740.0011 European War 1939/10089¼: Telegram
The Ambassador in France (Leahy) to the Secretary of State
[Received April 19—4 p.m.]
461. Department’s telegram 291, April 3, 5 p.m. I saw Marshal Pétain alone this afternoon. (He told me with a chuckle that he arranged the hour to coincide with a Cabinet meeting over which Admiral Darlan was presiding so we should be uninterrupted.) I first told him of my recent trip to the south of France and of my conviction of its utility as it enabled me to inform my Government of the actual distribution of the milk, et cetera, to French children without any leakage and to recommend continuance of the sending of such supplies. I likewise said to him that my trip had enabled [Page 152] me to perceive in my talks with many people everywhere the great esteem and affection with which he is regarded throughout that section of France. I then talked frankly to him along the lines suggested by the Department.
As to operation of French factories in the occupied zone, he said the Germans are complete masters and do as they please; as to the unoccupied zone, the Marshal said that if the factories didn’t work to some extent for German account, the Germans, as they had threatened, would and could take all the machinery. Furthermore, they would furnish none of the raw materials with which France could help to build up her own forces. He said that he believed factories in this zone are making detached parts but he does not believe any complete airplanes are being manufactured here. He asked for a written memorandum as to just what points we wished to set forth. (As the Department will recall he does not always trust his memory and likes to have something in writing.) He went on to say that he is unfortunately not a free agent in the real sense of the word; that the Germans do not in any sense limit their demands to the terms of the armistice and that when their demands exceed those terms he can only say:
“This is a demand you are imposing because you are the stronger.” He then said: “When I oppose them, they threaten reprisals; they say they will block the line of demarcation completely. Then my Ministers could find out what is happening in the occupied zone and all economic life between the two zones would be cut off. I cannot refuse them directly; I have to try to accomplish something by diplomacy.”
“You noticed my radio address which he [I?] thought was very moderate?” he went on. I replied that it had made an excellent impression in the United States. “Well”, he continued, “it made the Germans furious and brought threat of serious reprisals if I ever again said publicly that we could not attack our former ally”.
As to Admiral Darlan, he said that he thinks the Admiralty loyal to him; that the Admiral keeps him informed and consults him on important questions in Vichy. Of his trips to Paris he was not so sure but he did not believe that the Admiral was doing things behind his back; he certainly hoped not. He admitted the Admiral’s anti-British feeling but said that [at] least they were less violent than those of Laval, who had kept him in a constant state of anxiety on this score. True, Darlan had made some very foolish statements at the beginning but he is now much more restrained and the Marshal has made it clear to him that he must make no more such indiscreet declarations.
[The remainder of this telegram is printed on page 294.]