R. S. V. P.

Charles de Gaulle and Winston Churchill made a quick tour of the French Army front in the Vosges, then closed their friendliest of meetings with the friendliest adieux. Reported Reuters: it was agreed that in the coming occupation of Germany, French troops would hold the Rhineland.

Back at his Paris desk the French leader found a message, just arrived from Moscow: Marshal Stalin could not at present accept General de Gaulle's invitation to visit Paris. But would General de Gaulle care to call on Marshal Stalin at the Kremlin?

General de Gaulle lost not a moment in summoning his Cabinet and imparting the news. Then he wired his acceptance.*

To Frenchmen the invitation might seem like another sign of France's new standing among the big powers. It was certainly another example of the smartness of Russian diplomacy. But the pipe-smoker in the Kremlin was not merely being polite.

Skeleton or Bloc? In Washington it was believed that Stalin would try to dissuade General de Gaulle from joining a European bloc, would urge that French interests will be fully safeguarded by the proposed international security organization of which France will be a full-fledged top member. But General de Gaulle could scarcely fail to point-out that though the skeleton of the international organization was set up at Dumbarton Oaks, some important points had to be settled before that organization could come to life.

Stalin might also propose a Russo-French pact patterned after the Russo-Czechoslovak agreement or the Russo-French (Stalin-Laval) mutual assistance treaty of 1935. General de Gaulle might well hold out for something bigger. He is known to favor a modern version of the Triple Entente (1907-1917) that bound Tsarist Russia with France and Britain. France might again become the link between Russia and Britain.

One thing was certain: the outcome of the De Gaulle-Stalin talks would have a bearing on the support or opposition French Communists would give to the De Gaulle Government. And then there was the question of Spain.

* In Washington Franklin Roosevelt, also invited to Paris, brushed off a question about his plans by intimating that he had more important things to do.

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