Word: darlan
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Present. From Boisson and Darlan the British, through Admiral Cunningham, wanted: 1) permission to use Dakar as a base against Nazi U-boats in the South Atlantic; 2) use of French Fleet units at Dakar. From Darlan in particular, Eisenhower wants the status quo maintained in Morocco and Algeria so that there will be no transport interruptions or rear-guard threats to Allied forces now attacking Tunisia...
...there was no agreement on use of the fleet units at Dakar. But Allied navies were given permission to use the port. Neighboring airfields were thrown open as transit points. There was evidence that the status quo in Morocco and Algeria was stabilized. The price: recognition of Darlan as head of the French State and his new "imperial council" as the repository of French sovereignty...
...only was Eisenhower's luncheon date with Darlan a tantamount acknowledgment of the new setup, but he gave it further weight by a public statement: "All Frenchmen worthy of their country's great past have forgotten their small differences of ideas." To Darlan, who still maintains the fiction of acting for Marshal Petain in France, there came messages of support from a scattering of French colonies. A message from Boisson's own West African native group, the Legion of Black Africa, ended with the salutation: "Vive le Marechal [Petain], Vive la France...
...opportunist in an opportunists' market, Darlan had emerged as more than a "temporary expedient" useful to Allied invasion forces. Fortnight ago Washington diplomats were hinting that he was on his way out (after the "delivering" of Dakar and the scuttling of the French Fleet). But as "Chief of State," Darlan has control of 300,000 native troops-commanded by French officers and a firm grasp on civil administration...
...Future. Darlan was a useful military tool. What he represents in political warfare is another question. "A monumental piece of effrontery" was the verdict of the Fighting French. General Georges Catroux, Fighting French High Commissioner for Syria and Lebanon, bitterly demanded that Darlan's power-grab "be ended quickly." He charged that there were grave dangers to Allied communication lines when "under control of a man like Darlan...