Paul Reynaud: Encyclopedia II - Paul Reynaud - Prime minister and arrest

Paul Reynaud - Prime minister and arrest

Although Reynaud was increasingly popular, the Chamber of Deputies elected Reynaud premier by only a single vote with most of his own party abstaining; over half of the votes for Reynaud came from the socialist SFIO party. With so much support from the left - and the opposition from many parties on the right - Reynaud's government was especially unstable; many on the Right demanded that Reynaud attack not Germany, but the Soviet Union.^[7] The Chamber also forced Daladier, who Reynaud held personally responsible for France's weakness, to be Reynaud's Minister of National Defense and War. One of Reynaud's first acts was to sign a declaration with British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain that neither of the two countries would sign a separate peace.

Reynaud abandoned any notion of a "long war strategy" based on attrition. Reynaud entertained suggestions to expand the war to the Balkans or northern Europe; he was instrumental in launching the allied campaign in Norway, though it ended in failure. Britain's decision to withdraw on April 26 prompted Reynaud to travel to London to personally lobby the British to stand and fight in Norway.^[8]

The Battle of France began less than two months after Reynaud came to office. France was badly mauled by the initial attack in early May 1940, and Paris was threatened. On May 15, five days after the invasion began, Reynaud contacted his British counterpart and famously remarked, "We have been defeated...we are beaten; we have lost the battle...The front is broken near Sedan." Charles de Gaulle, whom Reynaud had long supported and the only French commander who had won a battle, was promoted to brigadier general and named undersecretary of defense. [9]

As France's situation grew increasingly desperate, Reynaud accepted Philippe Pétain as Minister of State. Pétain, an aged veteran of the First World War, advised an armistice. Soon after the occupation of Paris, there was increasing pressure on Reynaud to come to a separate peace with Germany. Reynaud refused to be a party to such an undertaking, and resigned on June 16 rather than sign it. Pétain, who became the leader of the new Vichy government, signed the armistice on June 22. Reynaud was arrested on Petain's orders and given to the Germans, who kept him prisoner until the end of the war.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Prime minister and arrest", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki