RED CROSS RUSHING FOOD AND CLOTHING

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 164, 14 July 1941, Page 7

RED CROSS RUSHING FOOD AND CLOTHING

CIVILIAN NEEDS

Vichy Petrol And Munitions

Reported Destroyed

United Press AssoriatJon.—Copyright. Rec. 2 p.m. LONDON, July 13. The formal signing of the Syrian armistice is expected to take place within 24 hours. The lights in Beirut blazed again last night, but the Allied forces stood by in a constant state of vigilance.

General Sir Henry Maitland Wilson, British Commander-in-Chief, said that the negotiations had been carried out without acrimony.

"No more fighting, thank God." said a French officer accompanying General de Verdillac. who represented the Vichy High Commissioner in Syria, General Dentz, on his return from Acre. He addressed these words to a British colonel at the road barrier marking the northernmost point of the Allied advance to Beirut from the south, and relieved the tense atmosphere -which developed after the Vichy delegation passed through en route to Acre.

Palestine merchants with branches in Syria and Lebanon are looking forward to a resumption of active business relations following the anticipated incorporation of the territories in the sterling bloc.

Clothing -and food valued at £250,000 has been rushed to the Syrian frontier by the American Red Cross in readiness for distribution to civilians.

The German news agency says that most of the ammunition and petrol dumps in Syria were destroyed before the signature of the armistice, on the orders of the Vichv High Command. All Vichy ships had left Syrian ports, and Vichy aircraft were either flown to Turkish aerodromes or to French possessions.

The Ankara radio savs two tinidentified generals and 50 Italians arrived in southern Turkey from Syria. Turkey is filled with refugees.