I. 78.

D'un chef vieillard naistra sens hebeté,
Degenerant par sa'avoir & par armes :
Le chef de France par sa sœur redouté,
Champs divisez, concedez aux gens d'armes.
 

I. 78.

From an old chief will be born a dulled sense,
Degenerating by his merits and the weapons
The chief of France feared by his sister,
Fields divided, granted to the "gendarmerie"

            This quatrain refers to Phillipe Pètain, the France occupation by the Germans, the Vichy Government and the relationship between France (Vichy) and England.

              The first verse  talks of a "chef vieilard". "Vieillard" means an old man, of an advanced age.  Phillipe Pètain  was one of the French heroes of World War I and became a being considered a traitor at the end of the World War II, having being condemned to a death sentence by a court. His life was save by De Gaule that changed it to life in prison. Pètain died after having paying six years in prison.

               Due his pronounced actuation in World War I, Pètain was made general when was 58 years old, in 1918. Born in 1856 (some says 1857), the old Marshal became famous because his military defensive doctrine. In MAY-1940, when France was under the German invasion, Pètain was nominated Vice-Ministry and in in 10-JUL-1940, after the armistice, accepted the charge of "State Chief", with almost dictatorial powers. Pètain was 84 by those times

               The verses are relatively direct on their meanings and they portray what was the Vichy Republic since its beginning. France in what it had to be "free", was obligated to collaborate with the Germans and the police had to restrain their own  compatriots that were part of the French Resistance. There are several episodes that involve the relationship between the French Police( the "gendarmes") and the resistance. See a s an additional reference, C03Q008.

               The third verse talks about the nomination that Pètain obtained; State Chief; it also mentions the problems the Vichy Republic had with England. Since the British did not trust Pètain, they feared he would use the French army, navy and weapons against them. In JUL-1940, the English opened fire against the French fleet in Mers-el-Kebir. The French were hardly hit on that occasion when almost a thousand men were dead. Other military actions also were developed against the French forces loyal to Vichy. See C04Q012.

           Moreover, the political collaboration of Laval, from which Pètan diverged, having dismissed  and arrested him on DEC-1940, allowed the deportation of Jews, communists, resistance members, etc to the concentration camps and also to forced labor in Germany.

          
            The fourth verse talks about the French division and the French Militia created by Laval. One of the armistice conditions was the keeping of two regions on France: an occupied one (3/5 of the whole territory)  and a "free" one, based on Vichy. The French Militia was created by Laval sometime after having returned to power with the help of the Germans. It was responsible by the maquis restraining,  innumerous murders, the capture of Jews and French to be sent to the concentration and extermination camps and also to the forced labor in Germany and other crimes typical of the collaborationism in a dictatorial state.