PETAIN TO GO TO VERSAILLES

Press, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23194, 4 December 1940, Page 9

PETAIN TO GO TO VERSAILLES

New French Seat Of Government MOVE AROUSES MISGIVING rjtES3 ASSOCIATION—COPTRIGHT.) (Received December 3, 11 p.m.) LONDON, December 3Marshal Petain, head of the French Government, Is shortly to be installed at Versailles, in the midst of his German masters. This latest move by the Germans is viewed with misgiving by those Frenchmen who are alive to the possibility of Germany succeeding in embroiling France with Britain, It is not clear from the veiled communique announcing the forthcoming move to Versailles whether Marshal Petain is to he accompanied by bis Cabinet, but it is certain that what measure of independence Vichy has so far had will now disappear. If Marshal Petain goes alone he will be isolated from those members of the Cabinet who have been able, to some extent, to curb the activities of M. Laval. With Marshal Petain under their control the Germans will have an asset in helping to check the rising spirit of resistance throughout the country. Evidence of the increasing resistance has been given by the Ger-man-controlled Lyon radio, which said that unless the French cooperated with the Germans the whole of France would be occupied, the 2,000,000 French prisoners of war would be kept in concentration camps for life, and French youth would be sent to break stones.

GERMAN RULE IN FRANCE SABOTAGE IN MANY FACTORIES WORKERS PUNISHED WITH DEATH LONDON, December 2. An account of how French workers are risking death by sabotaging German aircraft factories in France is given in the “Daily Mail,” which publishes a story written by a Frenchman who has reached England. Sabotage is rapidly increasing at the Citroen, Gnome, Renault, and other factories, where the Germans are bribing or threatening certain Frenchmen to mingle with the workers and report the most outspoken of them. These are picked out and shot. Eight employees of the Citroen factory thus became victims in October. Of 20 fighter aeroplanes made at a Parisian factory and tried out by the Germans, three crashed and two pilots were killed. The Germans then tried to counteract sabotage by using French pilots, but this ceased because the Germans feared that the aeroplanes would be flown to England. The article gives details of numerous incidents illustrating the hatred of the French for the Germans. German soldiers are ordered to keep together when out sightseeing. This is done for their own protection. Communists are active in Lyon, and hundreds of Frenchmen in key positions in the police and administrative offices are doing their utmost to hinder the Germans and assist escaped prisoners. Wherever possible the French are assisting British prisoners. There is no further news of M. Laval’s new visit to Berlin to make a fresh deal with Herr Hitler. In France there is a fear that the Germans, who have already occupied two-thirds of the country, may occupy the whole of it if their demands are not satisfied.

SABOTAGE IN THE UNITED STATES LOSS OF VALUABLE AEROPLANES INVESTIGATIONS OF DIES COMMITTEE WASHINGTON, December 2. Mr Martin Dies, chairman of the committee on Un-American Activities, in a radio address, alleged that very valuable experimental aeroplanes in an unnamed factory were recently destroyed by five separate acts of sabotage. He said that the committee had ascertained that a clique of German Nazis wore employed in highly strategic positions within the plant. The sabotage included metal bars jamming the flight controls and flight mechanism. Bolts had been removed from the brakes, and the gas gauges had been tampered with. He said an inspector had been warned against taking one aeroplane aloft. The advice had been ignored and the aeroplane had been destroyed. Mr Dies appealed for support for the committee’s investigations and appealed for the continuance of the committee for two years. INSPECTION OF U.S. DEFENCES MR ROOSEVELT LEAVES WASHINGTON WASHINGTON, December 2. The President of the United States (Mr Roosevelt) has left Washington for a secret destination in Florida, where he will board the Tuscaloosa for an inspection of the Caribbean defences and possibly also some of the bases recently acquired from Britain,