VICHY BREAKING UP

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 6, Issue 77, 1 June 1943, Page 4

VICHY BREAKING UP

THE decision of the substantial French naval units stationed at Alexandria to throw in their lot with the swiftly growing forces of the Fighting French, is but another sign of the times and speaks audably of the wave of renewed hope and patriotism which is sweeping not merely Colonial France, but also the heart of the enslaved nation itself. The latest German decree that all young Frenchmen born in 1922, irrespective of .medical or marital status must proceed to Germany to fill the desperate manpower needs of the Reich, is not calculated to placate the already over-wrought nation or make its people the more subservient. With the exception of Indo China the Vichy Government, now little more than a 'puppet' administrative group dominated and threatened by the Nazis, has the shallow satisfaction of knowing that beyond thei shores of occupied France the whole of the once glorious empire of the Tricolour has renounced its authority and broken its allegiance. The melancholy picture is now made all the more bitter by the open hostility of the German radio, which is pouring forth,' invective and contempt at Vichy's ineffective methods of regulating supplies, disposing of France's diminishing manpower and of distributing her •limited foodstuffs. All this on the eve of the inevitable Allied invasion of the> continent! Vichy's position is no enviable one. Hated by seventy-five per cent, of the French populatioi. mistrusted and dispised by her Nazi task masters, and fearfully viewing the prospects of the invading forces of freedom which will break the chains of sjlavery and raise the sunken prestige of La ;Belle France, to its former position among the nations. Such is the dismal outlook of the Vichy Cabinet, and such ,i's its! deserving fate. The traitorous Laval and his band of henchmen have found themselves in a hornets nest of trouble and disunity of their own creation and are reaping the common reward of all turncoats. Vichy in decline does not make a pretty picture, and the world wonders what new movement has been hatched in the versatile vulture-like brain of her conquerer. One redeeming feature alone stands out with thread-bare dignity in the eclipse. It is the white haired figure of Marshal Petain the man who in extreme old age stepped forward, faced the bitterness of surrender and saved the face of his beloved country by negotiating what he fondly imagined was an honourable peace. Whatever the fate of his compatriots the veteran' Marshal of the last world war, still remains deserving of the honour, regard and respect of his countrymen.