Eighty years ago Vichy takes another step towards outright Fascism

 

The Vichy state took another step downwards when the Service d'Ordre Legionnaire (SOL) was granted legal autonomous status. It had been founded by the Fascist Joseph Darnand who saw Marshal Petain as France's sole legitimate ruler  and treated any opposition or rivalry as treason. The SOL was already operating with extreme savagery to destroy any dissent. Darnand supported utmost collaboration with the Germans. The SOL  would soon be rebaptized as the Milice.

The commander of the Red Army that now surrounded the Germans trapped in Stalingrad and around, offered terms for surrender to General Paulus with a deadline of 10am the following day: food and medical assistance. Paulus managed to contact Hitler, who forbade him from accepting what was manifestly a dubious proposition anyway. The Soviets duly launched an all-out offensive against the pocket from all directions.

The RAF pilot Richard Hillary was killed in a  training accident. He had inisted on returning to operational flying despite the severe burns to his face and hands suffered during the Battle of Britain. Despite the attentions of the Archibald McIndoe, the pioneering plastic surgeon, his hands were little better than claws. He would have been fully justified in remaining in a non-combat job. His memoir The Last Enemy is one of the classic pieces of literature produced by the war. 

The railway union ASLEF rejected a pay award decided by an arbitration tribunal. The union criticised the government for refusing to intervene; the railway companies were still notionally private. The other major union, NUR, declared the award was not satisfactory but pledged to accept it.

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