The Pittsburgh Press (June 6, 1941)
BRITAIN, FRANCE ALL BUT AT WAR
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Terms of Darlan’s deal with Hitler revealed
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By John T. Whitaker
Lisbon, June 6 –
Britain and France are virtually at war today because the terms which Vice-Premier Jean Darlan has made with Hitler effectively take France into the Axis order as a Nazi puppet state.
Something of Darlan’s concessions can now be revealed. He has promised the Führer that France will:
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Sign a peace treaty ending the armistice and a special protocol, setting forth that France recognizes the new order of the German Herren (superior) race, and intends to offer Hitler the fullest, most loyal collaboration.
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Hand over to the Germans the ports of Sète, Villefranche, Algiers, Casablanca and Beirut, and most important of all, Dakar (which President Roosevelt has described as an outpost of American defense).
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Mobilize all the heavy industry of France for German war purposes.
It is also understood that the peace treaty will cede Alsace and Lorraine to Germany. In addition, Germany has wrested Burgundy from France, Admiral Darlan recognizing Hitler’s right to occupy for 20 years the departments of Moselle, Meuse, Haute-Marne, Vosges and Haute-Saône (all in northwestern France), to which German peasants have already been sent during many months to displace Frenchmen.
France will cede to the Belgians the departments of Nord, Pas-de-Calais and half of the Somme (all in northwestern France) in order to create a Flemish puppet state, while the Walloon portion of Belgium, along the frontier of the Ardennes forest, will be incorporated into France.
The treaty also provides, it is understood, that the Nazis occupy the north and east coasts of France so long as Germany is at war with Britain.
By this treaty, Paris again becomes the capital of France.