DARLAN'S POSITION

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 05, Issue 86, 3 August 1942, Page 6

DARLAN'S POSITION

TRUE RELATION WITH LAVAL KEEPING lIIS FLEET AFLOAT '"What is the true relation be- ; twecn Darlan, commander of the - military forces, and Laval? In corai parison to Laval, Dailan is a mere i amateur in politics. His personality must be explained in terms of vanl ity and opportunism. His hatred of • everything English is only a case . in point. Darlan's position, to the extent that he opposes Laval and that Lai val has the support of the Nazis, ! is equivocal. To keep his fleet whole and afloat, to avoid its dismantlc- : ment, which the Germans can re- - quire under the terms of the annisticc, Darlan had to enlist the personal goodwill of the conqueror. "How could he afford any resistance to Laval—the protege of Hitler—without laying his ships open to reprisal? But from a broader point of view, and looking more deeply into things, the French people's reaction to Laval's criminal undertakings will not be determined bj r this or that part of the army or navy, by any general or admiral. "Whatever Laval and his henchmen in the Ministrj- of Information may think, there is always a powerful and iincrushable popular feeling even in the suffering and oppressed nations, among which the phrase 'public opinion' no longer has much meaning. And for Laval, such a feeling is perhaps more to be feared, for it has the spontaneity and persistence of nature itself."-—Pertinax" in the New York Times'.