synarchy movement of empire book ii - Pierre Beaudry's Galactic ...

the Armistice Agreement and seek to capture North Africa bases. Petain
began to realize that Germany and Japan had been closely coordinating their
moves on both sides of the globe, and that, while Germany was planning to
conquer Egypt, the Suez Canal and control the three choke points of the
Mediterranean, Gibraltar, Sicily, and Turkey, and then invade Algeria,
Tunisia, and Morocco; the Japanese, who had already captured the northern
Indo-China region were about to move southward, and threaten Thailand,
Malaysia and the Dutch Indies. This meant that a fascist dictatorship was
going to be imposed on the entire planet, and that France was about to lose
all of its colonies, starting with Africa.
On July 22, 1941, in fact, Marshal Petain wrote a note to Hitler in
which he said he was "pained by the German demand for air bases in North
Africa, that this demand goes far beyond the armistice terms and is
incompatible with French honor. To comply would mean abandoning parts
of North Africa to the mercy of the German military authorities. He hoped,
concluded the marshal, that the question could be settled by agreement and
as between equals, not by a {Diktat}." (Langer, Op. Cit., p.177.) Hitler did
not wish to comply and kept the pressure on Vichy. By July 29, Japan had
made its coordinated move into the South Seas, and was only four months
away from hitting Pearl Harbor.
It was during the last days of July, 1941, that Vichy North Africa
leader, General Weygand, began to also make his opening moves towards
the United States. Weygand agreed to negotiate and sign with the United
States the Economic Accord of February 1941, which had the purpose of
maintaining economic self-sufficiency in North Africa. Langer reported that,
very rapidly, General Weygand began to be America's most important asset
inside of the Vichy government, and that Petain later disclosed that, he knew
Weygand was collaborating with the Americans as early as December 1940,
but would not stop him. On the other hand, the two synarchists operatives,
Admiral Darlan and Minister of State Pucheu, were attempting to push
Weygand out. Langer confirmed that the counselor of the American
Embassy at Vichy, "[Robert D.] Murphy, in particular, was confident that
Weygand could be counted on and that, through him, the United States could
ensure itself against a German occupation of North and West-Africa."
(Langer, Op. Cit., p.179.) By the month of August, there were no changes in
the French position in Africa and no concessions had yet been made to the
Germans.
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