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Show ' f Record Set Straight On French History f ere's much confusion in II rountry about France dur-h dur-h period 1940-42. To set ecord straight, here are a kts: surrendered to .tany in June. 1940, thor- h beaten, degenerate and """oralized. Germany im-d im-d a harsh peace treat and pied all the Atlantic and oel coasts. Afitre was an independent vl-ce. however, which we d Vichy France. It was by Frenchmen, who l ed the country and were J J etrol-and maintained an ', navy and air force. It beaded by the then much- CDed Marshal Petain, hero 'orid War I. C- THE two years and five is of this republic's exist-i exist-i most Frenchmen, in . y France and in occupied : ."- ce. collaboratec. general-saking. general-saking. with the Germans, j hated the English, espe-' espe-' after the Royal Navy de-ted de-ted the French fleet short-, short-, terthe 1940 French sur-fl'er. sur-fl'er. Royal Navy in 1940 sud-y sud-y appeared off French by h African ports, issued " , ch naval commanders an atum to join them or they dopen fire. French offic-efused offic-efused to disobey their mment and Navy com-ler com-ler and were, in turn, sunk f in port or trying to get i jhy the British. naturally enough, in-d in-d Frenchmen, who felt ,.Wr late allies had killed lifnt Frenchmen without Kation. f- reporters regularly such statements as that in Mt A. P. dispatch which Nazis "ruled" Frence 'he collaboration of the I y government between 1940 and 1944. It was not that simple. The Germans occupied occu-pied Vichy France only in November. 1942. w hen American Amer-ican and British troops landed in North Africa. UNTIL THEN, Frenchmen " ruled in Vichy. And thus what happened between June. 1940, and November. 1942. in France is mostly a matter for Frenchmen to account for, not Germans. Even during German Ger-man occupation, after Novcm-ber Novcm-ber 1942, the Germans did not replace the government. But, of course, the physical presence pre-sence of the occupying troops and the Gestapo intimidated many officials. |