851.00/2404: Telegram
The Ambassador in France (Leahy) to the Secretary of State
[Received 4:47 p.m.]
1356. For the Secretary and Under Secretary. We had a talk this morning with Weygand’s personal representative in Vichy and he showed considerable indignation over efforts during the past weekend [Page 448] to get the General out of Africa. The principal force behind these efforts he said was not the Germans “although they would of course be delighted to have Weygand leave” but a number of his rivals in the Vichy Government. First and foremost he said was Admiral Darlan who with “his unlimited personal ambitions” is intensely jealous of Weygand’s authority and prestige and sees in him a dangerous rival. Pucheu, Benoist Mechin and Marion, he said, are likewise eager to get the General out of Africa, hoping that his removal might likewise not redound to Darlan’s advantage but might serve to increase their own relative personal positions and authority. No less than four times, said our information, the Marshal presumably at Darlan’s instigation called Weygand down to his room Saturday afternoon offering him first the post of Ambassador to Washington, then a position in his Government as Minister of State and several other offices, all of which Weygand firmly declined “in the belief that his duty to France requires his remaining in Africa.” Finally he said the General told the Marshal that he was going back to Africa to stay unless he received a “written order in the Marshal’s own handwriting to relinquish his post.” The Marshal, the General’s representative told us, is in full agreement and has told Darlan and others that Weygand will remain. “The storm has passed” said our informant and for the time being Weygand remains with undiminished authority. As for the German attitude he said their dislike for Weygand is due in part to their suspicion that he is “negotiating for military aid from the United States” and partly to a remark made by General Weygand to Scapini last summer. During a heated conversation in which Scapini, “the arch collaborationist”, spoke of his feeling that Germany was “saving France through her attack on the Bolshevists”, the General remarked that “to me every German who dies in Russia is a gain for France”. This remark, said our informant, Scapini had “of course immediately repeated to the Germans” and they will not forgive Weygand for it.
During the entire time of Weygand’s visit here, said our informant, Darlan “did not have the courage” to tell Weygand of his “intrigues” to get rid of him. The one time he did receive the General at the latter’s request he spoke only “of the weather and of their families.”
The French Government has decided, our informant said in reply to our inquiry, to permit the Germans to have consulates at Algiers and Casablanca, but the personnel “will be strictly limited”. While Weygand, he said, was not previously consulted he is willing to accept this decision but is as firmly determined as he has been in the past to restrict the field of activities of the German “Consuls” and all other Germans in North Africa. He mentioned in this connection Weygand’s “practice of shooting natives who associate with members of the German Commissions”. Auer, he said, will probably be the [Page 449] “Consul” at Casablanca and he has heard the name of one Pfeiffer mentioned for Algiers but that has not been decided. When these “Consulates” or missions are to be operative, he does not know; “possibly in a fortnight, possibly in a month’s time”. General Weygand feels, however, he said, that we should not exaggerate the importance of this step, insisting that it will make no difference in his North African policy. He likewise insisted that there is no possibility of any campaign being undertaken to reconquer dissident African colonies. On the other hand, he said the Germans are bringing no pressure now for cession of bases in Africa or extension of other facilities in that area and have “indicated they are no longer interested in Bizerte as they have found other means to supply their Libyan forces”. (He does not know what the “other means” may be, other than possibly greater success in getting ships across the Mediterranean.)
Our informant does not believe in an early important change in Franco-German relations and takes a more optimistic view of the Russian situation than most of Vichy officialdom.
General Weygand, he says, is delighted at the proposed mission for Rist88 and “well aware of its importance”.
Repeated to Algiers.
- Prof. Charles Rist, French economist and banker; there was some discussion at this time of sending Professor Rist to the United States on a special mission.↩