Hitler meets French leader Petain

24th October 1940: Hitler gets no concessions from another national leader, even if the meeting appears to be a show of 'collaboration'

The image of Hitler shaking hands with the French hero Marshal Petain was a propaganda coup for the Nazis, widely publicised as evidence that France was ‘collaborating’ with Nazi Germany .

In 1916, General Pétain had been put in command of the French army at the Battle of Verdun when a German breakthrough seemed imminent. His leadership, which involved …