Two photos taken outside the Automobile Club of France/Thomas Cooks. I think it shows a senior French officer and some German ones.Judging by the security I suspect that they were important. Can anyone id anyone?
The uniform says either navy or air force and the tones say navy. So a high level Vichy/German meeting so where and between whom?
Location is Place de la Concorde, the ACF is located directly near the Hotel Crillon who served the German General Staff as HQ – and it´s opposite to the French Naval Ministry
I believe the German officer on the right in the second photo and wearing the extravagantly-lapelled coat is from the Foreign Ministry. Apologies if that is a blinding flash of the obvious.
Which suggests that the Mercedes was for the German FO guy. The German Embassy at Hôtel Beauharnais was over in the left bank but everyone else could safely walk.
I was wondering if the foreign ministry man was Otto Abetz, the German ambassador to Vichy France, but I don’t think the man’s face is sufficiently similar.
The Adrian helmet in various colours was worn by pretty much every law enforcement unit at those times (lots of stocks...). The Milice usually wore black berets. These are more likely Groupes Mobiles de Réserve (GMR), created in 1941 in the Vichy zone and extended to the whole of France from late 1942.
I had wondered if it might be Martin Luther, Ribbentrop's protege in France but can't find a photo of him to check. However he tried to double cross Ribbentrop mid 1943 and got sent to a concentration camp.