The Admiral Claims

A claim that diplomatic stress & strain between Vichy and the U.S. would soon be over was made this week by Vichy's wily little Vice Premier, Admiral Jean Franc,ois Darlan. He said that "full agreement" was near. He implied that Vichy would guarantee the neutrality of the French Fleet and all of France's African colonies, including Madagascar, Axis-coveted strategic stronghold in the Indian Ocean. Admiral Darlan also said that the U.S. would resume food shipments to French North Africa, cut off last November when Vichy recalled her North African commander, Maxime Weygand.

Washington said nothing. But Admiral Darlan's claim that Vichy-U.S. relations were improving was backed up by positive Vichy action. It was revealed that a German submarine stopped last month at Fort-de-France, Martinique, and landed an officer with a gangrenous leg who badly needed a hospital. The U.S. Government immediately demanded that Vichy forbid the Axis the use of French Western Hemisphere ports, for any purpose whatever. Last week Vichy promised to do so.

Some observers thought that Admiral Darlan had announced the agreement to give Germany an excuse to apply pressure to prevent it. Others felt that Vichy's hand was being forced by France's internal unrest. In either case, Vichy was nearing a showdown.

It was a jittery period for collaborators. They were still smarting over the R.A.F. raid on the German-supplying Renault automobile factories in suburban Paris (TIME, March 16). There was no longer any doubt that Britain would attack pro-German operations on French soil, even though the attack might kill Frenchmen. Moreover, there were signs that most Frenchmen supported the British.

Vichy noted nervously that 1,500 British men between 18 and 50 were living on the French Moroccan coast near the naval base of Casablanca. There lay Vichy's great battleship, Jean Bart, and 40-odd smaller craft that Adolf Hitler would like either to use himself or to have used for Axis purposes under Vichy's flag. Last week Vichy ordered British on the French Moroccan coast to move inland.

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