Darlan at Berchtesgaden — how far to collaborate?

Since the dismissal of Laval in December 1940, Admiral François Darlan had become the true head of the Vichy government and Pétain's heir apparent. Convinced, like many at Vichy in the spring of 1941, that Germany was going to win the war, he sought to obtain concessions (easing of the Occupation, release of prisoners, reduction of occupation costs) by offering Berlin increased military collaboration.

The opportunity arose with the Iraqi war: Germany wanted to ship arms and aircraft to Rashid Ali by way of Vichy Syria. On 11 May, Darlan was received by Hitler at Berchtesgaden; on the table were the granting to the Axis of bases in Syria, at Bizerte (Tunisia) and at Dakar, in return for easings of the armistice.

Darlan had to gauge how far to commit France along this path: sign the protocols and tip into de facto co-belligerence alongside the Axis; limit them to specific and revocable concessions; or refuse, to preserve a margin of neutrality and avoid provoking a rupture with the United States and the colonies. The stake was the very nature of the regime and its place in the war.