FRANCE: Zones of Disquiet

France was in a ferment, and so were its Nazi overlords. The New York Times heard last week that a full 90% of the French people were sick of collaboration with Germany. They had had both provocation and inspiration. There had been the ascendancy of the hated Pierre Laval in Vichy and the flashing British Commando raid on St.-Nazaire. The Times confirmed London reports that Frenchmen had not only received the Commandomen as deliverers but had also aided them with arms. The rising rate of Nazi executions fanned the fires. And, as if the demanding voices of the unspeakable Hitler and the porcine Laval were not enough, the buffoon Mussolini joined the chorus, asking, as Italy had asked in the past, for Nice and Corsica.

The rumble of the French underground—Communists, Socialists, leftist Roman Catholics, some Rightists—was increasing. It was becoming apparent to the Nazis that Laval was not getting their work done in France. The time had already come for Pierre Laval to worry about keeping his treacherous job.