Army of Liberation

On the shores of North Africa a French army of liberation is being forged. By the end of the year it may number 400,000 men, more than half black-skinned and all trained for mobile, offensive war. In this army many have a stake: the British and Americans who are giving it equipment; the French factions who see it as the dominant factor in the new France; the people of the homeland who look to it for deliverance.

The shape and allegiance of the army of liberation was the crucial problem last week in Algiers. General Charles de Gaulle had stood adamantly for: 1) a purge of ex-Vichyite officers; 2) a modernization of the armed forces along the lines he had vainly preached .for two decades before the fall of France. General Henri Honore Giraud had agreed in principle, but he wanted control of the scope and tempo of reform. Over these issues the negotiations deadlocked while the Generals kept apart. Then, one evening in the quiet of his home, General Georges Catroux brought De Gaulle and Giraud together again.

Under Amiable Pipe Smoke. For the past four months patient, shrewd Georges Catroux has been a go-between for his country's unity. As negotiator between De Gaulle and Giraud he made many a trip between Algiers and London before the two French leaders finally met. French men have known him as a many-sided, yet singleminded, person--a lover of Siamese cats, a devotee of Montaigne, a diplomat as well as soldier, a great Colonial. He met Henri Giraud while both were serving under the late, great Marshal Lyautey against the Riffs. He learned to call Charles de Gaulle mon cher after he quit the Vichyfrench governorship of Indo-China and joined the Fighting French. Now, under Georges Catroux's amiable pipe smoke, and with the help of his tact, the stubborn leaders agreed to submit their differences to a majority decision of the new Committee of Liberation.

Next day the Committee's 13 members (the 14th member, Henri Bonnet, was en route from the U.S.) held their first plenary session, agreed on procedure, began discussions. The event was important, for it helped to clear a stifled political atmosphere, shifted emphasis from single personalities to group judgments. Said one pleased committeeman: "A democratic institution has been born."

Under a Great V. The committee took time off for homage to French resistance. It was the third anniversary of the day Charles de Gaulle left his defeated homeland, hung up an extra pair of pants and four khaki shirts in a cheap London hotel room, and rallied his stunned countrymen with the words: "France has lost a battle; but France has not lost the war."

On the Algiers monument to the dead of World War I General de Gaulle placed a wreath. He stepped back, saluted, stood in meditation. Then he turned around, his tall figure silhouetted against the white memorial, and raised his arms in a great V. The crowd roared.

Under Many Pressures. This week the Committee of Liberation moved toward a showdown on the question of Army reform. Pressures and politics that have so long bedeviled unity negotiations were in full play. There were reports that General de Gaulle might leave Algiers if his proposals were defeated. The feeling was that U.S. and British quarters would not mind very much. General de Gaulle, never supported by the U.S., seemed to be losing his British backing.

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