STREET FIGHTING

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 106, 7 May 1942, Page 7

STREET FIGHTING

IN NAVAU BASE TOWN

America Incensed By .Vichy

Hostility

Unltad Press Association.—Copyright. . Ree. 1 p.m. LONDON, May 6.

In London it is authoritatively stated that the British, after landing on Madagascar, advanced 20 miles in great heat. The operations are con-

ew York radio, quoting vicny, says the British are fighting in the streets of Diego Suarez. tA Washington message says the rij?. States Secretary of State, Mr. Vi? v r Hull, said to the Press that vicny s rejection of the American Note regarding Madagascar called a , r ?P'y an d added grimly that would certainly receive one. When m j Whether Vichy's resistance to -Madagascar's occupation would be construed as hostile to the United nations, and hence the basis for a IP against Vichy-controlled bases flanking the Panama, Mr. Hull was non-committal.

Need for Quick Decision -A .Capetown message quotes the Hand Daily Mail as saying that the conflict between Britons and Frenchmen is painful to many, but the struggle is unlikely to be as sanguinary as in Syria, since the French garrison at Madagascar is underwood to be relatively small. If the Jgnt is prolonged many complications may arise, as the British Problem is to seize the island without bringing the whole French fleet against the Allies.

, There is an unmistakable threat in Vichy's reply to the declaration of our Government's full support for tne British attempt to occupy Madagascar," says the New York Times a leading article. .."The Note sent by Laval," adds tne newspaper, "asserts that Vichy cannot but leave to Mr. Roosevelt «im P art the responsibility which «!!i u to in the consequences wnlcn will result from this aggression. Of what consequence# is Laval thinking?

it J n own way he is saying that « he believes he can use this incident to confuse and inflame French sentiment he will attempt some adventure such as the surrender of the French Fleet to Germany, or French Participation in an expedition led by the Germans to recover Syria.

i We faced this risk from the start In the case of Madagascar, but it was a risk wc had to take. With the example of what the French surrender of Indo-China has already cost us we could not possibly permit Madagascar to fall to Japan.

'We could not let it be used either as a base for a double-edged attack on India or as a threat to our supply lines to the strategic battlefields in the Near East, where Hitler may be fighting before the summer ends. We could onlv act before it was too late, trusting that the confidence of the French people in our motives and Purposes can never be shaken by * man they know as well as they know Laval.

- "Too long it has been the enemy that foresaw and attacked. Now it is our turn."

A news commentator on the Tokyo official radio termed the occupation of Madagascar as Illegal, and added: British and American circles are engaged In malicious propaganda that Japanese forces were harbouring designs to occupy the island. Madagascar was never menaced by Japan s ambitions." He said the Japanese had been predicting a British occupation of Madagascar for some time.

The Dome! news agency quotes competent Japanese circles as saying that Madagascar is the Allies' second front which, however, they will not be able to maintain because of a lack of men, ships and equipment.