The Sorrow and the Pity Page #6

who wanted permission

to begin horse racing again,

as it was a very popular national pastime.

The races are ever-popular.

One thing is clear,

Paris has become Paris once again.

I listened to my collaborators

and said, "Why not?"

and so the races started up again,

and continued until 1944.

Thanks to us, the theaters were able

to open their doors again.

We often went to the theater,

alone or with friends.

The Germans also attended the races,

which is how the different parties

made contact quite spontaneously.

Personal relationships developed

between the different sides,

probably for various reasons.

I'm sure you're aware there has been

a tendency in France since the war

to deny that such contact ever existed.

Yes, but it did exist.

Germany was triumphant,

and there wasn't a single front

from which it failed

to come home victorious.

There's no denying that the German army

made quite an impression

on the youth in France.

Seeing that army of young men,

stripped to the waist...

After all, I'm the son of a soldier

and I was a soldier myself.

sense of responsibility,

hierarchy and discipline mean a lot.

well-disciplined army was important

to people like us.

This was the first time

we had seen such an ideal army.

The French army was nothing compared to

this army who could put

the fear of God into an entire people.

It sounds awful to say,

but it's the truth of the matter.

We solemnly swear

to unite

and to place our forces,

our faith,

our ardor,

at the service of the Marshal,

at the service of France.

This campfire draws

a three-day meeting to an end,

during which the discipline

and dedication of these young men

were proved once again.

The French believe servicemen

should be tough as nails,

and at the end of the day,

they always turn to servicemen,

whether it be to restore order,

to prevent a coup-d'tat,

or to organize a coup-d'tat.

But the serviceman is omnipresent,

with his cap, his pompon, his saber,

no matter what his rank may be.

The French love their army.

Poem by Officer C. Languillon,

published on the front page of

Le Moniteur on November 24, 1940.

"His name rings as a gun shot.

"Ptain ready for the challenge?

The soul is willing.

"But goodness is ever aloof.

"The great victor, even greater in defeat.

"Schemers, foreigners, buffoons and fools,

"have brought you to your knees, O France.

"The hero of Verdun, cleaning the slate,

"Is setting our house in order

from top to bottom.

"A Herculean labor, a difficult recovery.

"From the ruins come muffled groans.

"Former profiteers writhe in the rubble."

Ptain, in a series of speeches,

drew conclusions from this defeat.

and he did so with skill.

He could woo his audience.

If one was to read the texts now,

I haven't read them in years,

but I bet if you read them now,

you would be quite surprised.

Yes, the texts relied heavily

on the people's collective unconscious.

Absolutely right.

-He blamed the parliament.

-Yes, the parliamentary system...

Certain employers were suspect... foreign...

cosmopolitan, not to mention dark-skinned.

and of course,

he blamed the Communist Party.

The Communist Party was the cause

of all evils.

All hotels were requisitioned,

and the Park Hotel was occupied

by Marshal Ptain and his staff.

This is where I met up with my friend,

Colonel Gorosse-Tardou,

who lived with Ptain.

He was the chief of staff

for his aviation department.

Consequently,

I was often at the Park Hotel.

It was always busy,

with lots of people milling around.

Everyone kept their voices down

and spied on their neighbors.

Personally, I wasn't used to their system,

but when I spoke,

I followed everyone's example.

They were forever shushing one another.

-Everyone was very suspicious.

-Of the enemy or of one another?

bit of both.

Are you a Republican?

Not really.

-Not really?

-No.

You're more of a Monarchist?

Yes, that's right.

French news. Late 1940.

Pilot-sergeant Gonthier de Basse,

veteran of WWI,

volunteer in '39, hurt in Dunkirk,

has, of his own free will,

agreed to make the following declaration.

Ever since my return from England

aboard The Sphinx on October 5,

I've been surprised by the number

of my compatriots who still believe

the wounded in Narvik and Dunkirk

were all well-treated by our ex-ally

and this is why I've decided

to share my memories with you.

When we arrived in England,

we harbored no grudge

against our English comrades.

But after the tragedy in June,

when we were invited

to come serve under a new flag,

when they offered

to pay us our dues in pounds sterling,

we could only reply

with disdain and indignation.

We French soldiers can only serve

under our own colors.

Anything else would be treason.

Fellow Frenchmen, comrades,

our duty is to stand side by side

behind our leader, Marshal Ptain,

to guarantee France a place of honor

in a new Europe,

and to allow the prisoners

to return home immediately.

It is a difficult task.

Those who try to divide us are enemies.

United we stand, divided we fall.

The idea was to get out of the war,

come what may,

as quickly as possible.

There were 15,000 French sailors

in Liverpool.

I went and spoke to them.

I tried to persuade them

to continue the war.

But there was no way.

We were so low on people

that we needed them to dig the trenches,

and we offered them wages to do so.

They said no.

They said, "France is no longer in the war.

"We no longer have the right

to dig trenches."

You see... the kind of attitude they had.

Their desire to get out was almost spiteful.

s for what would become of England,

they didn't give a care.

That's the kind of attitude they had.

They felt that it was inconceivable

that the English succeed

where the French army had been beaten.

On June 17, 1940,

the steam liner Le Massilia

headed from Bordeaux to Morocco.

Several parliamentarians were aboard.

This event caused much ink to flow.

I boarded Le Massilia

without suspecting that it was a big trap.

Those who stayed behind in Bordeaux

quickly understood

that they could exploit the circumstances,

and influence the public

to think that the departure of the boat

and the fact that

a number of politicians were aboard,

was a sign we were panicking,

running away, abandoning them.

In other words, deserting.

The people aboard Le Massilia

who actually wanted to fight

were quickly judged to be cowards

who were fleeing the fight.

It was paradoxical that some of us,

including Vinot, Jean Zay, Wiltzer and l,

were tried for desertion,

when in fact their original plan

had been to go fight.

and as far as I was concerned,

I was almost obliged to go,

seeing as my unit had gone,

and it was my duty to follow them.

Everyone wound up in Rabat.

There were tons of people.

Once there, I went to lunch

at "Balima," Rabat's best restaurant,

where everyone met.

One of my cousins,

Du Jonchay, a pilot, was there,

and naturally we discussed

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