Their Finest Hour (61 page)

There was another very simple manner in which the Franco Government could have struck us this destructive blow. They could have allowed Hitler’s troops to traverse the Peninsula, besiege and take Gibraltar for them, and meanwhile themselves occupy Morocco and French North Africa. This became a deep anxiety after the French Armistice, when on June 27, 1940, the Germans reached the Spanish frontier in force, and proposed fraternal ceremonial parades in San Sebastian and in towns beyond the Pyrenees. Some German troops actually entered Spain. However, as the Duke of Wellington wrote in April, 1820
³
:

There is no country in Europe in the affairs of which foreigners can interfere with so little advantage as Spain. There is no country in which foreigners are so much disliked, and even despised, and whose manners and habits are so little congenial with those of other nations in Europe.

Now, a hundred and twenty years later, the Spaniards, reeling and quivering under the self-inflicted mutilations of the civil war, were even less sociable. They did not wish to have foreign armies marching about their country. Even if they were Nazi and Fascist in their ideology, these morose people would rather have the foreigners’ room than their company. Franco shared these feelings to the full, and in a most crafty manner he managed to give effect to them. We could admire his astuteness, especially as it was helpful to us.

* * * * *

Like everyone else, the Spanish Government was staggered by the sudden downfall of France and the expected collapse or destruction of Britain. Lots of people all over the world had reconciled themselves to the idea of the “New Order in Europe,” the “Herrenvolk,” and all that. Franco therefore indicated in June that he was prepared to join the victors and share in the distribution of the spoils. Partly from appetite, and partly also from prudence, he made it clear that Spain had large claims. But at this moment Hitler did not feel the need of allies. He, like Franco, expected that in a few weeks or even days general hostilities would cease and England would be suing for terms. He therefore showed little interest in the gestures of active solidarity from Madrid.

By August the scene had changed. It was certain that Britain would fight on and probable that the war would be lengthy. With the contemptuous British rejection of his “Peace Offer” of July 19, Hitler sought allies, and to whom should he turn but to the dictator he had helped and who had so lately offered to join him? But Franco also had a different outlook arising from the same causes. On August 8, the German Ambassador in Madrid informed Berlin that the Caudillo still held the same view, but that he had certain requests to make. First, the assurance that Gibraltar, French Morocco, and part of Algeria, including Oran, should be given to Spain, together with various expansions of territory in the Spanish African colonies. Adequate military and economic assistance would also be necessary, because Spain had only enough grain for eight months. Finally, Franco felt that the intervention of Spain should not take place until after the German landing in England, “in order to avoid too premature an entry into the war, and thus a duration which would be unbearable to Spain and in certain conditions a fountain of danger for the régime.” At the same time Franco wrote to Mussolini recapitulating Spanish claims and asking for his support. Mussolini replied on August 25 by urging the Caudillo “not to cut himself off from the history of Europe.” Hitler was embarrassed by the size of the Spanish claims, some of which would embroil him anew with Vichy. The taking of Oran from France would almost certainly lead to the setting-up of a hostile French Government in North Africa. He balanced the issue.

Meanwhile the days were passing. During September Great Britain seemed to be holding her own against the German air offensive. The transfer of the fifty American destroyers made a profound impression throughout Europe, and to Spain it seemed that the United States was moving nearer to the war. Franco and his Spaniards, therefore, pursued the policy of raising and defining their claims and making it clear that these must be agreed in advance. Supplies also must be provided, particularly a number of fifteen-inch howitzers for the Spanish batteries facing Gibraltar. All the while they paid the Germans in small coin. All the Spanish newspapers were Anglophobe. German agents were allowed to flaunt themselves all over Madrid. As the Spanish Foreign Minister, Beigbeder, was suspected of lack of enthusiasm for Germany, a special envoy, Serrano Suñer, head of the Falange, was sent on a formal visit to Berlin to smooth things over and preserve a sense of comradeship. Hitler harangued him at length, dwelling on the Spanish prejudices against the United States. The war, he suggested, might well turn into a war of continents – America against Europe. The islands off West Africa must be made secure. Later in the day Ribbentrop asked for a military base for Germany in the Canaries. Suñer, the pro-German and Falangist, refused even to discuss this, but dwelt incessantly upon Spanish needs for modern weapons and food and petrol, and for the satisfaction of her territorial demands at the expense of France. All this was necessary before Spain could realise her hopes of entering the war.

Ribbentrop went to Rome on September 19 to report and confer. He said that the Fuehrer thought the British attitude was “dictated by desperation, and also a complete failure to understand realities, as well as the hope of interventions by the Russians and the Americans.” Mussolini observed that “the United States are for all practical purposes at the side of England.” The sale of the fifty destroyers proved this. He advised an alliance with Japan to paralyse American action. “Although the American Navy can be considered large in the quantitative sense, it must be regarded as a dilettante organisation like the British Army….” The Duce continued:

There remains the problem of Yugoslavia and Greece. Italy has half a million men on the Yugoslav frontier, and two hundred thousand on the Greek frontier. The Greeks represent for Italy what the Norwegians represented for Germany before the action of April. It is necessary for us to proceed with the liquidation of Greece, all the more so as when our land forces will have advanced into Egypt, the English Fleet will not be able to remain at Alexandria, and will seek refuge in Greek ports.

At this point they both agreed that the principal object was to defeat England. The only question was, how? “Either the war,” said Mussolini, “will finish before the spring or be protracted into next year.” The second alternative now seemed to him the more probable, and the Spanish card must be played in the most effective way. Ribbentrop affirmed that a declaration of war by Spain following upon the alliance with Japan would be a new and formidable blow for England. But Suñer had not fixed any date.

* * * * *

While the Spaniards became less ardent and more acquisitive, Hitler felt an increased desire for their help. As early as August 15, General Jodl had pointed out that there were other means besides direct invasion by which England could be defeated, namely, prolonged air warfare, the stepping-up of U-boat warfare, the capture of Egypt and the capture of Gibraltar. Hitler was strongly in favour of the assault on Gibraltar. But the Spanish terms were too high, and also by the end of September, other ideas stirred his mind. On September 27, the Tripartite Pact between Germany, Italy, and Japan was signed in Berlin. This opened wider fields.

* * * * *

The Fuehrer now decided to throw his personal influence into the scale. On October 4, he met Mussolini at the Brenner Pass. He spoke of the high demands and dilatory procedure of the Spanish Government. He feared that to give Spain what she asked would have two immediate consequences: an English occupation of the Spanish bases in the Canaries and the adhesion of the French Empire in North Africa to de Gaulle’s movement. This, he said, would force the Axis seriously to extend their own sphere of operations. On the other hand, he did not exclude the possibility of having the French armed forces on his side in a European campaign against Great Britain. Mussolini dilated on his plans for the conquest of Egypt. Hitler offered him special units for this attack. Mussolini did not think he needed them, at least before the final phase. On the Russian question Hitler remarked, “it is necessary to realise that my distrust of Stalin is equalled by his distrust of me.” In any case, Molotov was coming in a short time to Berlin, and it would be the Fuehrer’s task to direct Russian dynamism towards India.

On October 23, Hitler went all the way to the Franco-Spanish frontier at Hendaye to meet the Spanish dictator. Here the Spaniards, instead of being flattered by his condescension, demanded, according to Hitler’s account to Mussolini, “objectives absolutely out of proportion to their strength.” Spain demanded rectifications of the Pyrenees frontier, the cession of French Catalonia (French territory, once historically linked with Spain, but actually
north
of the Pyrenees), of Algeria from Oran to Cape Blanco, and virtually the whole of Morocco. The conversations, conducted through interpreters, lasted nine hours. They produced only a vague protocol and an arrangement for military conversations. “Rather than go through it again,” Hitler told Mussolini later at Florence, “I would prefer to have three or four of my teeth out.”
⁴

On the way back from Hendaye, the Fuehrer summoned Marshal Pétain to meet him at Montoire, near Tours. This interview had been prepared by Laval, who two days earlier had met Ribbentrop, and to his surprise Hitler, at this very place. Hitler and Laval both hoped to rally France to the defeat of Britain. The Marshal and most of his circle were at first shocked at this. But Laval portrayed the proposed meeting in glowing terms. When asked whether Hitler had initiated the idea, or whether it had been suggested to him, Laval replied:

What do you take him for? Do you think that Hitler needs a nurse? He has his own ideas, that man. He wants to see the Marshal. Besides, he has a great respect for him. This interview between the heads of the two States will be an historic event. In any case, something very different from a luncheon at Chequers.
⁵

Pétain was converted to the plan. He thought that his personal prestige might weigh with Hitler, and that it was worth while giving him the impression that France would not be unwilling to “collaborate.” At ease in the West, Hitler might turn his thoughts and armies eastward.

The meeting took place in Hitler’s armoured train, near a tunnel, on the afternoon of October 24. “I am happy,” said the Fuehrer, “to shake hands with a Frenchman who is not responsible for this war.”

Little more than shameful civilities resulted. The Marshal regretted that close relations had not been developed between France and Germany before the war. Perhaps it was not yet too late. Hitler pointed out that France had provoked the war and was defeated. But his aim now was to crush England. Before the United States could help her effectively, Britain would be occupied or else reduced to a heap of ruins. His object was to end the war as quickly as possible, for there was no business less profitable than war. All Europe would have to pay the cost, and so all Europe had the same interest. To what extent would France help? Pétain conceded the principle of collaboration, but pleaded that he could not define its limits. A
procès-verbal
was drawn up by which, “in accord with the Duce, the Fuehrer manifested his determination to see France occupy in the New Europe the place to which she is entitled.” The Axis Powers and France had an identical interest, in seeing the defeat of England accomplished as soon as possible. Consequently, the French Government would support, within the limits of its ability, the measures which the Axis Powers might take for defence. Questions of detail would be settled by the Armistice Commission in concert with the French delegation. The Axis Powers would undertake that at the conclusion of peace with England France would retain in Africa a colonial domain “essentially equivalent to what she possessed at the moment.”

According to the German record, Hitler was disappointed. Even Laval had begged him not to press France to make war against Britain before French opinion was duly prepared. Hitler afterwards spoke of Laval as “a dirty little democratic politico”; but he carried away a more favourable impression of Marshal Pétain. The Marshal, however, is reported to have said, when he got back to Vichy, “It will take six months to discuss this programme, and another six months to forget it.” But the infamous transaction is not forgotten yet in France.

In October I had telegraphed to our Ambassador in Madrid:

Prime Minister to Sir Samuel Hoare.

19.X.40.

We admire the way in which you are dealing with your baffling task. I hope you will manage to convey to Vichy, through the French Ambassador, two root ideas. First, that we will let bygones go and work with anyone who convinces us of his resolution to defeat the common foes. Secondly, that as we are fighting for our lives as well as for a victory which will relieve simultaneously all the captive States, we shall stop at nothing. Try to make Vichy feel what we here all take for certain, namely, that we have got Hitler beat, and though he may ravage the Continent and the war may last a long time his doom is certain. It passes my comprehension why no French leaders secede to Africa, where they would have an empire, the command of the seas, and all the frozen French gold in the United States. If this had been done at the beginning we might well have knocked out Italy by now. But surely the opportunity is the most splendid ever offered to daring men. Naturally one would not expect precise responses to such suggestions, but try to put it into their heads if you see any opening.

The various reports which we received of Montoire did not alter my general view of what our attitude towards Vichy should be. Now in November I expressed my views to my colleagues in a memorandum.

14.XI.40.

Although revenge has no part in politics, and we should always be looking forward rather than looking back, it would be a mistake to suppose that a solution of our difficulties with Vichy will be reached by a policy of mere conciliation and forgiveness. The Vichy Government is under heavy pressure from Germany, and there is nothing that they would like better than to feel a nice, soft, cosy, forgiving England on their other side. This would enable them to win minor favours from Germany at our expense, and hang on as long as possible to see how the war goes. We, on the contrary, should not hesitate, when our interests require it, to confront them with difficult and rough situations, and make them feel that
we
have teeth as well as Hitler.

It must be remembered that these men have committed acts of baseness on a scale which have earned them the lasting contempt of the world, and
that they have done this without the slightest authority from the French people.
Laval is certainly filled by the bitterest hatred of England, and is reported to have said that he would like to see us
“crabouillés,”
which means squashed so as to leave only a grease-spot. Undoubtedly, if he had had the power, he would have marketed the unexpected British resistance with his German masters to secure a better price for French help in finishing us off. Darlan is mortally envenomed by the injury we have done to his Fleet. Pétain has always been an anti-British defeatist, and is now a dotard. The idea that we can build on such men is vain. They may, however, be forced by rising opinion in France and by German severities to change their line in our favour. Certainly we should have contacts with them. But in order to promote such favourable tendencies we must make sure the Vichy folk are kept well ground between the upper and nether millstones of Germany and Britain. In this way they are most likely to be brought into a more serviceable mood during the short run which remains to them.