Up to the last month of the year 1941 the Vichy régime, which had been set up in the unoccupied zone of France with the approval of the victorious Germans, seemed firmly established and durable. Vichy was still in the hands of the reactionary group, militaristic and Catholic, that had ruled for more than a year, and many people found little fault with it. Marshal Pétain was widely respected and in December 1940 had forced the resignation of Laval. His great slogans were religion, family and work.
But with the entrance of the United States into the war in December, two new currents of thought and action were set in motion in France which were to lead in the course of the year to the disintegration of the Vichy régime. The first found its expression in the series of acts of sabotage and revolt that began as hope came back to the hearts of many who had deemed resistance impossible. During that period of terroristic, rebellious activity which spread through the last months of 1941 and the early weeks of the new year, nearly every day was marked by attacks on German sentries, bridges mysteriously blown up, or 'accidents' to trains bearing troops or munitions. The authors of such provocative acts were never found, the public being ready to protect its heroes at any cost. But reprisal was swift and terrible and the execution of innocent hostages began in France.
The other new element to be noted was the wave of doubt that swept over some of the masters of Vichy as to Hitler's chances of final success. Some of those officers who began to question his military potential as against that of the United Nations reinforced now by the United States, grouped themselves under the name of Libération Nationale and sought to return to the traditions of the French army, ever opposed to Germany. These officers were reactionary in their opinions but became once more French patriots in attitude.
The decline of the Vichy régime thus portended by these straws in the wind showed itself increasingly throughout 1942 along three essential lines: (1) the failure to obtain the allegiance of the workers and organize them on the side of the government; (2) the dwindling control over what remained of French military power; and (3) the loss of political prestige, and led at last to the disappearance of even the semblance of authentic legal existence and of the last hope for 'peaceful collaboration' with the Germans.
Labor and Liberation.
Hitler had need of French labor to work in factories, both for the production of weapons and to provide the minimum indispensable to sustain what remained of French life. Vichy was counted on to prevent dangerous friction between the authorities and the immense majority of workers, by persuading them that they were contributing to a solution for France and the working-out of her destiny.
Since Pétain and his aides knew little about the workers, Vichy had appointed a quisling, one of the former directors of the CGT (French Confederation of Labor) named Belin, to organize the projected collaboration and enunciate a 'labor charter.' Belin knew the workers; but unfortunately for Vichy they also knew him, and considered him a traitor to both his country and his class. All his attempts to organize labor around himself as center were vain.
Yet during the same period, the end of 1941 and the first quarter of 1942, labor had been quietly organizing itself, quite independently of Vichy's influence. The old legal trade unions which had existed for many years under the Third Republic, had indeed been dissolved by the dictatorship instituted by the Nazis, but they formed again as underground groups, which obtained the allegiance of the workers. These soon began to publish their own illegal newspapers, which were more and more widely distributed, each copy often passing through the hands of twenty readers.
The first and perhaps the most important group was Libération, founded under the influence of the unions but helped and to a large degree directed by intellectuals, among whom were some professors. Its great inspirer was André Philip, professor of law at the University of Lyon. In March, after preliminary contacts had been made, this group sent emissaries to London, to make an agreement with the Free French there, which marks a date in the history of French resistance. Up to then its two branches had been unconnected. On one side of the Channel soldiers and administrators under the leadership of Gen. Charles De Gaulle, with the approval and help of the Churchill Government, were openly members of the Allied armies; while on the other, French civilians in the occupied and unoccupied regions of their homeland were struggling as best they could. Gen. De Gaulle, a great military officer who had been kept too busy with his study of strategy and the use of armored divisions to develop much interest or skill at politics, had no great following in France. His attitude of resistance to the authorities-in-being made him a sort of anomaly in the army, and he had never been in contact with the people. They respected him as a patriot, but as a military man and a noble he was suspected of reactionary tendencies and they could not consider him as one of themselves. Nevertheless, in their ardent desire to liberate France, the delegates arrived at a complete understanding with the Free French in London. All that was asked of De Gaulle was a renewal of his pledge that after victory he would consider himself as merely one of the forty million Frenchmen who would hold free elections under the laws in existence before the invasion, to decide on a political régime. In this way was accomplished the union of all the French forces working for the liberation of France. And since those who had stayed behind in their invaded country were obviously far from free, the name 'Free French' gave way to the inclusive and unifying name of 'Fighting French.'
Another group calling itself Franc-Tireur was formed by some elements of the old Radical-Socialist Party and began to publish a secret newspaper under its name; while in view of the example of these two liberal groups the Libération Nationale started by the disaffected officers, took on a broader character. It purged itself of certain Vichy elements which tried to join and direct it as their doubts of German victory grew, changed its name to Libération Française and founded a clandestine paper with the significant title: Combat.
So while Vichy was making its blundering attempts to implement its 'labor charter,' the unions and other independent groups were escaping from Vichy's leadership. The resistance in France thus had its origins mostly in labor, to some extent in the army, and of course largely among the liberal-minded intellectuals.
Military and Political Disintegration.
The whole Vichy set-up rested chiefly on the amazing prestige of Marshal Pétain. But the Riom trial did much to shatter that prestige. The case opened at Riom Feb. 19, 1942. The defendants were Léon Blum, Edouard Daladier, General Gamelin, Pierre Jacomet, General Commissioner for all army supplies, and Guy La Chambre. Paul Reynaud and Georges Mandel were not included in the indictment, perhaps because they knew too much. The first three named had practically lost their reputations, and it would have been wiser of Vichy just to let them be forgotten. For these men who had shown little courage or decision when they were in power at the head of the French state, now that they had lost all and their lives were in danger, displayed real dignity. On the first day Blum said: 'It is really the French Republic that is on trial here.'
This was true. But what surprised everybody was that against all odds the Republic won. The judges, though they were now accountable only to Vichy, had been trained under the French legal system which accords freedom of expression to the accused. The accused at Riom now became the accusers. It appeared that the defects laid bare by defeat bore a direct relation to the incompetence of the military chieftains and their unwillingness to listen either to the specialists or to the dictates of common sense. On Feb. 27 Daladier rendered public homage to Gen. Charles De Gaulle, the specialist who never was listened to. And since Pétain himself had been President of the Supreme War Council and the chief influence in the General Staff or High Command during all the pre-war period, he was morally the real culprit. By trying Daladier and Blum, both politically dead, Pétain revived their reputations and resuscitated their parties. Hitler put an end to the trial before a verdict could be reached.
Three events which took place while the Riom trial was going on also tended to accelerate Vichy's decline. These were: (1) On Feb. 28, in the midst of the trial the first spectacular and important Commando raid was made by the British at Bruneval, on the Normandy coast. (2) On March 4, the Renault works at Billancourt, a suburb of Paris, were bombed by the British, who thus gave warning to the great French industrialists, who had been quite ready to 'collaborate,' that France was not going to be as safe for their business undertakings as they had supposed. Besides, French industry was already weakened by Germany's frequent refusal of raw materials and transfers of essential machinery, as well as by the avowed German intention of turning France into an agricultural country geared to German industry. The manufacturers thus finding themselves threatened, began in March and April to open branches in North Africa. Foreseeing now the eventual occupation of all France, they commenced an unobtrusive withdrawal. (3) What chiefly accelerated the fall of Vichy, however, was the raid on St. Nazaire and its consequences. The British made a powerful Commando raid March 27, wreaking havoc upon the quays, canals and naval works, and then — their task accomplished — re-embarked. But the French population, believing the hoped-for invasion had begun, attacked the Germans with all sorts of weapons, real and improvised, springing from every alley-way and doorstep, and fighting with a tenacity and courage that amazed the Nazis. The Nazis exacted severe reprisals, but they knew from that day how much collaboration they could expect from the people of France.
German uneasiness after St. Nazaire showed itself clearly in several ways. General Karl von Rundstedt was sent to take charge of the 'invasion coast,' and a little later General Oberg was entrusted with the repression of political activities in France. But the most important result was the increased pressure upon Pétain to recall Laval.
The return to power of Pierre Laval, on April 15, was the death blow to the prestige of Pétain who had been lauded earlier for dismissing him. Yet Laval had now only the civil power, a new fact of immense importance. Many officers, persuaded by this time that Hitler might lose, were quietly attaching themselves to the star of Darlan, one of the first to feel the turn in the wind. So when Laval came back he was to find that what was left of the French army and navy had in large part transferred its allegiance from Vichy in general to Darlan in particular. Laval tried to conciliate public opinion by throwing on the market some food-stuffs that had been withheld by his predecessors, and the Germans helped him by promising to free some of the French prisoners of war.
General Henri Honoré Giraud's escape from his prison at Koenigstein in Saxony, on April 21, gave the Germans an excuse not to keep this promise.
On a signal from London a large manifestation of organized resistance was carried out by the French populace on May 1, traditional Labor Day in France. And as a pendant to this internal action, the troops of the Fighting French were to cover themselves with glory about a month later at Bir-Hacheim. But soon the German pressure on Laval increased still further. On June 4, 1,300 French factories were closed down, and on June 22 Laval said it was the duty of French workers to go to Germany.
The United States followed two divergent courses by negotiating with Admiral Robert of the Vichy régime as to Martinique, and (July 9) by sending military delegates to the Fighting French in London.
At Lyon, on July 13, there was a ceremony inaugurating a sort of French S.S., called the Service d'Ordre Légionnaire (SOL), destined to carry out repressive measures and defend Vichy in case of civil war. Next day the people of Paris, disregarding the most explicit prohibitions, marked the national holiday, July 14, by vigorous demonstrations. Three days later, General Michel, German economic and financial dictator in France, closed 1,600 more French factories.
The Vichy police began to arrest Jews in Unoccupied France and to turn them over to the Germans. This provoked strong opposition among the French people, who often protected the Jews at great risk to themselves, as well as among the French clergy. Labor demonstrated against the Relève (the manpower barter of French workers for Germany against returned French prisoners), and the entire month of July was marked by throwing of bombs into the meeting-places of Doriot's French Fascist party.
On August 11, Laval took occasion on the arrival of the first trainload of returned prisoners at Compiègne to announce that the rate of exchange for the Relève would be one prisoner for every three workers. This was a great disappointment; and it was later found that, although the workers had to be fit, the wasted prisoners sent back were only those whose health was definitely broken.
There was a Commando raid at Dieppe on Aug. 19 in which the French, warned not to take part, followed instructions given by radio.
The first concentration of foreign Jews at Lyon preparatory to their deportation to the East drew a protest from the Pope, followed by protests by the Archbishops of Toulouse and Lyon. This further tarnished Pétain's waning prestige among his Catholic supporters, while Laval felt himself cornered between the German exigencies, the workers resistance, the hierarchy's disapprobation, the disaffection of officers and clergy, and Doriot's increasing favor with his Nazi masters. At the end of August, in a gesture of desperation, he dissolved Parliament — or what remained of it.
Internal Difficulties.
As a thundering retort to this action came, on Sept. 8, an open letter to Pétain signed by Jeanneney and Herriot, the dismissed presidents respectively of the French Senate and Chamber of Deputies, withdrawing the power that Parliament had conferred upon the Vichy government by its General Assembly of July 10, 1940. This made a great impression throughout France, although a month later Herriot was placed under arrest. On the same day the open letter was published, Laval announced the 'labor draft' of men and women for compulsory labor, and unrest grew.
Meanwhile Laval was losing with men in his own cabinet who belonged more and more to Darlan; men such as Jacques Guérard, the trusted man of the French industrialists, and Jacques Benoist Méchin, head of the 'Tricolor Legion' founded to fight against Russia. And on Sept. 17 Charles Vallin, the brains behind the Croix de Feu, left Vichy for London.
Minister of Labor Hubert Lagardelle resigned rather than enforce the compulsory labor draft. But Laval answered demonstrations against this measure by threatening to withdraw the workers' food-cards. The Germans, seeing Laval's internal difficulties, extended the deadline for delivery of French workers to Nov. 1.
In the meantime Admiral Darlan was preparing his own cards. On Oct. 22 he left for his imperial tour of the French possessions in Africa. He returned to Vichy and made his report, but departed again immediately for Algeria. On Nov. 7 (9:00 P.M. New York time — Nov. 8, 3:00 A.M. French time), Vichy received the news of the most important event of this important year, as important perhaps for France as Dec. 7 had been the year before to the United States. American troops with heavy British support had landed in French North Africa, having been preceded two weeks before by the secret and successful expedition of Gen. Mark Clark, who had managed to confer with some French generals then in North Africa who were friendly to the undertaking. This time it was not a mere raid as at St. Nazaire and at Dieppe, no hit-and-run tactics; but the largest amphibious expedition in the history of mankind. A convoy of 850 ships from Britain had quietly brought American troops in massive numbers with all the equipment they needed, and these had come to stay.
The French people were overwhelmed with joy; but for Vichy it meant that North Africa was lost, probably irretrievably, and that it no longer had the halo of the Empire to brighten its shattered prestige. One of the beauties of the setting up of the Vichy régime from Hitler's point of view had always been that ships, under cover of an unreal but diplomatically recognized neutrality could ply between Algiers and Marseille under the nose of the British blockade, bringing for re-exportation into the Reich Moroccan phosphates, valuable ores, and all the fats and foodstuffs of Algeria and Tunisia, which even in the days of ancient Rome were a granary of Europe. The pompous device of Pétain's court and government at Vichy, respected during two years and more by the Allies at whatever cost to themselves, was now no more than a shadow and could not protect Africa.
On Nov. 8 an appeal was promulgated from General Giraud, whose presence in North Africa was thus revealed, urging the French troops to join the Allies. It was also learned that Admiral Darlan was in Algiers, and had received orders from Marshal Pétain to organize resistance for all North Africa. But that same afternoon word came that the fighting had stopped at Algiers, that an armistice was being negotiated, and that, as the news phrased it, Darlan was being 'entertained' by General Eisenhower under conditions 'suited to his rank.'
Vichy was completely at a loss. De Gaullists at Casablanca, under General Béthouard, were beginning to revolt against General Noguès, Governor of French Morocco, who was organizing resistance to the Allies. At the same time, following an appeal from General Giraud, a revolt which was soon quelled, was being staged at Montpellier in Southern France by General Jean de Lattre de Tassigny.
The complete occupation of France by Germany took place on Armistice Day, Nov. 11. Whereupon Pétain made a declaration by radio giving every Frenchman the right to defend himself, a declaration which was not repeated, and it was supposed that Laval had suppressed its repetition. Still, this news seemed to give color to Darlan's contention that he was acting according to the Marshal's wishes. Admiral Darlan ordered the 'Cease firing' throughout North Africa and, since Pétain was now virtually a prisoner, Darlan claimed all authority for himself as his appointed successor. Pétain, however, had in the meantime taken all the form of Darlan's powers again into his own hands, in order to re-delegate them to General Noguès.
The next day news came that the Germans had refrained from occupying Toulon and that the great sea-base was not to be under their control. Darlan took charge of all Africa in Pétain's name, acting on his own authority and on the authority of Pétain re-delegated to him by General Noguès. The first use he made of his new powers was to declare he had rallied to the Allied cause, in complete understanding with Lieut.-Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, commander of the Allied forces in North Africa.
Yves Chatel, Governor of Tunisia, Alphonse Juin, Weygand's successor as commander of the French armies in Africa, together with General Noguès, were all discovered to be in Algiers, and to have announced their loyalty to Admiral Darlan. (Weygand himself was arrested in Vichy.) On Nov. 15 Giraud was named chief of all French military forces in North Africa. He was already in Tunisia, organizing the French troops that were struggling alone there against the German armies while waiting for the Allies.
In London, the De Gaullists were resenting bitterly the arrangement with Darlan and their own exclusion from all participation in the North African undertaking. However, on Nov. 17, President Roosevelt in a statement to reassure those believers in the Four Freedoms who in all countries feared that the alliance with Darlan marked a change in America's declared war aims, said in unequivocal terms that the arrangement with Darlan was a temporary expedient, due to military necessity only, and promised that after the war was won the French people alone should establish the government of their choice.
After the above events Marshal Pétain must be considered as entirely deprived of power, never even leaving the Hôtel du Pare without the escort of a German officer. Surprising and often contradictory statements continued to emanate from Vichy. Darlan speaks in Pétain's name, saying he is the expression of the Marshal's thought and that they are in direct contact, while the Marshal publicly outlaws the Admiral without the Admiral's taking any notice of it. At the same time Laval, whom Pétain has declared his heir at a cabinet meeting in Vichy, and who is actually in close contact with him there, insists that it is he who speaks in the Marshal's name and is 'the expression of his thought.' So the various Vichy intrigues and personages became visibly divided into the two sets of opposed forces which had long existed confusedly at Pétain's 'court.'
Darlan's first act as High Commissioner for Africa was to establish a Bureau of Economics. This fact seemed to give color to the belief held by certain persons generally well-informed, that Darlan had been called to North Africa in the first place by French heavy industry, that is, the Comité des Forges. It was supposed that he was expected to supervise the sale of large blocks of shares in those immense enterprises to anyone able to buy them. On Nov. 23 Darlan announced that French West Africa (whose governor, Pierre Boisson, was his intimate friend) had rallied to the Empire and had submitted itself to him — that is, as he stubbornly maintained, to the Marshal.
On Nov. 27 the French fleet scuttled itself at Toulon, after Hitler marched in on the heels of his warning that he was going to demobilize what remained of the French army and navy.
For an incredibly long time Vichy had been able to force the Allies to countenance the pretense that it was a free power, by applying what may be called the blackmail of the French fleet. Part of it was still interned at Alexandria; some units were held immobile at Martinique under Admiral Robert; part had been damaged or sunk at Mers-el-Kebir; part was still at Dakar. But the bulk of it lay at Toulon, and seemed strong enough to weigh heavily on the fate of the Mediterranean. For more than two years that Toulon fleet, with its Vichy-inclined officers and its overwhelmingly pro-Allied crews, remained a dangerous enigma as well as a strong bargaining asset in Vichy's hands. Since the news of the scuttling emanated from Vichy it was suspected, yet the three French Havas journalists responsible for sending it out were all arrested.
Public opinion the world over was struck by the suicidal heroism of commanders who while remaining aboard had blown up all their ships, and took that feat of legendary courage to mean that the word honor had again its full meaning in France.
Soon after negotiations as to Dakar begun in Algiers resulted on Dec. 7 in an agreement to give the Allies the use of the naval and aerial bases of that key point.
In Vichy, however, favorites of Admiral Darlan and of the former Vichy Minister of the Interior, Pierre Pucheu, were slowly weeded out, a series of resignations on the part of alarmed Vichy officials began. On Dec. 14 Laval made a statement, boasting of having arrested more than a thousand persons prominent in French political life; stating that he had parted company with parliamentary methods, and hoped for a German victory 'because it will prevent our civilization from foundering in the communistic chaos, whereas an American victory will bring in its train the triumph of the communists and the Jews'; and threatening the use of force if necessary to bring about complete collaboration.
Announcement was made that up to date France had sent 108,000 workers into Germany.
About the middle of December, in another theater of war, Madagascar was officially turned over by the British to the Fighting French under General Paul Le Gentilhomme, their commander-in-chief in Africa. The British promised to withdraw completely as soon as the French should feel able to carry on the administration alone.
Darlan, however, continued unaffected and on Dec. 14 named a French Imperial Council, styling himself now 'High Commissioner for the French Empire,' thus causing a violent resurgence of the protests which the Roosevelt declaration had momentarily quieted.
General Giraud, making a tour of inspection of the Allied armies in North Africa, said at Casablanca: 'The only way to unite all Frenchmen is to build a great French army in Africa. We do not wish the Allies to liberate France; we desire to liberate France with the help of the Allies.'
On Dec. 16 Admiral Darlan made his first statement to the foreign correspondents. His speech, affirming his belief in a German defeat, was evidently intended to give the Allies all they were asking, and to silence the criticism against him in England and the United States. He recommended the maximum joint military effort against the Axis; asked for the unity of all French citizens regardless of opinion; announced an 'amnesty' for all anti-Axis elements in Africa, declaring he had begun abrogation of such anti-Jewish laws as Vichy had sought to impose in Africa; cited General Giraud's military activity; stated that North African shipping like all other resources was entering the service of the Allies; declared that the French people and the French Empire would decide freely their form of government after victory; and solemnly averred that he had no personal ambitions but would, after the liberation of France and the French Empire (his sole aim) retire to private life 'with the hope that the future leaders of France may be selected by the French people themselves and by no one else.' He omitted all economic questions and dodged the labor issue by saying that there is little industrial development in North Africa.
Admiral Darlan also declared that the French fleet units at Dakar and Alexandria, as well as those in North African ports, would join the British and United States fleets to fight the Axis.
On Dec. 19 Laval took part in the last session of a conference at Hitler's headquarters, attended by Count Ciano and Marshal Caballero, Italian ambassador to Berlin, on behalf of the Italians, and Foreign Minister von Ribbentrop, Field Marshal Keitel and Marshal Goering to represent the Germans. Laval, accompanied by Charles Rochat, Secretary General of the Foreign Ministry, Jean Bichelonne, Secretary for Communications, was called in to hear the 'verdict' upon the French situation and to receive his instructions as to future French collaboration. Hitler was reported to have asked from Laval that France formally enter the Axis, raise a new army under existing French obligatory service rather than by voluntary methods, join the war against the Anglo-Saxons, furnishing an immediate contingent of 250,000 men for an 'African Phalanx,' and return the government from Vichy to Paris.
On the afternoon of Dec. 24 Admiral Darlan was shot as he entered his office, and died on the way to the hospital. His assailant, a young Frenchman twenty-two years old, was captured on the spot, was tried next day by a French court-martial in Algiers, and on Dec. 26 was executed at dawn by a firing squad. Strict secrecy was maintained as to his identity and the motive for his act.
General Giraud was named as Darlan's successor by the Imperial Council, consisting of General Giraud, General Jean-Marie Bergeret, General Noguès, Gov.-Gen. Boisson of West Africa, and Yves Chatel, Governor of Algeria. The Council's statement read: 'We the members of the Imperial Council unanimously decide: General Henri Giraud is designated to exercise the functions of High Commissioner in French Africa and Commander-in-Chief of the French army, navy and air forces.'
A few minutes after taking office General Giraud issued the following Order of the Day: 'Assuming the functions of High Commissioner of French Africa after the tragedy that cost Admiral Darlan's life, I ask all to stand united behind me to assure the support of our allies and the success of our arms. Only one thing counts: France and her Empire. There is but one aim: Victory.'
It was revealed in London that General De Gaulle recently took the initiative in trying to reach a political and military agreement with the North African group by sending his personal emissary, Air Marshal D'Astier de la Vigerie, to North Africa. It was believed that the appointment of General Giraud as High Commissioner would make possible the union and consolidation of all Frenchmen desiring the liberation of their country.
The year 1942 will remain in French history as the one that marked the end of the Armistice of 1940 and the official re-entry of France into the war of liberation on the side of the United Nations. Whatever may be the enigmas of the future, the striking fact is that for the first time since 1917-18 the regular armies of Britain, the United States and France are fighting together against the same enemy as before. This fact alone should be enough to bring together in unity all French patriots. And while 1940 and 1941 have shown the descending curve that follows shattering defeat, the autumn of 1942 marks the starting-point of a new and reascending line that will lead to the resurrection of France.
