Vichy France (58 page)

³⁴
The Toulon agreement, negotiated on November 11 by Admirals Marquis and de Laborde and Commander von Ruault-Frappart, Admiral Raeder’s representative, may be found in
Ministère public c/Marquis et Abrial.
See also
Documents on International Affairs, 1939–46
, II, “Hitler’s Europe,” ed. Margaret Carlyle (London, 1954), 148. I have covered these questions more fully in
Parades and Politics at Vichy
(Princeton, 1966), chap. 11. The most complete German account is in the papers of General von Neubronn, Deutscher General Vichy, “Akte 7a - Stimmung, Akte 7b - Lage” (T-501, DGV 70/23588).

³⁵
Procès Pétain
(Paris, 1945), 499 ff.

³⁶
General Bridoux, “Journal,” 11 May 1943; Monique Luirard, “Le Courrier français du Témoignage chrétien,”
Cahiers d’histoire
XIV:2 (1969), 181–209;
The Journals of André Gide
, translated and edited by Justin O’Brien, vol. IV (New York, 1951), 182, 186, 189, 192. Gide found the British bomber pilots more daring and therefore more accurate than the Americans.

³⁷
For Germany’s late adoption of a war economy, see Burton H. Klein,
Germany’s Economic Preparation for War
(Cambridge, Mass., 1959), and Alan H. Milward,
The German Economy at War
(London 1965). The Vichy cabinet accepted the new quotas in July as, in Brinon’s words, “a French contribution to the feeding of Europe in the battle against bolshevism.” Laval then attempted in a meeting with Dr. Michel on 3 August to obtain more authority over price-fixing in the Occupied Zone, to get the Germans to publish the exact figures of the food quotas, and to stop illicit food-buying by German soldiers on the black market. See Abetz (Paris) 2941 to Berlin of 11 July 1942 (T-120/5618H/E402844) and Schoene (Paris) Del. Wirt. 276 of 10 August 1942 (T-120/434/220253–54). For the views of Goering and Abetz, see Wiehl memorandum (unnumbered) of 11 August 1942 and Wiehl memorandum Ha Pol 812/42 of 24 August 1942 (T-120/434/220255–57, 220310–11). “I dream of edibles,” wrote André Gide on 7 May 1943.
The Journals of André Gide
, IV, 186.

³⁸
For general German labor policy and for comparative figures by nationality, see Edward L. Homze,
Foreign Labor in Nazi Germany
(Princeton, N.J., 1967). Homze’s details on negotiating the French labor supply for Germany, drawn mostly from the Nuremberg trial documents, need to be supplemented with other unpublished German material. I have used primarily Deutsche Botschaft, Paris, Pol. 3 Nr. 46, “Franz. Gewerkschaftswesen, franz. sozialpolitik. Einsatz franz. und anderer ausl. Arbeiter in Deutschland” (T-120/5636H-5637H). See also Alan H. Milward, “French Labour and the German Economy, 1942–45: An Essay on the Nature of the Fascist New Order,”
Economic History Review
XXIII: 2 (August 1970).

³⁹
Abetz (Paris) telegrams no. 2051 and 2145, 17 and 23 May 1942 (T-120/422/217051–54, 217099–101), also reprinted in
Mémorandum d’Abetz
, 159, 177. Laval’s story that Goering warned him not to return to the government in April 1942 since things were going to become tougher for France is probably a postwar invention.

⁴⁰
These complicated maneuvers may be followed best in
FRUS
, II, 1942, and in T-120/422, 434.

⁴¹
See the same sources as in footnote 39 and T-120/1450. Both the Caribbean units and the Godefroy squadron remained neutral after November 1942. The Godefroy squadron’s crews eventually rallied to the Allies after the fall of Tunisia in May 1943.

⁴²
Laval suggested to the Germans in April 1942 that France, whose relations with the Japanese were now much better than they had been under Darlan, could be useful to Germany in Asia. He proposed to discuss Japanese naval use of Madagascar with Ambassador Mitami. Governor-General Annet in Madagascar seems to have received orders to accept the presence of Japanese submarines but to resist any British force. Woermann memorandum Nr. 1807 of 29 April 1942 (T-120/4639H/209091–92) and
Ministère public c/Brévié et Annet.

⁴³
T-120/5636H/E407349–52.

⁴⁴
Schoene (Paris) Del. Wirt. 265 of 21 June 1942 (T-120/434/220168–70; Abetz (Paris) No. 2517 of 16 June 1942 (T-120/588/243943–47).

⁴⁵
Ministère de l’Information,
La Presse autorisée sous l’occupation allemande
(Paris, 1946). André Lavagne of Pétain’s cabinet recalled after the war that improving contact with the Occupied Zone was the “constant obsession, the preoccupation” of the regime.
Procès Pétain
, 307. For the
Tricolor Legion
experiment, see my
Parades and Politics at Vichy
, 273–77.

⁴⁶
The German air support issue is fully documented in
DFCAA
, V, 423, and in T-120/926/297022–23–54. For French efforts to persuade the Germans that French defense in North Africa was genuine, see Roland Krug von Nidda’s reports in T-120/443, 110. I have discussed the military details much more fully in
Parades and Politics at Vichy
(Princeton, N.J., 1966), chap. 10.

⁴⁷
Abetz (Paris) 5057 of 8 November 1942 (T-120/926/297067).

⁴⁸
The fullest accounts of the Laval-Hitler-Ciano meetings of 10–11 November 1942 are interpreter Paul Otto Schmidt’s notes, found in T-120/F1/0126–55. See also Schmidt,
Statist auf diplomatischer Bühne
(Bonn, 1949), 564. The 11 November 1942 memorandum is found in T-120/F9/0006–7. Geoffrey Warner,
Pierre Laval and the Eclipse of France
, attributes this document to the German side, erroneously in my opinion. Laval’s postwar claim that he rejected a German offer of alliance “through thick and thin” (
Laval parle
, 135;
Procès Pétain
, 201–7) is diametrically wrong.

⁴⁹
There is no contemporary evidence for a plan to fly Pétain out to North Africa on November 11, 1942, as mentioned in such reminiscences as Jules Roy,
Le Grand naufrage
(Paris, 1966).

⁵⁰
Abetz (Paris) 5150 and 5155 of 13 November 1942 (T-120/928/297616–17); Ribbentrop (Sonderzug) 1413 of 14 November 1942 to Abetz (T-120/928/587–88). These efforts to neutralize North Africa during the period November 11–14 were no doubt the subject of any “secret accord” telegrams Pétain may have sent to Darlan during that period.

⁵¹
Abetz (Paris) 5202 of 15 November 1942 to Ribbentrop (T-120/974/302947–50 or T-120/928/297558–61). Platon’s aide, Commandant Brunet, who had spent six months in a British prison after Dunkirk, was said to “hate Britain like the plague.”

⁵²
Abetz (Paris) 5214 of 15 November 1942 (T-120/928/297554–56). Thus Laval himself seems to be the proposer of the alliance “through thick and thin” that he claimed after the war the Germans offered him. See footnote 48 above.

⁵³
Abetz (Paris) 5252 of 17 November 1942 (T-120/974/302941–43).

⁵⁴
Ribbentrop (Fuschl) 1441 of 17 November to Rahn (T-120/974/302939–40).

⁵⁵
Hitler’s letter of 26 November 1942 to Pétain is found in Ambassador Ritter’s files (T-120/935/298859–71). See also the dossier on French “guilt” in November 1942 assembled by the OKW (T-77/OKW-133).

⁵⁶
Pétain letters to Hitler and Marshal von Rundstedt of December 5 and 7 (T-120/935/298782–88, 298763–64); Laval letter of 5 December (T-120/935/298782–88); Schleier (Paris) 5827 to Ribbentrop, 10 December 1942 (T-120/110/115452–55).

⁵⁷
The results of the Laval-Ribbentrop meeting of 19 December 1942 are found in Ribbentrop (Sonderzug) 1614 to Abetz, 26 December 1942 (T-120/935/298684–87), and in T-77/OKW-999/5,632,984–90. For the Phalange Africaine, see Louis Noguères,
Le Véritable procès du maréchal Pétain
(Paris, 1955), 363; T-77/OKW-1443; and
Ministère public c/Delmotte.

⁵⁸
T-120/3546H/E022126–32; Schleier (Paris), unnumbered telegram of 4 October 1943 (T-120/4120/071186–90).

⁵⁹
See Alan S. Milward, “German Economic Policy Towards France, 1942–44,” in K. Bourne and D. C. Watt,
Studies in International History
(London, 1967), and Alan S. Milward, “French Labour and German Economy, 1942–45: An Essay on the Nature of the Fascist New Order,”
Economic History Review
XXIII: 2 (August 1970).

⁶⁰
Deutscher General Vichy, Nr. 152/43 of 10 June 1943 (T-501/DGV 70–23588/412–16). Many prominent Frenchmen would have been reconciled to the regime as late as 1943 if it had won more German concessions. Georges Bonnet, for example, still expected a diplomatic post in August 1943 (T-120/4120/071159–60).

⁶¹
Walter Schellenberg, Memorandum, RSHA Amt VI, 24 April 1943 (T-120/1832H/418671–73); handwritten memorandum, probably by General von Neubronn, 30 April 1943 (T-120/2318/485224–37); Ménétrel’s remark is found in T-120/4120/071040. For the Romier-Neubronn conversation, May ? 1943, see T-120/2318/485222–23. The Hitler-Pétain letters of 29 April 1943 are found in T-120/2318/485209–20. Ribbentrop ordered the Gestapo to guard Laval at this point.

⁶²
The best contemporary sources for the November–December 1943 crisis are the papers of General von Neubronn (T-501, Deutscher General Vichy 70/23588) and Auswärtiges Amt, Richtl. Pol. 11, Bundle 17/2, “Material, Allg.: Ausgehende Telegramme” (T-120/6726H). See also Louis Noguères,
Le Véritable procès
, 567–98.

⁶³
Pétain-Rundstedt meeting, 27 August 1943 (T-120/3546H/E022159 ff.). Other conversations may be found in Pariser Botschaft, Bundle 1120, “Politische Beziehungen Frankreich-Deutschland, vol. 2, Apr. 24, 1943–Aug. 20, 1943,” (T-120/3546H). See also Pétain’s letter of 20 January 1944 to von Rundstedt confirming his intention to issue orders of neutrality in case the “menace” of an Allied landing should be realized. Noguères,
Véritable procès
, 615.

⁶⁴
The best-informed account is the later chapters of Warner,
Laval.
See also André Brissaud,
La Dernière année: Vichy 1943–44
(Paris, 1967).

⁶⁵
Jean Tracou,
Le Maréchal aux liens
(Paris, 1948).

⁶⁶
The chapter in de Gaulle’s memoirs on the first winter after the Liberation is entitled “L’Ordre.”

⁶⁷
See Geoffrey Warner,
Pierre Laval and the Eclipse of France
(New York, 1968), 393–96, and Auswärtiges Amt, Referat D 11 (Inland), “Akten betreffend Auslandsmeldungen des SD betr. Frankreich,” (T-120/4120/071205–31). Lemaigre-Dubreuil had left the new regime in North Africa after General Giraud publicly denounced the National Revolution in a speech on 14 April 1943.

⁶⁸
The best-informed accounts are Michel Soulié,
La Vie politique d’Edouard Herriot
(Paris, 1962), 518–21, and Geoffrey Warner,
Pierre Laval
, 401–3.

⁶⁹
Admiral Auphan later enjoyed presenting facsimile copies of his
ordre de mission
to visitors, including this author. See also Warner,
Laval
, 402.

⁷⁰
Peter Novick,
The Resistance Versus Vichy: The Purge of Collaborators in Liberated France
(New York, 1968).

V / A Balance Sheet: The Legacy of Vichy