VICHY PROMISES
ADDRESSED TO UNITED STATES MAINTENANCE OF ARMISTICE TERMS. PARTICULARS OF NAVAL FORCES. ißy Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright! . LONDON, May 29. The Madrid correspondent of the "Daily Mail" says the Vichy Government's latest Note to Washington, in which the United States was assuredthat France would not hand over her fleet or colonies to any foreign Power, shows clearly that Admiral Darlans attitude has changed considerably in the last 10 days, and that this is'doublless because of protests from the entire French nation. Marshal Petain ordered Admiral Darlan to do his utmost to reconcile American public opinion, and also to give every possible proof that the collaboration with Germany is forced on France by circumstances, and does no! mean co-operation in any military sense. The Note signed by Admiral Darlan, the correspondent says, contains a long and detailed report on the French situation, and gives details of. the whereabouts of units of the French fleet, which is described as "still a formidable and undefeated fighting force.” It says that, the battleship Richelieu. which was damaged by the British at Dakar, is now repaired, and the battleship Jean Bart, which went to Oran in an unfinished state when France collapsed, is now completed and 'ready for sea.- The battle-cruiser Strasbourg and the battleship Provence are stated to be in commission in French waters; the cruisers Georges Leygues. Gloire and Montcalm are in African waters, the aircraft-carrier Bearn and the cruiser Jeanne d'Arc are now in the West Indies, and the cruisers Algerie, Colbert, Foch, and Dupleix arc in the Mediterranean with 45 modern destroyers and 50 submarines.
The Note declares that France again gives her solemn word that the military terms of the armistice will in no way be allowed to be superseded or surpassed. This does not mean that France is able to resume the war in order to enforce her own strict neu 7 trality, but it means that she will not allow the Germans or Italians to occupy any French base in North Africa or elsewhere.
Though Admiral -Darlan was unable to reassure Washington that French troops will not attack the African colonies adhering to General de Gaulle, he is believed to have tentatively proposed that an expedition against the Free French might be postponed if the United States guaranteed that she would not occupy the French West Indian islands, and also Dakar and Casablanca.
Admiral Darlan declared that at present no more Germans were going to Iraq across Syria.
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Wairarapa Times-Age, 30 May 1941, Page 5
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411VICHY PROMISES Wairarapa Times-Age, 30 May 1941, Page 5
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