And now, just a word on the conclusion of the Armistice agreement in Syria. Although Vichy had previously announced it was unable to give any more aid to its forces in Syria, it chose to reject the terms proffered by the British and threw the onus of acceptance or the consequences of usual back on to General Dentz; giving him a free hand to act in the light of the military situation. To my mind that was an evasion of responsibility on the part of the mandatory authority and one which showed a disregard of the welfare of the Syrian peoples.
But General Dentz had to give in, and now the fighting is over, to the overwhelming joy of the Syrian population. "Imperial and Free French forces have been welcomed as deliverers, and so comes to an end an unfortunate and distressing episode, which was brought about solely by decision of Vichy to allow the Germans to use Syria as a base against Britain—that is not a matter of opinion; the Germans did use Syria during the fighting in Iraq. but I can tell you that it is already a very large figure and one which will continue to rise fast.
The latest figures for the United States of Afherica reflect the rapidly-growing output of that vast arsenal of the democracies. But barely~a, beginning has yet been made, Enormous plants have been laid down, a pooling scheme has been agreed to, and with little or nothing to worry about as regards finance, raw materials, skilled labour, or technical and directive services, America will provide such a flow of war planes as the Axis partners—even with all the resources and factories of a subjugated Europe at their command—will never be able to equal. On numbers, then, the tide is approaching full flood,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.