FRENCH NAVY

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 272, 17 November 1941, Page 7

FRENCH NAVY

GERMANY'S NEW MOVE

Hope To Challenge British Superiority At Sea United Press Association.—Copyri-pht. Rec. noon. LONDON, Nov. 16. The Vichy Government has secured Germany's permission to re-establish and enlarge the French Navy, says the Sunday Times. The Germans intend to give the Vichy Government full control of the navy in the hope that it will challenge British naval superiority.

Permission to carry out the reestablishment programme was secured by Darlan through de Brinon, Vichy Minister in Paris, who has just returned to Paris from a visit to Hitler's headquarters on the eastern front. Materials have been released by the Germans for the French naval dockyards ana gun-shops. New barracks and additional repair shops are being constructed at Toulon, Bizerta, Oran and Casablanca.

Naval recruiting is being extended and more men are being trained than can be absorbed by the present ship strength of the French Navy.

The Germans have stopped aircraft manufacture in unoccupied Francc and ordered all aeroplanebuilding material to be handed over to the German Armaments Commission for use in German-controlled factories, reports the Mad Kid correspondent of the Daily Mail.

French industrialists believe the Germans are genuinely alarmed over the tremendous wastage of war materials in Russia and the British and American industrial expansion which is resulting in the rapid overhauling of German production. Everything indicates Germany is straining every nerve to maintain her lead.

Meanwhile, a fresh series of strikes has broken out among the French workers in German-controlled factories. The Germans have again threatened to withdraw ration cards from the strikers, many of whom have been arrested. ARMY AND AIR FORCE Australian Scheme For Greater

Co-ordination TRAINING SCHOOL OPENING Rec. 1 p.m. CANBERRA, this day. As part of its plan for greater collaboration between the Army and the Air Force, the Federal Government will establish at Canberra a special Army Co-operation School at which both Army and R.A.A.F. officers will be trained.

The Minister of Air, Mr. A. S. Drakeford, said that the school, which will be opened will promote the most effective liaison between the two forces, and an understanding of each other's operational problems.