London, Feb. 9. Marshal Petain and Admiral Dar-lan have flown to Africa, according to a German News Agency despatch, quoting reliable neutral sources in Berne.
There is no confirmation of th report in London and the news reared with considerable rosery is noted that the German agency does not assume responsibility for the story, but attributes it to a neutral h is a common Germ device for giving out news of a sen The British Broadcasting Corp tion broadcast in French to the populace in France last night. urging them to remain calm, and to give no excuse for further aggressive action by the Germans.
The British appeal pointed out that these unconfirmed reports were put out in order to cause confusion, to the German advantage, excuse for retaliatory An earlier dispatch, also based on a German news agency report, this time from Geneva, stated that M, Pierre-Etienne Flandin, Foreign Mini. ster in the Vichy Government had resigned, and as a caroli: s, a Rome dispatch si were current in Paris of the imminent formation of a new French Cabinet under the leadership of Admiral Francois Darlan, Minister of the Navy, The official French agency merely stated that the Admiral had given Marshal Petain a full account of his talks with German officials in Paris.
Earlier reports from Vichy, meanwhile, stated that Marshal' Petain, Premier of the Vichy Government, had offered M, Pierre Laval, ex-
Vice-Premier and Foreign Minister of the Vichy Government, a place in is Government, but M, Laval had refused, Marshal Petain proposed that M, Laval should enter the Government as a Minister of State and a member of a Committee which would direct affairs, reported the official French news agency.
"Loyal to Armistice"
The Marshal made this offer in conformity with a conversation he had with Herr Adolf Hitler at Montoire when he agreed to "collaborate with Germany" while, however, adhering strictly to the letter of the armistice terms.
Marshal Petain's policy consists essentially of the strict application of the armistice," writes the newspaper "Journal des Débats," which is published in umo¢cupied-France, comrfenting "on General" Weygant's denial that Bizerta would be handed over to Germany.
"Nobody has ever beeñ able to claim that this application has not been perfectly loyal,""—Reuter,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.