ABSTRACT
M. Mornet turned to military matters and the support which, he said, the Vichy regime had given to the German armed forces. But he admitted that it was by no means certain that Pierre Laval had signed the telegram and that Laval had denied all knowledge of it. Mornet admitted that in the matter of the scuttling of the French fleet at Toulon in November, 1942, the primary responsibility had rested not with Laval, but with Marshal Petain, who had congratulated Admiral Laborde for obeying his orders. Mornet was on sounder ground in reading Laval's letter to Hitler of November 22, 1942, offering to place the French merchant fleet at the disposal of the Germans. Mornet then reviewed the fate of the French naval forces in the Antilles, and the conflicting orders that had been sent there; but in the end, the ships and the treasure they carried had all been saved for France.
