SOURCE OF DANGER TO CAUSE OF ALLIES

Press, Volume LXXIX, Issue 23843, 12 January 1943, Page 4

SOURCE OF DANGER TO CAUSE OF ALLIES

SPANISH MOROCCO

(Published by arrangement with While occupying the French colonies in North Africa, the United Nations scarcely can avoid keeping an eye on the Spanish part of Morocco, which has become a centre of antiAllied activity on African soil. It is true that President Roosevelt has answered General Francisco Franco, chief of the Spanish State, that the Allied moves in Africa ‘are in no shape, manner, or form directed against the Government or the people of Spain or Spanish territory, metropolitan or overseas.” . , The Anglo-American troops certainly will not invade Spanish territory at least as long as the Axis also respects Spanish neutrality. Yet respect of Spanish neutrality does not exclude pressure on Madrid by the Allied governments to carry out a purge in its colonial administration and to oust numerous German and Italian agents from Spanish soil. These agents built up a network of anti-Allied activity in the Spanish colonies, especially in Spanish Morocco. The Spanish part of Morocco is much smaller than the French protectorate. It comprises only 13.0UU square miles with a population of almost 800,000 inhabitants, including 45 000 Europeans, while the Frencn colony stretches over 154,000 miles, and has a population of more than 6,000,000. Strategic Importance Yet from the strategic point of view, Spanish Morocco is extremely important. .. From Ceuta in Spanish Morocco the Strait of Gibraltar can be controlled just as well as from the British stronghold. Melilla, farther to the east, is another important strategic port on the Mediterranean coast in Spanish hands. . Moreover, in June, 1940, the Spanish Government occupied the international city of Tangier “with the object of guaranteeing the neutrality of the zone and the city.” Spain thus added a population of 60,000 and one of the most important commercial cities m North Africa to its empire. In order to prove Tangier’s complete integration into the Spanish Empire, the Mcndroub—representative of the Sultan of Morocco—was summarily expelled, while the German Consul established offices in the Mendroub’s former residence. Other German agents soon arrived in the newly “conquered’ Spanish city. . This is not the first time that Spanish territory, and especially Spanish Morocco, has served as a basis for German propaganda and spy work. During World War I German agents carried on their activity from the Spanish zone in Morocco. On October 11, 1917, "The Times,” London, wrote: “All Tangier knows the German activity in the neighbouring Spanish zone, the almost nightly signalling with submarines at Larache, the nefarious instigation to murder and massacre which the German Consulate in Tetuan is continually sending to the tribes, the supplying of the rebel army with arms, ammunition, and of requirements from posts in the Spanish zone, the ferocious propaganda which is being carried on by so-called neutrals from Alcazar, and the German intrigues with native chiefs. The Germanising of the Spanish zone in Morocco is not only a threat in the present, but will prove a danger to the peace in Europe in the future.” _ . , The tactics of the German intelligence service have remained fundamentally unchanged since the first World War. This time, however, activities of German agents have been even more openly assisted by Spanish

[By EGON KASKELINE.]

the “Christian Science Monitor*} authorising authorities. General Lu» Oraz, Spanish High Commissioner t Morocco who was appointed in Mar 1941, is said to be one of the most p r i' German generals of the Spanish Arm Under his rule, the Germans hav< been able to set up a widespread I organisation and to carry on their ag£ ‘ tation among natives in the Frenc[! zone. . r After General Auguste Noguerii Vichy Governor-General in Morocco'? refused to let the German Gestaiy ; supervise the French territory, tb main centre of the German intelliri gence service was transferred to Spaa if ish Morocco, possibly to Ue'Wn, capj,® tal of the Spanish zone 6r tsUTangieii Passage of agents from one zonS to the other in Morocco is facilitate! by the fact that the Franco-SpanM! boundary in this region never has beet?! fully established. Agents carried funfil to finance subversive agitations French Morocco as well as leaflets and pamphlets written ,-Jj | Arabic which were distributed amours the native population. These' Nal publications have been mostly lished by the Fichte-Bund in Hamburg Anti-Semitism Fomented Anti-Semitic manifestations which broke out in Moroccan cities were staged by German agents who worked behind the scene. Unrest among % natives in French North Africa stimulated by the pro-Axis broadcast, ing of the radio stations of Tangier! Larache, and others in Spanish MotJ occo. . 1 Numerous German spies are estab-i lished in ports of the Spanish zone, I especially in Ceuta and in Melilla 1 They spy upon military activities it I the British fortress of Gibraltar and I Allied shipping through the Strait d I Gibraltar and the Mediterranean, Sink. \ ing of United Nations’ merchant ves-1 sels by German submarines recently \ has been extended to the South Allan. | tic. There can be little doubt that 3 German raiders have been able to re. | fuel at secret fuel stations on African! soil, possibly in one of Spain’s African I colonies. , I If Spanish authorities in Morocco! have permitted the Germans to carry I on their propaganda and spying on| Spanish soil, their intention not only! was to help the' Axis win the war,i They had political aims of their own! Like all nations who have set up il Fascist regime, Franco-Spain is "unll satisfied” with the present Mistributionji of colonial territories an® wishes towj extend its empire. Falangist paperii in Spain frequently declared that afteti the war the African continent had to | be redistributed and that Spain wai bound to receive an important sharei in. North Africa. | French Zone Sought | Tangier was only a small part of the I territories which Spain wants to addi to its empire. Spanish Fascists claim 1 1 that the entire French zone in Morocco! should be handed over to them. Since | the fall of France, Spain has been miM} tarily preparing in order to strike ati| the right moment and to invade thel French colonies in North Africa. 1 This is the main reason why the® Spanish Army in Morocco has been re. | inforced. Before the war, Spanisli forces in Morocco were composed d| 1683 officers, 30,400 men. and a milii tarised native police of 10,000 men. To | day, the Franco troops in this region! number between 120,000 and 150,001® men. They are crack troops, araoojfl them General Franco’s famous Moorisl | Corps, which is well equipped witli German-manufactured material. Sonsm units are mechanised. \ » The importance of Spain’s v jnilitaryH preparations in Morocco is stressed bjß. the fact that in 1939 two arp*%»piß commands were set up an® in Melilla. a?