FRENCH HATRED

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 61, Issue 39, 26 November 1940, Page 8

FRENCH HATRED

AGAINST GERMAN INVADERS.

(United Press Association —Copyright) LONDON, November 24.

Whatever may have been the feeling of the French people toward Britain a few months ago—and certainly it was then far fi’om cordial —there is abundant evidence that a very different atmosphere now prevails. The shock of defeat is being absorbed, the gallant French race is rapidly regaining its normal poise and is reacting in a way only to bo expected against what has been done In its name hv the Vichy Government.

Reports from neutrals, who have recently left France, as well as those of French subjects, agree in showing that there is a determination not io co-operate with the Nazi conquerors and an all but universal desire to see Britain victorious.

The Paris correspondent of the Madrid newspaper “Arriba” reveals for the first time in the Spanish press that riots broke out on Armistice Day in the centre of Paris.

Ho adds that the French people do not want collaboration with Germany, and he expresses the opinion that a score of people, including Marshal Petain and M. Laval, who are striving for collaboration, do not carry much weight.

He points out that the statesmen accepting collaboration must enjoy full authority, and repeated Paris incidents demonstrate that Marshal Petain does not enjoy national unit. Reichsmarshal Goering reached a similar conclusion after a meeting with M. Laval. Almost the whole of the French people live solely for the British Broadcasting Corporation’s broadcasts. The correspondent vouches for the fact that Herr Hitler declined a victory parade after the entry of the German troops because lie was convinced that after the defeat of Britain tlio French would spantaneously and vociferously express their gratitude. Danish Resentment. Light on German disappointment at tho unsatisfactory progress in Denmark of the Nazi plan for a new order in Europe is thrown by articles in the German paper “Nord-schwesigsche Zeitung,’’ one of which asks, “Why cannot the Danes express gratitude that the protection of their country has been undertaken by such a powerful military force? It is impossible to understand why the democratic Danes hate everything German.” . “The words, ‘in these, our country’s dark days,’ open almost every Danish meeting. The days would indeed have been dark had the German forces not prevented Denmark from becoming a battlefield. Denmark must change if she is going to occupy her allotted place in the new Europe.”

Another article in the same Germancontrolled newspaper states: “Among the population of Copenhagen a dreadful hate against Herr Hitler and the German troops prevails. It is heard in private conversation in cafes, in the streets, and when German soldiers pass. The German soldiers rarely understand, but they gather from the grins on the faces of those present that it is uncomplimentary.”