CONDITIONS IN FRANCE

Press, Volume LXXIX, Issue 23974, 15 June 1943, Page 4

CONDITIONS IN FRANCE

NEUTRAL TRAVELLER’S ACCOUNT LONDON, May 2. A picture of how people in France are living and what they are thinking has been given me by a French-speak-ing neutral who arrived recently in London, writes E. B. Wareing, former chief of the Paris staff of the “Daily Telegraph.” He had spent a considerable time in the former unoccupied zone, and travelled widely throughout France, including areas bombed by the Royal Air Force. There is in France no such thing as public opinion as it is understood in free countries. Informers lurk everywhere. Nevertheless, below the surface certain general ideas have crystallised. Practically every Frenchman whom my informant encountered this year expected the war to be over before next winter. July was “lipped” as the most likely month for liberation. Damage done by Allied bombs dropped outside a target area is immediately exploited by the Germans. Photographers and radio interviewers are sent to the spot, and every effort is made to play on the feelings of the survivors.

“But,” my informant added, “to all intents and purposes the propaganda battle is over. Those Frenchmen who stood by you during the Libyan retreat and the Russian reverses will certainly not, desert you now.” Agreement between General de Gaulle and General Giraud would bring together, he considered, sections in France which now favour one or the other. In army and former army circles there was much support for General Giraud. Among the ordinary people General de Gaulle was already established as a national hero.

The main preoccupation of the French people is with the material conditions of existence—how to get their next meal, and keep out of trouble with the police. Food is not only short on the basis of the official rations, but the rations themselves often cannot be obtained. Practically no food and no restaurant meals whatever can be obtained without coupons. There is a thriving trade in false coupons, which, though relatively cheap, produce, when sold in large quantities, big fortunes for profiteers. The black market is accessible only to those who have plenty of money. The position is becoming gradually worse since secret stocks of food are almost exhausted. The townspeople make periodic trips to the country, where they know or are recommended to farmers. They take with them such manufactured articles as thev can obtain or have hidden away, in exchange they bring packages back by train or on bicycles and try to evade police watchers waiting to confiscate the food.