The Course of International Politics
Crawford, Kenneth G.
The Course of International Politics The Darlan Deal —A Report on North Africa By Kenneth G. Crawford (This article is taken from Report on Sort* Africa, copyrighted 1943 by Kenneth C. (riwford...
...The Germans demanded and thought they had received all secret French naval codes, but tthjtrt were always held in reserve and the Nazis never knew all that Darlan was doing...
...From the very irst the Moaarth waa ear instiiaUoo of the Fascist system...
...TOE following day, JRer...
...He Still accepted Petain as his superior and regarded himself as Petains subordinate...
...Obviously, it waa hastened...
...He sucked at his pipe, stormed and asked questions for about 15 minutes...
...A l. •«• *T*he two major question* with isaurt te the 1 King of Italy have been sharply posed by Salve mini and LaPiane in their new book, What to Do mntk Italy' ¦ < Would the people want Victor Emanuel...
...The Italian people swarmed out into the streets, free in their movements at last shooting, cheering, waving flags and signs for "Italia Libera...
...It was a Vichy youth organization of fascist appearance commanded in North Africa by one Commissairt Van Hecke, a World War non-com who had been decorated with the Legion of Honor aad later _5 • -a risen to the rank of colonel in the French service in Indo-China...
...The least spoken of them by people who lecture us on the advantages of keeping dishonored kings, the best for all—our allies included...
...Ia it necessary 'for Italy to have a monarchy...
...Wanton destruction kit} wholesale Raman misery as horrible as any since the beginning of the war were found this morning by the vanguard of the 5th Army when it rolled into Naples on the heels of the retreating Germans...
...There he was confronted by a group of armed Frenchmen...
...Piit the problem of the King and all his family on ice," he said...
...A' carefully picked group was armed and especitply prepared for duty on this night of Nov...
...Giraud flew from Gibraltar to Algiers the afternoon of Nov...
...Me bad received word that the Germans were occupying airfields aad encountering no resistance...
...Together they stand, in the hope that in the military and political chaos of the country their cries will somehow be taken and accepted as 'he voices of trusted friends...
...The whole enterprise was infinitely more risky, more successful and a greater tribute to the relatively green American army than we at home were disposed to understand...
...Why had he not been consulted about all this...
...Certainly the example of how a dogaatJiatlj, veiaalttf monarchy may be used as a shield and stepping stone by the Fascist dictatorship ought te constitute a legible enough fortaoaa-wno can read handwriting on the wall...
...Professor Borgese was formerly at the University of Milan (until 1931, when he refused to take the Fascist oath...
...The Moroccan resident, general ^aae . eager to know what General Robert Boisacau, the military commander at Oran, was going to do...
...The leader of the armed guard said he was taking orders from Murphy and from him only...
...There were women shooting in hoarse voices and clapping their hands...
...Murphy's job, as he conceived it, was primarily military...
...Join responded to the summons in pajamas and dressing gown...
...This Was Naples #*\N the weekend of July 25 Benito Mussolini fell...
...It was not until Nov...
...It was then agreed among the French that Giraud would be recognized as military commander and Darlan as civil chief...
...Germany is for Viator Emanuel today the "secular enemy...
...There were sharp reports as running packs of men aad beys screamed Tedeschi' (Germans) and fired at imaginary Nazis...
...Among them was a - group of Jewish picked out for the task by Henri Albouquer, an Algiers physician and president of the Algerian Jewish Committee...
...This was also the day the Germans occupied southern France m violation of the terms of their armistice with Vichy...
...His answer is that he wan...
...The only questions concerned its duration and intensity...
...But he was also determined that France, by hook or by crook, would retain enough force to bargain with the conqueror...
...At this conference, Darlan said he would have to await orders from Vichy before doing anything more...
...was the counsel of C A. Borgese, well-known Italian historian, in his recent article on' The House of Savoy (in Life, Aug...
...Victor Emanuel pulled all* stops in his - radio plea for the House of Savoy— "Italians, fellow ate...
...Oran, too, was a better bet than - Casablanca...
...This King," Borgese writes of Victor Emanuel, "taught dishonor to a whole nation which, while he crushed it, he defiled...
...At this point an American guard was temporarily detailed to beep Darlan under surveillance...
...Even so, there were mishaps and miscalculations...
...Oran would be the back floor to More cot in case Nogues decided to held oat When Darlan brought Boisseau around, No~aes had small choice but to accept Darlan's suggestion that he, too, issue a cease-firing order...
...After some hesitation, Darlan complied...
...Murphy did not answer directly but created the impression that it vaa something like 600,000 fully equipped men...
...THERE are some who think that the inva-sion was premature from a strictly military point of view...
...Bat freedom was not for long...
...He belkrved that France would have te adjust itself to that prospect He said so publicly...
...A dispatch to the New York Timet of wober 2, quoting "an official in constant and ekwe touch with the Italian situation,'' amplified ** attitude toward Victor Emanuel which had teen earlier suggested by Winston Churchman tendon...
...He still felt the same way about it...
...Salvemini and LaPiana have said it wall: . „ —"The new regime which will tt ^rrlr Fascism ia Italy will not need the Maearehy ia order te he aad to appa*r*tf9BBUB«tX*a* "** rants a democratic regime of free iastitaiegKimacy, from the people and from aa other aaanee...
...The military achievement was promptly blanketed by the clamor against its political implications...
...ML Darlan received * a reply to his message to Vichy jsmmsjspjl ing surrender of North Africa...
...Clark insisted that he immediately issue orders to all North African garrisons to cease resistance...
...By now Eisenhower was in full charge of the situation and Murphy was in effect his sub-' ordinate...
...Tha Fascist party had exactly 36 seats out of ftp In 1924...
...He could handle the naval com menders whose prompt capitulation or recalcitrance might decide the success or failure of the American-British maneuver in Algeria and, even more important be could influenc: Nogues...
...Washington and London gave their formal approval to all the details a lew days later...
...It was hard to believe, that this was one of the world's famous cities...
...Darlan himself had planned to return to France on Nov...
...What About the King of Italy...
...Sforza warned against a pro-Savoy policy...
...Murphy's army, part of which surrounded Juin's home and took Darlan prisoner, else bad descended on the post fiSice, police headquarters and other strategic centers at the originally appointed landing time and found themselves faced with the prospect 'of standing off a siege as time went by aad no Americana appeared...
...As for the pale sssae of whether Italy needs *¦ a King, it scarcely would seem to be aa arguable question...
...But, having surrendered in Casablanca the previous day, he did not try to assume command in the north...
...He bad summoned several of his subordinates and dispatched them on errands having to do with personal affairs...
...Darlan said he felt that he had been released from any obligation to Vichy by the German occupation of hitherto unoccupied France...
...Sometime during the day of Nov, 12, according to what be told me later, he was secretly informed that Petain approved of the American invasion but couldn't say so publicly...
...Badoglio worked oat the same kind of heads-I-win-tails-you-losc political formula...
...Whether Darlan's pretence was a godsend or the devil's gift to the United Nations is a question that can be left to the historians...
...When it became apparent that Giraud could not control the North African situation, it became equally obvious that Darlan had a ctrtit...
...Join oar fight for peace and justice...
...Darlan, answering the telephone himself, told them to stay where they were and that be would join them in a few minutes...
...His organization had 4,000 trained 20-year-olds in North African work camps doing somewhat the same kind of conservation service pejjrformed by the C.C.C...
...For two dark decades the Monarch ami the Fascist were the twin faces of a tyTaaay that made a wasteland of Italy...
...Croce has spoken as an Italian with a whole lifetime in his native land, as the greatest son of a Naples, now in rams and misery...
...To that end, be clung desperately to the fleet keeping it always under control and in better condition than the Germans thought...
...Much of the pre-invasion planning was done at Albouquer^s home in the city...
...By this time he knew oi the British part in the invasion...
...IVARLAN walked out the front door of Juin's *^ home with Juin and Murphy at his...
...said he would ignore the Vichy message...
...Murphy, Eisenhower and all other high American authorities soon placed unreserved faith in the honesty of Darlan's effort to make good every promise he* gave them...
...The Darlan deal was announced to the world and the storm broke...
...Whatever its long-range political effect, and this probably has been magnified, Darlan's help unquestionably saved American lives and made the subsequent Tunisian campaign easier...
...The laws -which abolished the ronstitation...
...Meat all of the* were ragged aad dirty...
...He says he was preoccupied with two things: first taking North Africa with the least possible loss of life, and second, rehabilitating the French army...
...The Course of International Politics The Darlan Deal —A Report on North Africa By Kenneth G. Crawford (This article is taken from Report on Sort* Africa, copyrighted 1943 by Kenneth C. (riwford and reprinted by piimatalea of Farm and Rinehert imb, the aaattanbara...
...Victor Emanuel refused to sign the decree of martkel law submitted to him by the Cabinet He dens prevented the government's using the army in suppress the Fascist rebellion...
...Yes, he aid...
...The so-called Darlan deal was an improvisation but it was fully approved by Roosevelt and later by Churchill...
...They asked for a return to normal constitutional practice...
...In September 1922, when the Fascist coop was being engineered, Badoglio remarked that his army would wipe out Mussolini's forces —if the King so ordered...
...Murphy explained...
...I Awireless to the Timet of October 1 reported ~~"The trend of feeling among important politi-m elements is toward a republic...
...The Aagast regime of Badoglio and the King began, in Victor's words, "to deal suitably with the forces of the left who thought their hour had struck...
...in the United States...
...His "law am) order* gangs of adventurers, strike-breakers, and criminals, had prepared for the seizure of power, the "march on Rome...
...Proclaim the Republic of the People...
...Our losses On all North African beachheads .until resistance ceased amounted to about 690 men...
...army that could have made it a aura thing...
...Crawford's hook waa published this week.]-CHAPTER FOUR tjHORTLY after midnight on the morning of »ltov...
...Murphy was not surprised to be told of Darlan's presence in Algiers...
...Their voices are irrefutable...
...Strangely enough, there appears to be the sharpest divergence between "informed Allied circles" and "informed Italian anti-fscist circles" over the role of the King, the character of the monarchy, the history of the House of Savoy...
...Assured that his services wen appreciated and that he would not he cast off, at least not tor the time being, Darlan set about the tack of trying to persuade Admiral Jean de la Borde, the Toulon fleet commander, to make a break for Algiers or Gibraltar...
...heels...
...On October 28 the King refused to proclaim a state of siege...
...As Selremini wrote in these pages a few months ago: "Badoglio is today what he always has been: a professional soldier, loyal to the King, *e*dy to add fresh salaries and fresh pensions *° his former salaries and pensions, but not uteres ted in politics...
...Sforza has argued as the realist anxious to organize a Cromwellian army to fight the Nazis...
...One A.M...
...For, in the light of bis example, how many Italians would stand by their spiritual loyalties at the risk of their own lives and fortunes, staking also against desperate odds the peace and the bread of their wives and children ? If the King committed perjury, why should the citizen be pure...
...European leaders too often had bet on the wrong horse, as "with the'liar Stresemann, the abject icharlatan Mussolini, and with Franco...
...This time Darlan, alter a private conference with French genrmls...
...The next morning, Nov...
...They decided te arouse the admiral by telephone to warn hin of their coming...
...9, and was followed closely by General Clark, who arrived at dusk...
...On the Richelieu when she arrived ia New Yoik for an overhaul in the winter of 1942 were anti-aircraft guns and ammunition which had been hidden away from the Germans in the hills of North Africa throughout the period .of Darlan's apparent collaboration with them He maintained communication with the moat remote of French naval bases and ships...
...As yesterday, as always, your King ia with yoa, indissolubly linked with the destiny of the immortal fatherland...
...Victor Emanuel rejected the appeal...
...12, Clark accused the French military leaders of double-crossing him in Tunisia...
...He said noshing about British participation in the enterprise...
...Last week John O'Reilly, correspondent for the New York Herald Tribun: redC-skr* Iy through the streets of Naples...
...But wK*t bad that to do with this midnight visit...
...Also that Nogues and Yves Chatel would be retained as the governors of Morocco and Algeria respectively...
...Msrphy informed him that an American force at that moment lay off Algiers and other North African ports ready to come ashore and determined to stay...
...pitiful scenes that aaarked the sweep of the Ciraaaa Army ever Barepe All the tragedy, terror aad destruction were being repeated...
...Darlan also sent orders to Tunisia for fleet and army units there to reatettoe i—ijtobto Passae inmpin...
...Landing operations at Oran went oW fairly smoothly...
...He then wrote a message to Petain recommending that Vichy order resistance to cease...
...Jain was dumbfounded...
...It will be useless to both sides for the duration of this war...
...Did he remember that he had bean saying for the last two years that he would welcome American intervention in North Africa if it came in sufficient force to stay...
...As for the French army, it fought well in the final campaign for Tunis and Bizerte and certainly will be a factor in the assault, when it comes, on the continent itself...
...The same people who had been shouting the loudest for a second front to divert some of the Nazi power front the Russian front were the *rst to deplore the African venture as a political betrayal...
...He has the soul of a Mercenary of the 16th century...
...Madame Darlan tad taken up permanent residence in Algiers...
...Said Matthews: "It was interesting to see how much he and his friends had turned against their King...
...The buildings were gaunt and lifeless and the streets were strewn with garbage aad rubMe...
...It was at this time that he first got Nogues on the telephone and persuaded him to surrender Morocco...
...The next day bo' called Mussolini to, form a new tabaaot...
...Today the Waaftfilwi "inhumane oppressors," hut only yteterdtr* he-had seat them bis "moat fervid good wuhaa...
...The British quickly followed with a larger force but Murphy was not ready to make this known that first night The few British who came ashore with the Americans were disguised in American uniforms...
...Moat of the population had led* to the moantams...
...Some high-ranking American officers in North Africa still believe Darlan might have gat part of the fleet out of Toulon in November bad his prestige not been undermined by vigorous political attack in the United States and Britain and by the President's statement ex-pteirnng that he had been left in command of French forces as a matter of temporary military expedience...
...A local armistice was arranged between General Charles W. Ryder on behalf of the United States Army and Darlan, acting in collaboration with Juin and other French military leaders, on the afternoon of Nov...
...The admiral had remained at his ion's bedside, that whole day...
...was the time priginally set for the Algiers landings ha* heavy breakers on the beaches and a confusion of ttganls delayed operations to such an extent that it was 6:00 A.M...
...The President's statement was issued on Nov...
...The little admiral .Mate an opportunist bat a man nevertheless of considerable force...
...11, however, that Itorton was persuaded to accept Giraud as fiwamondar of the armed forces of North Africa aad himself to head up the civil government Giraud consented the same day to this further curtailment of his powers...
...Moreover, he claimed privately to have received a message in secret code from an intimate of Petain instructing him to collaborate with the Americans aad British...
...Actually the ftret wave of Americans numbered only about 120,000 men...
...The leader informed Darlan that he could not consider himself free to leave the premises...
...I em convinced that it was a fluke—that it waa not a part of the American plan or any single American's plan...
...Phe historical argument for the King and his * House, often invoked to support an argument of "legitimacy," i? as specious as the claim that the 74-year-old little Victor Emanuel, weak-willed and discredited, constitutes a "natural rallying-point" for Italian democrats, "Get rid of the whole gang...
...the House qf Savoy...
...Borgese as the moralist searching for the prophetic words which could give aa oppressed people genuine hope aad renewed eeerage...
...The record of the King with respect to the tragedy of modem Italy is dear aad unmistake-able...
...Military authorities had expected to lose up to 20,000 if there was any resistance...
...That night Nogues, now the Vichy-appointed leader, arrived in Algiers...
...Before being the Destroyer of his country, this Victorious King was the De-baucher of his nation...
...7 and 69 ships scuttled at Toulon ten days later...
...The state of their teeth, the thin Ufa aadearaV on the Instate of eUUresi aad their waa faces gave evidence of the starving etndititat...
...17 V EN after the Americans were safely ashore, *** Darlan had one unplayed ace left United Nations leaders desperately wanted the French fleet, the bulk of which was at Toulon...
...They swore, on their honor, that they would always, at any cost, protect and defend our freedom...
...Only yesterday be plirbflntftt Hitler pis "valorous ally...
...There was not at any time the same threat of prolonged resistance in Algiers that there was in Morocco...
...On none of them, in the West or in the East has descended the inspiration to speak to Italy as a human world should speak: 'Get rid of the whole gang and brood...
...The admiral had come there few days earlier from Vichy to visit his ton, who lay ill of infantile paralysis in Algiers...
...The Allied spokesmen for the King, whoever they are and whatever their story, have neither the shrewd insight of realists nor the moral strength of idealists...
...An atmosphere of tragedy seemed to permeate the place...
...It ordered him to give jap bio inmiannil j» Menndnand toes rased him that Nogues had been instructed to continue the fight against American and British invaders...
...Judged on his own terms, he was ^highly successful...
...Yet it was enough to persuade Eisenhower that the time had come for Giraud's appearance on the scene...
...Giacorao Matteotti, one of Italy" leading socialists and anti-fascists, waa feaad murdered—by Fascist accomplices of Muaselini...
...Obviously, too, it waa timed to exploit General Sir Bernard Law Montgomery's push from Cairo...
...lew...
...It seems that not yet has any one of our leaders seen the light...
...There were noises, bat not the norma) noises of a city, bat tb yells of armed mobs...
...It teen-him several minutes to assimilate the He said he still believed, as he had since lSpfl, that the Americans should and would be veteomed as deliverers by the people of North Africa bat how big a force was this...
...American troops were not yet ready for so hazardous an undertaking...
...AFTER a few, minutes' conversation, Juin ••said he had no choice bat to report what Murphy had told him to Admiral Darlan who, it commander in chief of the French Army and Navy, waa his superior officer...
...But history apart...
...Ik waa an aedacieae move and ft was ffaanntt with peril, even the pert of complete ftttara and a repetition of the ill-conceived assault in 1940 on Dakar...
...hand to play...
...T**1?, tpaearu to be no evidence of any kind, • JournatSdic, political, or historical, to justify ^as view of...
...Eisenhower and Admiral Sir Andrew Cunningham, commander of the British naval forces in the Mediteranean arrived in Algiers on Nov...
...After September 3-8 the Nazis st-uek...
...News that a largo United Nations force had put in at Gibraltar already was out, but it had been supposed that its objectiv waa * Dakar, the French West African port When Darlan arrived, Murphy and Juin told him what was afoot His first reaction was livid rage...
...TTHE part played by Les Chantiers de la * Jeunesse in the invasion hasVl>e%]i,«jted\ as an tjnaatpae of, Murphy's insistence an atoylag with Viehyites rather than democrats...
...He promised in aa later-view this week an Italian democracy which weald exclude all the former Fascist leaders'' — except of course, Marshal Pietro Badoglio...
...Contrary to the notion which has taken bold in this country, resistance was anticipated at some points...
...Nevertheless, he remained under surveillance while American troops came ashore...
...Shipping wea.net available te entry the hip* td...
...Thousands of anti-fascists in Naples were killed by the Gestapo, as Marshal Erwin Rommel's divisions moved into Northern and Central Italy...
...8, Robert Murphy, President Booae-yii't emissary in North Africa, paid a surprise visit to the home of General Alphonse jam, French military commander in the Al-gMts district- It was a short walk from Mur-«hy'i bouse along the upper edge of the Algiers residential district to Jain's home...
...Signor Croce had nothing but harsh words for Victor Emanuel and his family, who had always yielded to the Fascists and demeaned themselves in a manner that he and others who felt like him considered ignoble...
...Be one of the United Nation*, oar ally in a world of free men and equals.' . . ." And Sforza again has reminded us—"Nobody should forget that Italy accepted a monarchy in 1860 on the basis of a contract between us and the monarchs...
...It has been "the King and Badoglio" for over twenty years in Italy now...
...Clark informed him that if he did so he and all'his associates would be arrested and bold incommunicado...
...Will the Italians forgive 20 years of the most beastly tyranny ? Will they forgive 20 years of perjury...
...w • Van Hecke was one of the Algerian military-figures whom Murphy took into his confidence and one of the most useful...
...13 and after approving all the arrangements made by Clark, returned to Gibraltar...
...before the first contingents landed...
...The American diplomat rapped insistently and informed a sleepy servant that It would be neces-0iy to disturb the general...
...This is highly questionable...
...Even the Kalian army is now said to be overwhelmingly •^-nmnarchicaL'' . LM ah interview- with correspondent Herbert •'[Matthews in Capri last week, world-famous philosopher Benedetto Croce called for a republic for Italy—but expressed the fear that Mussolini's "fascist - republican" propaganda from Berlin would usurp that slogan...
...Allied forces were heading for Salerno . . . and soon total war came to the Neapolitans...
...Newspaper offices were opened up...
...A large section of the still-functioning Parliament and of the rank-and-file of the Italian people, called upon the King to oust Mussolini...
...He may have suspected some kind of Anglo-American campaign affecting French possessions in Africa but he was' not prepared for a North African invasion...
...The French fleet was lost to- us but, it did not fall to the Germans...
...Had he not assured the United States and Great Britain that he would keep North Africa out of Axis hands...
...Parliamentary government a tradition that is stronger than most Americans realise, •nd provides a natural rallying point for the re-establishment of democratic govern-meat fa Italy...
...Darlan was passing that night at the home of Admiral Raymond A. Fenard, only a few doors from Jain's: • The general suggested that Murphy accompany him on a visit to Darlan...
...In spite of the risks, te satify Batata's just demand for help from its auaUita allies and te serve the self-interest of the United States and Great Britain in keening the Russians in the war...
...To tell the Italians about the King is just as if a preacher for the Stuarts had gone among the enraged soldiers of Cromwell...
...The dispatch he filed will rem sin'ape of tbe classic reports of the Faff of a City...
...With this, Darlan walked back into the house and resumed his conversation with Murphy and Juin, this time more calmly...
...leaving only the armed mobs and wntaae aad children...
...Darlan, still loyal to Vichy, said ha would now have to revoke his cease fire orders...
...the decreea which established the dictatorship—ell were accepted aad ratified by the royal sigaatare...
...The detailed chronology of events in the first hoars and days following the landings is enlightening...
...Beach assaults by night remained, after the North African experiment as before it one of the trickiest operations of warfare...
...In 1922 Benito Mussolini's Blacks hurts were storming the streets...
...Another conservative spokesman, Count Carlo Sforza in New York (shortly to leave for Italy in the first return of a leading anti-fascist exile) spoke his mind openly about the King...
...It is strange how frequently in history revolution and disorders are promoted by people who believe themselve to be 'conservative...
...By Melvin J. Lasky The international political spotlight was focused this week on King Victor Emanuel tad Marshal Pietro Badoglio, who, whatever their status -under the still secret political clauses of "unconditional surrender," are putting in strong and eloquent bids for prestige •ad recognition...
...not much . concerned about' the aoltilen eT hhj coSaboratorU B Any could be depended upon in a crisis and had in common the mm attribute that they were against the Name...
...But Victor called II P**e to power—and Badoglio complied...
...Turning to Murphy, Darlan de- -mended an explanation...
...The broad avenues were empty...
...Had he not given his word of honor that the French fleet would never be surrendered to the Germans...
...Then he announced that he was going to the Admiralty to dispatch a message to Marshal Petain in Vichy...
...He had been a politician of aba left and r trusted friend of Lean Blum...
...It waa an audacious little army, the backbone of which was an organisation called Lot Chan-tiers de la Jeunesse...
...After the fall of France he had been pcieoaeOd that . the Germans would win the war and dominate Europe for long years to come...
...Jain, typical of the North African military command in this respect, was friendly to the Americans but suspicious of the British...
...7 but.his wife, worried about their eon's condition, bad urged him to stay on another day...
...Here was total war in its ugliest phase, a city of almost one million inhabitants wrecked, looted and starved, its remaining people roaming the streets ia hysterical armed bands...
...the royal house of Italy has a splendid tradition as a leader of liberal...
...That night Darlan's orders to the Tunis and Bizerte commanders to resist German invasion were mysteriously countermanded...
...Political meetings were arraaged...
...This was important...
...Clark proceeded immediately to French admiralty headquarters to confer with Darlan and his associates in the armistice negotiations...
...8. But this arrangement did not extend to Oran, Casablanca, Bizerte and Tunis...
...8ji It has been said tha^ Murphy captured Algiers with a company of Boy Scouts but this is a slight exaggeration.'There was, besides the green-uniformed youths,' a goodly company of mature sympathisers with the American cause...
...The royal house aa a political institution is a vestige of a dead past, and whatever role it has played has been a result of the historical freezing of the transitional stage between absolutism and democracy...
Vol. 26 • October 1943 • No. 41
