indemnity for the costs of occupation, nearly double that demanded of defeated Germany in 1918, to be paid by a population half the size of the German population; a fixed rate of exchange between the franc and the mark amounting in fact to a system by which goods can be purchased without compensation from the French; a systematic rationing of all foodstuffs, accompanied by the withdrawal from the market of as much as 80 per cent of the available supply of certain vital items; the tightening of restrictions on travel between the two zones; these are the main devices through which the illusory freedom of the government at Vichy, the center of Unoccupied France, is controlled, and its efforts towards reorganization of the economic processes nullified. The division of French territory and the French population, is further accented by the division which now exists between France itself and outlying parts of her Empire.

Free France, directed by a National Committee seated in London, by contrast with Occupied and Unoccupied France, has now grown to the size of a nation. It has territories, an army, an air force, a navy, and representatives abroad. Whereas, in the course of the year, Cabinet ministers have often changed in Vichy, the political system of Free France, although undergoing evolution, has shown a tendency to consolidate rather than to change its leadership. While the government of France proper fades from the political chessboard as the influence of Germany is felt more heavily in all political circles, the administration of Free France emerges as a powerful factor in all international consultations. The last independent unit of France, North Africa, still provided at the end of the year an element of speculation. Its importance grows with the strengthening of the Axis hold on Cyrenaica, and the increasing concern of the United States over the possession of Dakar.

France and Germany.

France is bound to Germany by a temporary armistice signed at Bordeaux on June 22, 1940. This document, although unchanged, has been three times re-evaluated, once in 1940 at Montoire, the second time in May 1941 at Berchtesgaden, and the third time in December, at the historic meeting at Saint Florentin in France, when Marshal Pétain was received by Marshal Goering.

All other developments in France are overshadowed by the inescapable fact that whatever the government attempts to do to rebuild the country is subject to its being acceptable to the Master-Man of Germany.

Financial System.

The dominant financial factor in the relations of the two countries is the question of indemnity for occupation costs, set at 400,000,000 francs a day until May 1941, with reduction to 300,000,000 a day thereafter. Out of this it is believed that not more than 100,000,000 francs a day go towards the upkeep of the German Army of Occupation, the rest being used by Germany in a systematic buying up of supplies needed for the conduct of the war, investments in French industries, and finally the building of new war factories on French soil. Although considerably reduced in size, the government in Vichy still must assume the load of a daily expenditure of 450,000,000 francs for civilian and military services. The pre-war national income of France was placed at 250,000,000,000 francs a year; the yearly indemnity for occupation added to the total budgetary expenditures now adds up to more than 310,000,000,000 francs a year, a sum sixty billions in excess of the normal income. Since French industry and French agriculture are no longer geared to capacity production, since French foreign trade, except that monopolized by Germany, no longer exists, since there is now no influx of money from transportation of goods, the implication is that France is now drawing heavily on her capital to meet expenditures which would normally be paid out of income. The political consequence of such a disastrous financial and economic policy is that France is more bound to Germany by economic dependence than she would be by even the most drastic international treaty.

During the year 1941, only 68,000,000,000 francs of public expenditures were financed through taxation; the rest, 211,000,000,000 francs, was covered by the sale of short-term bonds to the public, or by the opening of credits on the Bank of France. Although there has been no change in the gold reserve of the Bank of France, which is still evaluated at 84,000,000,000 francs, the amount of money in circulation has reached 270,000,000,000, the amount deposited in banks reaching 120,000,000,000. This is the result in part of the clearing system between France and Germany. The indemnity is paid for in francs; these francs are then used by Germany to buy in the French market what is needed for the German economy; the money thus returns to circulation in France. This creates an increasing flow of currency which is not easily invested, as no new enterprises are developed. The only possible outlet is the stock market, where trading in stocks has been extremely brisk.

Cost of Living.

The effect of the forced sale of products to Germany has been an increase in the cost of living. Although no official figures are published, a German source gives the following percentages of increase over 1939:

Foodstuffs

Meat: 30 to 60 per cent.

Milk: 60 per cent.

Eggs: 80 per cent.

Industrial Products

Iron: 60 per cent.

Aluminum: 40 per cent.

Copper: 48 per cent.

Textiles: 100 per cent.

Rubber: 165 per cent.

These figures are understood to be prevalent in the open market; they do not, however, represent the full increase on the so-called 'black market' — the increase actually paid when it becomes necessary to obtain a certain product or foodstuff item. For instance, although a decree in May 1941 set the price of a kilo (two pounds) of green peas at 16 francs, the price paid on the market was often as much as 40 francs (nearly $1.00 at the pre-war dollar-franc ratio). The current 'black market' price for eggs was 4 to 5 francs apiece, that is 60 francs a dozen, nearly a dollar and a half at the pre-war parity. The average earnings of a typical family could be placed around 15,000 francs a year, while the maximum unemployment compensation is now 5,200 francs. The amount of money to be spent in a day, therefore, varies from 10 to 45 francs. Even though there are enough foodstuffs available, the average daily earnings are in the vast majority of cases insufficient to provide for all the food necessary.

Rations at the end of 1941 were as follows:

Fats: 1 lb. 2 oz. a month.

Meat:  lb. twice a week.

Coffee: 2 oz. a month.

Tea: 1 oz. a month.

Sugar: 1 lb. a month.

Bread: 4 oz. for children daily, 1 lb. for workers daily.

Cheese: 2 oz. per week.

Rice: from  to  lb. per month, not available to all categories of persons.

German Requisitions in France.

A dispatch to The New York Times on March 27, 1941, reveals the extent of Germany's hold on the French agricultural market: because of the shortage of wheat in France, the French government has agreed to give Germany 190,000 head of cattle, 600,000 of small livestock, 36,000 tons of oil, 100,000 tons of salt, 60,000 of green vegetables, 8,000 tons of cheese, and 13,000,000 hectolitres of wine, in order to obtain a much-needed supply of wheat, in the amount of 8,000,000 quintals, 100,000 metric tons of bran, and 300,000 metric tons of potatoes. This is but one instance in which France gave Germany more than she was receiving.

French Industrial Resources.

If in the field of agriculture the policy of Germany is to maintain the diet of the population at a point where without causing the spread of disease, it nevertheless weakens the moral fiber and lessens body resistance — this as a preventive against possible revolt — in the field of industry the German position is to encourage collaboration. The airplane and automobile industries were the first to be favorably affected by new agreements. On May 4, 1941, it was announced in Paris by Francois Lehideux, delegate general from the Vichy government, that a tripartite agreement had been signed between France, Italy, and Germany in order to pool the resources, engineering skill, and means of production of the three countries. The French airplane industry, using French labor, is now working at full capacity.

But, apart from the artificial silk industry, all other industries are working at about 35 per cent of their normal capacity. The coal mines of the Lorraine basin, flooded by the retreating French troops, have been partly reclaimed by German engineers. The normal needs of heavy industry were from 400,000 to 500,000 tons of iron monthly; this was fulfilled only to the extent of 85,000 tons a month.

The fertilizer industry cannot furnish French agriculture its normal quota. Out of a needed 2,500,000 tons of phosphates, only 250,000 were obtained for national use, while only 230,000 tons of nitrate fertilizers were available against the normal consumption of 1,000,000 tons a year.

Effect of the Armistice on Labor.

Again, as in the case of the financial and economic state of the country, an extraneous factor dominates the whole question of labor; corresponding to the huge daily monetary indemnity, the labor contribution of 2,000,000 prisoners, most of them men in their productive ages, influences the whole labor situation.

It helps eradicate non-employment. The normal prewar figure for unemployment varied between 300,000 and 500,000 at the end of April 1941, and reached a residual 205,000 at the end of the year. Simultaneously, the German authorities embarked upon a policy of lockouts to accomplish transfer of workers from industries non-essential to the war effort to war industries. Furthermore they offered bonuses and equality of pay to those workers willing to transfer to industrial plants in Germany.

Diplomatic and Political Developments.

While a 'modus vivendi,' that of passive hostility, has been reached with Great Britain, the two active fronts of diplomacy are the Franco-German and the Franco-American. Strangely, the military clash between France and England on the Syrian front, seems to have had little effect on the diplomatic status quo.

On the political stage, stabilization and strengthening of existing elements marked the year 1941. The Cabinet was overhauled for the fifth time in January. Then the resignation of General Weygand in November and his replacement by General Juin as commander of all French forces in North Africa marked, for some time, the end of all hope for continued resistance of the French government in North African territory, in the event of a break with Germany. At the same time, following the final agreement between France and Japan on March 12, 1941, by which France relinquished to Thailand parts of the territorial rights in Indo-China, Rear-Admiral Jean Decoux embarked upon a policy of complete collaboration with Japan. Collaboration with Japan is not an empty word, and with the help of Japanese equipment, French output in Indo-China has been greatly stepped up.

Parliament ceased to be a power in France after a decree promulgated on August 29, 1941. This measure followed closely a series of meetings of a 'rump parliament' of 100 members, at which the government of Marshal Pétain was severely criticized. Members of Parliament may not henceforth meet in 'semi-official' gatherings, while permanent officers of Parliament are relegated to a nearby watering place, Chatel-Guyon. Leaders of resistance to this policy are Jules Jeanneney, president of the Senate, former Prime Minister Edouard Herriot, and representative Louis Marin, leader of a parliamentary group of the Right.

Civil Resistance to Army of Occupation.

The most outstanding individual overt act of rebellion was the attempt on former Premier Pierre Laval on Aug. 28, 1941. Paul Colette, a volunteer in a legion of 15,000 men, recruited among French youths to join the German armies on the Russian front, shot point blank at Pierre Laval and Marcel Déat, a political writer of the Occupied Zone, and ardent advocate of collaboration. This is far from being an isolated case of resistance. Altogether the known number of persons arrested by the Germans in the Occupied Zone was in excess of 20,000, while those detained for questioning in a single week totaled 76,500. At the end of the year 206 Frenchmen had been executed, while the fate of 100 more hostages was still undetermined.

On April 4, the town of Moulins was fined 400,000 francs because public buildings were plastered with de-Gaullist inscriptions. On July 18, 6,200 persons were reported arrested in Paris for scrawling V's on walls, sidewalks and vehicles. On July 28, it was revealed that more than a hundred thousand Parisians had sung the Marseillaise under the windows of the German Commandant's headquarters on Joan of Arc Day, June 11. On August 15, in the course of an anti-Vichy demonstration in Paris, six persons were killed and nineteen wounded. The following day, a sharp warning applying to all of Occupied France was issued by the German military authorities that the entire population would suffer if Communist outbreaks continued. This was immediately followed by an offer of the Paris police to pay a reward of 1,000,000 francs for information leading to the arrest of train wreckers. On September 2, General de la Laurencie, commander of the 8th Army Corps in the battle of Dunkerque, was arrested for defying Vice-Premier Darlan. The accusation mentioned specifically the expression of pro-British leanings on the part of General de la Laurencie. On October 13 the Paris police arrested 7,750 for illegal possession of firearms. On October 20, General Holtz, German Commandant of the Nantes district was shot to death in the center of the city. During the month of November, it was reported that in the course of an R.A.F. raid over the mining districts of northwestern France a British plane was shot down, killing all three airmen. Seven French workers were killed as the plane fell to earth and exploded; and the widows of the workers attended the funeral of the British flyers the next day. In reprisal for the execution of 100 French hostages, 6 Gestapo agents were killed by bombs at Villejuif, a Jewish suburb of Paris. This resulted in added German reprisals and a fine of 1,000,000,000 francs was imposed on Jewry in the Occupied Zone.

France and Free France.

Opposition between the government of Vichy and the administration of Free France during the first quarter of the year was mostly verbal. Denationalization was pronounced by the Vichy government against leaders or followers of General de Gaulle. Youths were forbidden to leave France to join the ranks of the Free French forces. Yet the very fact that a large proportion of the French population, both in the Occupied and the Unoccupied Zone, were in sympathy with the Free French Movement made it difficult for the government in Vichy to go farther in their condemnation of the so-called rebels. On March 8, it was disclosed that because of the large numbers of men of military age crossing from the Occupied into the Unoccupied Zone to enlist in de Gaulle's armies, no men would henceforth be allowed to cross the line of demarcation, unless they were above military age.

Conquest of Syria.

By the end of May 1941 and at the successful conclusion of the Iraq campaign, it had become apparent to the Allies that Germany was using Syria as a base to disrupt the union of Arabic nations protecting the Suez Canal and the road to India. General Dentz, appointed to Syria as government representative was under the surveillance of the Italian and German Control Commission; the German representative, Herr Roser, was able to observe from a splendid vantage point all the Allied moves in Arabia. It was further learned that the Germans were maintaining a crew of 200 aviators at Aleppo, and that the number of German airplanes landing there was constantly on the increase. Prime Minister Winston Churchill declared on Sept. 9 that General Dentz 'was doing his utmost to further German interests.' Three ammunition trains left Syria on May 23, to supply the Iraqi rebels with arms.

There was no choice left. On June 9, 1941, an Allied force consisting of British and Polish troops, together with New Zealanders and Free French forces, mostly recruited among the members of the famed Foreign Legion, crossed the border from Falestine and Iraq. Damascus fell on June 18, with almost no loss of life. On July 11, Syria was completely under Allied control and an armistice was signed on July 14 at Saint Jean d'Arc in Palestine between General de Verdillac, the representative of the Vichy government, and General Catroux, representative of the Free French, assisted by General Sir Henry Maitland Wilson, British representative.

Syria and Lebanon were then placed under the administration of the Free French, and following General de Gaulle's proclamation on the eve of the Syrian Campaign providing for political freedom, General Catroux was named General Delegate, and Representative Plenipotentiary with the mission of discussing the reestablishment of Syrian and Lebanese sovereignty. Free France was to maintain an ambassador to the Syrian Republic, while other nations could appoint only an envoy of a lower rank. The armies of Syria would be those of the Free French while a Syrian army was being trained. The peril on the northern border, and the imminence of a German thrust at Turkey made this decision imperative, while it did not in any way lessen Syrian independence. Similar agreements with Lebanon followed within three weeks. After the signing of the convention, more than 11,000 soldiers of the Vichy forces joined the Free French army.

Free France in 1941.

The territories over which the Council of Defense of the Empire now rules are those of French Equatorial Africa, an area which includes the former German colony of the Cameroons, and extends in the north to the frontier of Libya: the whole of the French possessions in the Pacific, including the vital island of New Caledonia, from which nickel and chrome ores are being shipped to America; and the five French trading towns in India. To these were added in the course of the year the territories of Syria and Lebanon, placed under Free French protection, and the two North American islands of Saint Pierre and Miquelon, off the coast of Newfoundland, seized by Free French forces on Dec. 23, with the acquiescence of the inhabitants. (See below.)

Land and Air Forces.

The Free French Government started out in 1940 as an army, devoted to the reconquest of French territory. The army took part at the beginning of the year in the operations ending in the conquest of Tobruk. On Jan. 22, armored French units penetrated 4 miles within the city's defenses. More spectacular were the operations conducted in Southern Libya; the first raid ended in the capture of the fortress of Mourzouk in the Fezzan range. It was immediately followed by a successful attack on the oasis of Kufra. The raiding expedition started out on Jan. 17 from Lake Tchad, on Free French territory, and arrived at its destination on Jan. 30. On Feb. 5, the Italian aerodrome in the oasis was bombed and rendered unfit for possible landings of relief parties. Two crews failed to return to their base. The last bombardment of the small fort of El Tag in Kufra took place on Feb. 10, and enabled the Free French to land forces to occupy the position.

After the completion of the Kufra operations, the Free French forces moved then to the new theater of war, Italian Eritrea. They took part in the successful assault on Massawa, on April 10, 1941, where they took a large number of prisoners, totaling 3,786 men, of whom 360 were officers.

The Imperial and Allied Forces forming the VIIIth Army, which launched the expected offensive in the western desert of Libya at dawn on November 18, included a Free French Air Force Squadron. The communiqué issued by R.A.F. Headquarters in the Middle East, on Nov. 24, mentioned Free French participation in the Tobruk sector against German panzer units.

General Sir Archibald Wavell wrote about the growth of the Free French was effort in the Middle East as follows:

'As Commander-in-Chief in the Middle East, I have watched from its inception, the growth of the Free French movement in the East.

'In the Summer of 1940, the first contingent of officers and men from the French armies in Syria began to arrive.... Though they consisted of a relatively small group of men, they were inspired with a fierce determination. They formed a motorized unit which played a distinguished part in the Libyan campaign, fighting from Sidi Barrani until the fall of Bengasi. This unit was attached to the famous 7th Armoured Division.

'Meanwhile, other Free French troops arrived in the Middle East, coming from West Africa. They went immediately into action in the Sudan and fought a way for themselves from the southern frontiers of the Red Sea provinces to Asmara and through Eritrea.'

Free French Navy and Merchant Marine.

While the Navy totals thirty naval units, to which must be added about 200 service ships, the merchant marine boasts a hundred ships. The total number of enlisted men in the navy is now in excess of 5,000.

Heading the list of naval units is the Surcouf, world's largest submarine, which figured prominently in the seizure of the islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon.

The famed Ile de France now heads the list of Free French merchant ships. The new thirty-thousand ton, Pasteur, designed for the South-American route, is also one of the largest units. About 60 per cent of the ships are manned exclusively by French sailors, while the rest are manned by mixed crews.

Government of Free France.

The seven million people, now living under the sign of the cross of Lorraine in all corners of the globe, are ruled from London, and Brazzaville in French Equatorial Africa, by a French National Committee of eight members, headed by General de Gaulle, and assisted by a Council of the Defense of the Empire, composed of the governors of the various colonial territories.

This Committee is now recognized as the lawful ruling body by the British, Russian, Belgian, Netherlands, Polish, Yugoslav, Luxembourg, Norwegian, and Greek governments. Other recognitions are now imminent, while the United States, although committed to a policy of full recognition of the Vichy government, yet acknowledges both the existence and the necessary importance of the Free French government. A letter of President Roosevelt dated Nov. 11, 1941, to Edward R. Stettinius, lease-lend Administrator, reads 'I hereby find that the defense of any French territory under the control of the French volunteer forces (Free French) is vital to the defense of the United States.'

St. Pierre and Miquelon.

At the end of the year 1941 the question arose as to whether or not the Havana Convention was applicable to the two islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon.

On the morrow of an agreement between Admiral Robert, High Commissioner for the French possessions in the Caribbean area and Rear Admiral F. J. Horne, United States Navy, guaranteeing to the French possessions in the Western Hemisphere a neutral status, a Free French naval squadron, consisting of four corvettes and the submarine Surcouf, seized the two islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon, off the coast of Newfoundland. Although the Vichy-Washington agreement as to French Western possessions had been officially denied in Vichy, diplomatic representations were made by Washington to the Free French government in London. Immediately after the seizure of the islands, a poll had been taken on Dec. 24, showing that 98 per cent of the islanders were in favor of the Free French administration.

A wide divergence of opinion immediately arose between the British and Canadian governments on the one hand, and the United States government on the other hand. While the British government apparently was taking the view that the poll was legally taken, and therefore binding, the American government expressed its concern over two counts: first, the occupation of the islands without previous consultation with the American Republics constituted a violation of the Havana Act of 1940; secondly, the American government was committed to a policy of tolerance towards the government of Marshal Pétain, and could not without straying from this policy, recognize an occupation which achieved a territorial transfer; furthermore the seizure might drive the Pétain government towards wholesale cooperation with the Berlin government.

Following the address of Prime Minister Churchill before the Canadian House of Commons in Ottawa on Dec. 30, the State Department reversed its original position, and negotiations were inaugurated with the representatives of the Free French to lay the basis for the definite status on the islands.

Conclusion.

While it is not possible to say that the French government has during the year accepted a policy of collaboration with Berlin, this policy is being daily implemented; although it is clearly evident that it is opposed by the vast majority of the French population. The French people, by all the means at their disposal, have expressed their hope for the final victory of the Allies, seeing no prospect of survival in the constitution of a German-dominated Europe.