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

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Back on June 10 th , General Weygand had suddenly burst in Reynaud's<br />

<strong>of</strong>fice, without being summoned, and stated: "We must without delay ask for<br />

an armistice." Reynaud kicked him out <strong>of</strong> his <strong>of</strong>fice. At another time,<br />

Weygand pulled another surprise on Reynaud, telling him that he had just<br />

invited Churchill to meet with him at the General Head Quarters in Briare, to<br />

discuss an "armistice." At that point, de Gaulle was so shocked that he<br />

advised Reynaud to fire Weygand on the spot and have him replaced by<br />

General Huntziger. Reynaud agreed at first, but then replied that he could<br />

not do it because his hands were tied.<br />

De Gaulle was adamant: no one at that meeting was moving in the<br />

right direction. "As for me," de Gaulle reflected, "Thinking <strong>of</strong> what was to<br />

come, I had a full sense <strong>of</strong> how empty and conventional those palavers were,<br />

since they were not directed towards the one valid solution: to re-establish<br />

ourselves overseas." Just like his frustration with the refusal to reform the<br />

army, now de Gaulle came up against another brick wall on the matter <strong>of</strong> the<br />

government moving to Africa.<br />

It was one thing to admit that a battle had been lost, it was yet another<br />

to say that the war was lost and that France had to submit to the peace terms<br />

<strong>of</strong> the enemy, especially with a navy which was still intact. Reynaud tried to<br />

hold firm, but he would be systematically weakened by his mistress,<br />

Countess de Portes, and her synarchist controllers, Minister <strong>of</strong> War, General<br />

Weygand, Paul Baudouin, as well as the future Vichy finance Minister, Yves<br />

Bouthillier.<br />

By the end <strong>of</strong> the afternoon, in Bordeaux, on June 15, 1940 out <strong>of</strong> fear<br />

for French public opinion, and in a treasonous move on the part <strong>of</strong> Deputy<br />

Chautemps, the cabinet decided against the cease-fire proposal <strong>of</strong> Reynaud,<br />

and accepted the decision to ask the Germans for their terms <strong>of</strong> an armistice.<br />

At the end <strong>of</strong> the cabinet meeting, Paul Reynaud reluctantly wrote a letter to<br />

Churchill telling him that "If this course is not adopted, the government will<br />

break up." The letter read in part as follows:<br />

"{With a view to ascertaining German and Italian conditions, the<br />

cabinet decided to seek leave <strong>of</strong> the British government to inquire<br />

through the United States government what armistice terms would be<br />

<strong>of</strong>fered to France by the German and Italian governments.<br />

72

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