It took Weygand two days to get to Paris. Even after arrival he would not accept the appointment before consulting both Generals Gamelin and Georges, the commander of the Western Front, which took until evening. Reynaud then suggested a briefing, but Weygand said, “No. Tomorrow.”
On 20-May, while the German panzer forces sped toward Abbeville and the sea, Weygand visited and consulted. At the end of the day he announced that he must go and judge the situation on the spot. He sent his car to Abbeville, intending to go there himself by train.
The city was, of course, in German hands by that time. So instead Weygand took a plane to Bethune to see General Billotte, senior general on the northeastern front, but the airfield had been abandoned. Weygand flew on to Calais and arranged meetings with the Belgian King, Leopold III, and other commanders. General Lord Gort, commander of the BEF, did not receive any summons until the discussion came round to using British troops for a counterattack. Weygand then left for Paris before Gort arrived. Although aircraft were still flying between Calais and Paris, Weygand took a ship to Cherbourg. He got there the following morning and traveled on by train to Paris. By the time Weygand arrived in Paris, the Germans had reached the Channel coast, had turned north, and were beginning the attack on Boulogne.
Having made his on-the-spot judgment, Weygand now outlined a totally nonsensical plan of battle, adding some mythical French successes (the French armies were progressing toward Amiens, he said) in an effort to make it sound convincing.
This was not an isolated example of Weygand’s careless utilization of false reports. At a meeting of the French Cabinet later in Tours, on 13 June, Weygand reported with a measure of satisfaction that the Communists had set up a government in Paris and that the Communist leader was installed in the Elysee Palace. When a phone call revealed this to be without any foundation, Weygand became very angry and stamped out of the room, shouting threats about arresting the whole Cabinet.
World History
