Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 4 December 1942 — Page 20

FRIDAY, DEC. 4,1042 .

DARLAN STATUS| Great Guns HELD ‘PRETTY

Writer Says French Navy| Chief May Try for: Petain’s Place. Henry Noble Hall, the writer of this profile of Admiral Darlan, is a former prominent journalist and was first secre:

tary a€ the British embaassy in Paris until after the beginning of world war II.

By HENRY NOBLE HALL Tinies Special Writer . . Admiral Darlan, having pro- ol i, oo : f . claimed himsélf protector of French eo 7 ¥ Z 2 : 1

OPEN TONIGHT UNTIL 8 P. M. {3

" ‘interests in North Africa, is sitting pretty, despite President Roosevelt's assertion that the arrangement— made with U, S. consent—is only a a temporary milii tary expedient justified solely § by the stress of battle and designed to save | lives and time.

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Sergt. Vincent Zékas has cause to grin. A guhnér on a U. S. | army plane, he saw his first Jap | zero on a raid over Buna, and brought it down.

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: history.

scuttled at Toulon. Let us see who Francois Darlan really is, where he comes from, what he has done, what he can do today and what he is likely to try for in the future: Darlan’s father was a typical French politician, a Gascon, whose natural ability was somewhat marred by his tendency to boast and exaggerate, by hig love of intrigue and lack of principle. He was an opportunist, first, last and all the time. He rose to be a member of the Meline cabinet in 1896, a famous coalition that in itself was a feat of political skullSenator Darlan married the daughter of a naval officer from - Brittany. Young Darlan inherited his father’s flame and Inténsity and his mother’s tenacity and taciturnity. He was

* born on Aug. 7, 61 years ago.

Long Disliked British

Darlan entered the French navy in 1899 when anti-British feeling was at its height. His hatred of England is deep-rooted. He was a first-class naval officer and in less than 15 years rose to be a captain, During the last war he distinguished himself and was in command of the heavy naval guns at Pont-a-Mous-son that bombarded Metz. He also participated in the Salonika expedition and fought in the Balkans. After the war he was given command of a battleship, but peacetime duties palled on this silent, scheming sailor, and he went to the

_ naval staff college, where he so im-

pressed everyone thai he was at-

¢ tached to the naval cabinet of the

Nazis Using Propaganda And Troops to Stop Wave Of Dissatisfaction.

SOMEWHERE IN EUROPE, Dec. 4 —Reliable reports reaching here from Italy indicate that the feelings of the Italian people toward their axis allies are getting colder every day and the Nazis are now taking steps of both propaganda and military nature to counteract the wave of dissatisfaction with the “common cause.” The Italians, according to these reports, bitterly reproach the Nazis for the axis rout in Eibya which they attribute to the wermacht’s persistent refusal to send Gen. Field Marshal Erwin Rommel adequate reinforcements. The Libyan catastrophe, the Italians feel to be at the bottom of their present tragic situation. . Furthermore, the Italians considthat the disastrous consequences if the bombings of Turin, Genoa and Milan could have been partly avoided had the Nazis condescended to reinforce their flank. Fascist Firemen Helpless

Fascist fire squads have found themselves powerless to extinguish the fires started in these towns by the Royal Air Froce owing to lack of adequate equipment. = Fortyeight hours after tlic recent Turin raid, fires were still raging.

"! French ministere de la. marine. This

was just about the time when Poin-

« care, on becoming premier after the

franc collapsed in 1926, appointed Leygues to build the modern French navy. Darlan was 46 years old. From that day to the war, Darlan remained at the ministere de la marine, deputy chief of staff and then chief of staff of the French navy. He has proved himself the greatest sailor-politician in French It took something more than mere imagination and shrewd-

. ness to maintain himself as head of

the French navy under 23 different governments and at least six different navy ministers.

Loved and Trusted .Buf-and this is important—there was not an officer of senior rank in the French navy who did not owe

: his promotion to Darlan, and who

did not love and trust him. Darlan will never forgive England for having crippled his fleet at Oran. When he spoke over the bodies of the French dead, he said “They would have doubtless preferred to die in a fair fight rather

than to perjsh assassinated.” But:

Darlan has little love for the French army either. ‘His favorite expression to describe a naval officer who

"is not as bright as he might be, is

to say that he has “la mentalite d'un general” (the brains of a general). So neither de Gaulle nor Giraud is likely to find favor with him, : Fascist in Principle In politics, if political convictions. could mean anything to such

‘a juggler of men, Darlan is a fas-

cist. He has a profound distrust of democracy; and dreads communism. He probably thinks that France should be governed by a commission of admirals and cardinals. Any attempt to be diplomatic with Darlan or to argue with him would. be likely to end with his

4 proving himself more than a match

for his adversaries. Now that he knows that the liberation of France is merely a. matter of time, he is expected to try to attach himself to the American forces and, pleading that he alone can maintain order and prevent an uprising in France, try to take Petain’s place. elie

HI ———

Mussolini is reported recently to have addressed another appeal to his friend Hitler for fire extinguishers. Der fuehrer this time answered immediately. Four trainloads of “specialists” amply provided with pumps and other techhical gear were sent hurriedly to northern Italy. Rumor also has it that anti-Ger-man, anti-war manifestations have been recently staged in Milan, but this is impossible to check. The Nazi attempt to calm the Italian troubled waters has clearly been entrusted tc Dr. Joseph Goebbels, Although the Germans up to now have reacted little to allied attempts to undermine Italian morale, it appears now, following Winston Churchill’s speech, that they have decided that the time is ripe to let ose a torrent of propaganda on eir faithful allies, Italians—Fine People

Both press articles and statements by Nazi officials have, for the last few days, stressed what fine péople the Italians are, how honorable, and the community of fate which binds them to Germany. Simultaneously, it is hinted what a dirty trick it would be if the] Italians threw in the sponge. In. this renewed Nazi flattery, the Italfans’ I1 Duce has been singled. out for special honor. Last Monday, Kaiserplatz in the ancient town of Augsburg was rechristened Benito Mussoliniplatz. The ceremony, according to reports, took the form of a demonstration of German-Italian friendship. At the same time, the Nazis are. sending home as many Italian troops. as they can spare from the various sectors where they are doing “occupational work.” While the Nazis are trying to ‘brace Ifalian morale by flattery and the sending home of their men, the policy of Pacific occupation of Italy continues on a much larger scale than before.

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