MILITARY TALKS WITH BERLIN

Press, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23360, 20 June 1941, Page 7

MILITARY TALKS WITH BERLIN

Admiral Darlan’s

Plans

JOINT MEASURES AGAINST U.S.

(Received June 19, 7 p.m.) (U.P.A.) LONDON,’June 18. Admiral Darlan, the Vichy VicePremier has opened further military conversations with Berlin, with the object of devising joint French-German measures to prevent United States intervention against French African possessions or the seizure of Dakar, according to the correspondent of “The Times" on the French frontier. The Germans are reproaching Admiral Darlan for allowing the British to forestall the Axis in Syria and are insisting that American intervention must be prevented at all costs. Meanwhile, substantial quantities of material and a number of aeroplanes have been sent to Syria. Admiral Darlan is paying lip service to the instructions of the Council of Ministers that the Syrian conflict should be localised but actually now that General Weygand has departed. Admiral Darlan is manoeuvring in exactly the opposite direction. Well-informed quarters in Vichy fear that unless a decision in Syria is reached within a fortnight, Admiral Darlan will be able to insure the intervention of the French Fleet. The fact that most of the G’ermna aeroplanes formerly in Sicily are now massed in Tripolitania along the Tunisian frontier has indicated one trend of the French-German discussions. Vichy’s opponents in France are not only keenly disappointed but anxious over the slowness of the Allied advance in Syria. Moreover, British broadcasts to France seem to'suggest that Britain continues to under-esti-mate the deadly nature of Admiral Darlan’s intrigues. Friendly Frenchmen insist that a British reverse in Syria would irreparably affect British prestige throughout France.

FREE FRENCH IN THE WAR

DE GAULfcE SPEAKS OF TASKS

■' r(8.0.W.) RUGBY, June 18. * A message from General de Gaulle, dispatched from his headquarters in the Middle East, was read at a meeting to celebrate the first anniversary of the foundation of the Free French forces. “Doubtless the road will be hard and bloodstained," said General de Gaulle. “The enemy knows what a decisive part the recovery of France would play against him in this national, world-wide, and mortal struggle. To prevent this he has recourse to those same governments whose dishonour placed them at his'discretion. These people, in order to shield the enemy, not only make use of the abominable machinery of terror and lies which they borrowed from their masters, but even take advantage of their military servitude and actually set up against us a living barrier of professional troops. “A shudder of horror ran through the world at the news that the men of Vichy were making Empire soldiers fight against us and our Allies in conjunction with German squadrons for the purpose of maintaining a bridgehead in the Levant for the Fuehrer’s forces. ,

"Such a treacherous scheme bears Hitler’s own hallmark. It is typical of his devilish genius to make use, in this war of his, of the degradation of others. We need hardly say that nothing could do more to strengthen the Free French in their- determination to wrest their country from his grip and fight with all their might by the side of those who have sworn to break him.

“At the present moment, our soldiers, sailors, and airmen are giving glorious proof of this, before Damascus, in the Chad, in Libya, and in Abyssinia, as well as on every sea and in every sky.’’

GERMAN LOSSES IN CRETE

STATEMENT IN HOUSE OF LORDS

DESTRUCTION OP 430 AEROPLANES

1 LONDON, June 18. In a reply to the debate on Crete in the House of Lords, Lord Moyne, Leader of the House, said that the Germans had lost in Crete four times as many killed as had the British and their total losses exceeded the British total of killed, wounded, and prisoners. In addition the Germans had paid a tremendous price in the air, losing .430 of the costliest machines. Numbers of highly trained men had also been lost and there seemed no doubt that for the time being the spearhead of the Luftwaffe had been blunted.

The campaign in Greece and Crete had given Britain another four months in which to strengthen the defences of Egypt, and had also given a serious set-back to Herr Hitler which might even result in his downfall. Precautions would be taken, however, said Lord Moyne, that British troops would not again be asked to fight without air support and under such terrible conditions. Asked whether adequate steps had been taken to ensure the provision of essential, foodstuffs for the population of Cyprus “as the war In the-Mediter-ranean develops,” the Under-Secretary to the Colonial Office (Mr George Hall) said that the food position in the island gave no cause for anxiety. He added that although exports from Cyprus to Britain of citrus fruit and other produce had practically ceased because of war conditions, every endeavour was being made to dispose of them in the markets of a nearer colony.

AUSTRALIAN TROOPS ' MISSING

TOTAL PLACED AT 5951

(Received June 20, 2 a.m.) CANBERRA, June 19. Australian troops who failed to return from the campaigns in Greece and Crete totalled 5951, the Minister for the Army (Mr P. C. Spender) an. nounced in the House of Representatives to-day. ' The figures he said, were at variance with those released some time ago and he was unable to get an exolanation, A cablegram from the International Red Cross stated that 9000 British, Australian.- and New Zealand troops were taken prisoner in Greece.