THE TRIAL OF PETAIN

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 08, Issue 93, 27 July 1945, Page 4

THE TRIAL OF PETAIN

APPROACHING his ninetieth year, the aged stooped figure of General Petain is today the centre of one of the most dramatic trials in history. Those who read with interest the momentous story now being unfolded by the. prosecution would do well to cast their minds back to the World War I when the white-haired French leader came only second to the celebrated Marsha) Foch in order of French acclaim and popularity. Petain was one of Joffre'S protege's and acted as one of his most active generals on the western front after Verdun. Quiet, reserved, and sentimental he never reached the pinnacle achieved by other Allied leaders following the crashing victory of 1918, but he won for himself & place in be art of the French nation which could not be usurped over the years of his retirement. It was this hoary hero to whom the desperate nation turned in the disastrous days of 1940, when the great Nazi war machine burst the defensive dykes of the Maginot Line and rolled across the fair fields of Flanders again. Dagged from his comfortable retirement in Portugal, the aged military leader suddenly found the whole responsibility for the conduct of the w?.r thrust into his hands. He /took momentary stock, and we well remember his momentous declaration 'the is bad, but not hopeless.' Then came the collapse of Belgium, the surrender of two French Armies, and Dunkirk of immortal memory. General Petain capitulated, signed a treaty for the permanent occupation of one third of his native land, maintained a figure-head semblance of Government from Vichy. The ramifications of the German military pressure plus the subtle work of openly traitroua French leaders made the task of dignified government next to impossible and inexorably the hand of fate swung the balance in favour of the invaders, until was branded a traitor and a turncoat by the world at large. Inner stories are now being told but despite their implication and essence of guilt, we make bold to say that few men Would have even at half his age attempted to grapple with the tremendous task or assume the great national responsibility, which was undertaken by this aged French nonagenarian.