THE SURRENDER OF FRANCE
Sna,—Some extracts from a letter received from a French friend who has taken refuge in the South of France may perhaps interest your readers. The letter is dated June 29th. My correspondent had two sons in the French Army. The fate of one of them is unknown. He himself holds anti-democratic views. Yet this is what he says: "Poor France, who will set her on her feet again? Certainly not the pitiable then who have lost her. The ruling classes alone are responsible. . . . We are not among those who approve the armistice. We should have continued the fight to our last penny, our last man, and should have remained united to Great Britain in spite of all the errors they have committed. We too have made many mistakes. We should have removed our planes, our ships and as many men and as much material as possible to Africa, and only after that could we have capitulated in France. We surrendered and tied ourselves hand and foot. Shameful! Even worse, we have broken our word to our Allies."
As my correspondent has evidently no access to any outside infor- mation and has only heard the garbled and mendacious statements issued by the Bordeaux-Vichy Government, the views expressed seem to me to have particular value and, it can be assumed, are shared by many others, even among those whom outside information cannot reach at present.
I enclose my card but for obvious reasons must withhold my name.—
Previous page
