EMBASSY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Air Mail Vichy, November 22, 1941 Personal My Dear Mr. President: With the removal of General Weygand from Africa in obedience to a German "dictat", and the beginning of a British offensive in Cyrenaica, which two occurrences are presumably closely related, Thanksgiving Day, 1941, was far from dull in this capital of a captive nation. Upon hearing that Weygand was to be recalled, at which time we had no information that a British offensive in Africa was about to commence, I arranged on November 19th for an interview with the Marshal who saw me alone and discussed with me at length the matter of Weygand's removal. I pointed out to him very clearly that the heretofore friendly and sympathetic attitude of the American Government was based on an assumption that he would not in his relations with the Axis powers go beyond the requirements of the Armistice Agreement, and that a removal of General Weygand under German pressure cannot be considered by anybody to be necessitated by the Armistice Agreement. I told him that in my opinion such an unnecessary surrender to Axis demands, particularly at a time when Germany is so thoroughly involved in Russia, would have a definitely adverse effect on the traditional amity between our two peoples, that it would probably bring about an immediate suspension of the economic assistance that is being given to the French colonies, and that it might very possibly cause America to make a complete readjustment of its attitude toward his Government of France. I requested that his decision announced to me the' preceding evening be reconsidered in view of its certainly adverse effect on the future prospects of France and the French overseas Empire. He replied that since last December Germany has constantly exerted increasing pressure on him to remove The President The White House Washington, D.C. Weygand ... |