VICHY OFFICIAL DISMISSED

Press, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23754, 28 September 1942, Page 5

VICHY OFFICIAL DISMISSED

INTRIGUE AGAINST LAVAL ALLEGED

COOPERATION WITH GERMANY (N.Z. Press Association— Copyright)

(Rec. 11 p.m.) LONDON, Sept. 27. Vichy has now confirmed the report that M. Laval has dismissed M. Benoist Mechin, one of his three Secretaries of State. An earlier report from Vichy said that M. Mechin had been dismissed from office for alleged intriguing against M. Laval. After a day of rumours of a change in his Government, M. Laval cancelled a Cabinet meeting to issue to the press a denial of disunity in the Government. He said: “The Government u most solid. Marshal Petain is in excellent health. There is no reason for a change. Nothing can prevent me from serving my country." One report says that M. Laval caught M. Mechin trying to interest the Germans in a proposal for a new Government, including M. Doriot, the French Fascist leader. M. Doriot has recently been representing himself as ready to go further in co-operating with Germany, particularly in the sending or, French- workers to the Reich. According to the latest reports, Hitler has obtained barely 10 per cent of the 300.000 French workers he asked for. The Vichy news agency says that new regulations have been put into execution for compulsory labour. The regulations state; “All men whose age, skill, or family duties allow them to be sent to Germany will receive a private request to go, in order to co-oper-ate in the French nation’s moral task—the release of French war prisoners. “Unemployment cards may be withdrawn from those refusing to work in France to replace a worker sent to Germany. Families’of men ‘volunteering’ for work in Germany will receive half the wages they are now getting . in addition to the wages paid in Germany.” . , . The whole of France is ranging behind the Church’s condemnation of the inhuman treatment accorded Jews, according to reports reaching Lisbon from occupied France. Travellers reveal that the Archbishop of Toulouse was threatened with death if he allowed a recent pastoral letter to be read in his churches. The Archbishop replied: “I am so old that it does not matter if I die.” , . _ , . A goods train arrived In Toulouse, In , which 45 women and children were packed into each waggon from 5 a.xn. until 2'p.m. Protests were made and permission was sought to allow the women and children to leave the ■ coaches for at least a few minutes, but , this was refused. Eye-Witnesses, say that they watched armed men hunt Jews in the'fields as though they were rabbits. ~

ESCAPE TO ENGLAND RUMOURED

GENERAL WEYGAND AND GENERAL GIRAUD

(Rec. 10 p.m.) NEW YORK, Sept. «. It is persistently rumoured from . France that General Weygand .and ■ General Giraud have eluded the vigilance of their guards , and escaped to England. Vichy has not mentioned their whereabouts for the last, two months. .. . ' . General Weygand was last as arriving at Aix-les-Balns for the cure. General Giraud was last mentioned, soon after his escape from Germany, as having an interview With . ■Marshal Petain. .

FRANCE’S CHEMICAL DYE INDUSTRY

LAVAL GIVES CONTROL TO GERMANY

LONDON, Sept. 25. M. Laval has given Germany controlof France’s great chemical dye industry, reports the British United Press corres-, pondent on the French frontier. M. Laval first rounded up three of we “Big Four" of the industry—the St. , Denis. St. Clair, and Kuhlmann concerns—and renamed, them the Francolor, - . Organisation with a capital of / £4.500,000. The terms of the<nerger laid down that the participants must hold 49-per cent, of the shares, but could dispose of 51 per cent, The result was that the 81 per cent, were sold to the great Gentian, dye trust, I.G. Farbenindustrie, giving, 1 Germany control. ’ . M. Laval reasons that if Germany dominates French industry she will not molest France in order to get the best returns from that industry.

EGYPTIAN FRONT ALLIED AIR ATTACKS (Rec. 7 p.m.) LONDON, Sept. 26. » To-day’s Cairo communique, says: “During Thursday night our patrol activity continued on the whole front. On Friday there was nothing to report from our land forces. “On Friday night pur medium and light bombers successfully attacked enemy landing grounds in the Sidi Haneish area. “On Friday our fighter-bombers raided enemy transport in the battle area, and long-range fighters shot up the Sidi Barrani-Mersa Matruh road. “Our Malta fighters engaged enemy fighters north-east of the island and shot down two. We suffered no losses in these operations.” “As well as direct hits, one of which blew up a ship, there was little in the harbour that did not receive damage of some sort,” reported one Allied navigator, describing the recent raid on Benghazi. “I was watching the sunset behind Benghazi. on the way home,” said an American rear-gunner, “when I saw an explosion that threw smoke, flame, and pieces of ship thousands of feet in the air. It was a big merchantman we had bombed about 15 minutes before.” Crews of aircraft attacking Benghazi by moonlight nearly six hours after the first raid could see' the glow from blazing ships 80 miles away as they approached the target. They used the burning hull of a merchantman as an aiming point when they dropped their bombs at the already depleted concentration of Axis shipping and started a number of other fires in the harbour area.

FIVE AXIS SHIPS SUNK BRITISH SUBMARINE SUCCESSES (8.0. W.) RUGBY, Sept. 28. "British submarines in the Mediterranean have inflicted further heavy losses on the enemy’s sea communications," says an Admiralty communique, “Five enemy supply ships have been sunk, two probably sunk, and one hit by a torpedo and seriously damaged. “One of the vessels sunk and one of those probably sunk were large ships. All the others were supply ships of medium tonnage. These recent successes have been achieved by five submarines.”