Patience Strained

The Nazis had done their best. But even the patience of that most kindly of men, the Fuehrer himself, was at an end. The French were so rotted with democracy that even in the face of death they insisted on acting as individuals. From Berlin to Paris to Vichy the word went down: the Riom trial must be stopped.

Intended to prove that France made a mistake in declaring war on Germany, the trial, after four weeks, had shown only why France had not been prepared to tear the Germans limb from limb. A fortnight ago Hitler publicly exploded that such evidences of the French mentality were "incomprehensible." Last week Vichy feared that he might pounce on the trial as an excuse to end collaboration.

To aged Marshal Henri Philippe Petain, a Hitler tantrum was scarcely less embarrassing than the trial. No one seemed to know just why the trial was allowed to continue. But it did. Three generals testified that lack of French aviation was "stupefying"; that the "Sitzkrieg" had been "a period of stagnation"; that the press had undermined morale; that lack of liaison between air and army forces led to tragic blunders.

Onetime Generalissimo Maurice Gustave Gamelin broke his self-imposed silence to testify that France had had more trained officers than Germany. His statement was virtually the only one during the week which indicated that France had been in any way prepared for war. Onetime Premier Edouard Daladier countered with a quotation from a preface to a book, published in 1939, entitled Is an Invasion Still Possible? The preface was written by Marshal Petain:

"Direct action by air forces in battle is problematical because the troops in combat are so disposed as to receive blows and to hit back. It is through indirect action that the most efficient role of aviation is exerted."

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