Spanish Morocco

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22.6.40 [George Orwell]

June 22, 2010 in Egypt, England, France, French Morocco, Germany, Gibraltar, Hitler, North Africa, Petain, Political, Spain, Spanish Morocco, War-time, communists, invasion, terms by orwelldiaries

No real news yet of the German terms to France. They are said to be “so complicated” as to need long discussion. I suppose one may assume that what is really happening is that the Germans on the one side and Petain[1] and Co. on the other are trying to hammer out a formula that will induce the French commanders in the colonies and the navy to surrender. Hitler has in reality no power over those except through the French government….I think we have all been rather hasty in assuming that Hitler will now invade England, indeed it has been so generally expected that one might almost infer from this that he wouldn’t do it….If I were him I should march across Spain, seize Gibraltar, and then clean up North Africa and Egypt. If the British have a fluid force of say ¼ million men, the proper course would be to transfer it to French Morocco, then suddenly seize Spanish Morocco and hoist the Republican flag. The other Spanish colonies could be mopped up without much trouble. Alas, no hope of any such thing happening.

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14.6.40 [George Orwell]

June 14, 2010 in British government, Franco, French Morocco, Germans, Hitler, Italians, Negrin, Paris, Political, Spanish, Spanish Morocco, Tangier, Underground, Versailles, War-time, advertising by orwelldiaries

The Germans are definitely in Paris, one day ahead of schedule. It can be taken as a certainty that Hitler will go to Versailles. Why don’t they mine it and blow it up while he is there? Spanish troops have occupied Tangier, obviously with a view to letting the Italians use it as a base. To conquer Spanish Morocco from French Morocco would probably be easy at this date, and to do so, ditto the other Spanish colonies, and set up Negrin or someone of his kind as an alternative government, would be a severe blow at Franco. But even the present British government would never think of doing such a thing. One has almost lost the power of imagining that the Allied governments can ever take the initiative.

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