TENSE FRANCE

Dominion, Volume 34, Issue 285, 29 August 1941, Page 7

TENSE FRANCE

Bullets Critically Wound Laval WRECKERS’ SIGNAL

(By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright.)

(Received August 28, 9 p.m.) LONDON, August 27. M. Laval, the pro-Nazi ex-Premier of France, was shot at and wounded in Versailles today. Another prominent pro-Nazi, M. Marcel Deat, and a member of the French Fascist Party were also wounded. After conflicting messages concerning the results of the shooting, the latest report states that MM. Laval and Deat are both in a grave condition. The Vichy correspondent of the Associated Press of Great Britain states that doctors said that it would be several days before they would be able to determine whether M. Laval would recover. It is stated that he was hit four times, and his most serious wounds are in the throat and just above the heart. German military surgeons operated on the two victims. The assailant, a young man who was arrested, is claimed to have joined the “Anti-Bolshevist Legion” for the purpose of . the shooting. The reports of serious unrest and tension in occupied France are confirmed by several messages today. Raids and arrests are also reported in Vichy. The latest heavily-censored Vichy reports indicate that the shootings have signalled a new outbreak of wrecking and sabotage throughout France. . New measures announced in Vichy’s empire policy, specifically concerning the French African military commands, are described by the “Daily Telegraph’s” correspondent, Mr. Wareing, as a triumph for Admiral Darlan under his policy of collaboration with Berlin. The Minister of War, General Huntziger, has been sent to French North Africa to command the French troops there. General Weygand, who is thus replaced, retains the much less important position of Delegate-General for French Africa. There are several other changes which are also regarded as significant.

A Vichy message states that the French and German authorities are hunting for British parachutists who are blamed for sabotage. The military court in Marseilles sentenced two men, alleged to be of British origin, to 20 years’ servitude for attempting to recruit Frenchmen for the de Gaulle forces. The “Daily Express,” in a leading article, says: “Liberty is not dead in France. The shooting of Laval is an attempt to avenge the crimes this man has committed against liberty. France lives under the heel of the conqueror, but those who link up with the .conqueror are in danger. No German jackboot can save Laval and his liver.” [An earlier report stated that one of the bullets entered Laval’s liver.] The “Daily Mail” says: “The shooting of Laval and Deat is a momentous sign of the French people’s real state of mind. These two are Hitler’s Quislings of the foulest type. They are hated, so they were shot. The Germans will inflict cruel punishment for this assault on their hirelings, but they will never crush the reviving spirit of a great people.”

Manner of Shooting. MM. Laval and Deat, it is stated, were both recently warned that their lives were in danger, but they refused police protection; however, Deat later accepted because of his wife’s insistence.

The shooting in Versailles occurred when Laval and other prominent French and German officials were attending the formal raising of the French colours over the barracks of Borgnis des Bordes on the occasion of the mobilization of the volunteers to fight against the Soviet Union. The assailant, reportedly a member of a Communist youth organization, and named Collette, stepped in front and aimed his shots. Laval and Deat were seated together.

Major Durvy, a member of the French Fascist Party, was also wounded but net seriously.

Suspicions Widened. Physicians stated that Laval’s condition was grave, but Laval telephoned his wife tonight and said that the bullets had been successfully removed, and added, “I will recover.” Later his condition was . again reported grave. Collette, who is aged about 20 years, was mauled by hundreds of men before he was dragged to the Versailles Prison. Nearly 20 persons, described as Communists, were taken in charge. High German officers were present at the ceremony. The Vichy envoy in Paris, Count de Brinon, said that the shooting of M. Laval was part of a vast plot, which was to include a series of assassinations by Communists. The assailant is said to have been grilled at police headquarters for five hours. Enrolment in the legion has stopped.

An investigation has started to discover whether the Communists have honeycombed the volunteer organization with their own. men.

Position “Dramatically Acute.” Referring to the unrest in occupied Prance, the Swiss newspaper “National Zeitung” states: “The situation has grown dramatically acute in the past few weeks. The anti-German demonstrations, which the occupying authorities call Communist, mass arrests of thousands of alleged Communists, sabotage of railways, establishment of special tribunals by the Vichy Government, and threats to shoot hostages in the event of fresh sabotage, are all evidence of the high degree of the tension, -which is now the central problem in French internal politics.” The newspaper declares that Com munists have built up a well-eamou-flaged organization, the nucleus of which is untouched by the police in spite of the recent arrest of 7000 Communists and foreign Jews. “Practically all the supporters of national resistance in occupied France, or those who oppose victorious power, are regarded as Communists,” it comments. Referring to the German threat to shoot hostages, the newspaper says that the Germans have adopted such methods under the pressure of necessity, indirectly revealing that they have little hope left of creating really friendly relations between the two peoples. Readiness to collaborate with Germany is restricted to the small upper class. Promise to Parliament. “The Times” correspondent on the French frontier says that the tension in France seems to have increased in the past few days with the increasing arrests of de Gaulleists and so-called Communists. The unrest is ascribed first to a conviction that Marshal Petain has handed over full powers to Admiral Darian, secondly to the increasing currency inflation, thirdly to the lack of food, with the continuous growth of the black markets, and fourthly to the recent bloody incidents in Paris, for which the German occupiers have taken drastic reprisals. The French Parliament, through M. Herriot as President of the Chamber of Deputies, and M. Jeanne Ney as President of the Senate, lias sent written protests to the Government against the order to leave Vichy. Both Chambers have received from Admiral Darlan a denial that the Government

intends to violate the Constitution regarding Parliament or to repress Parliament.

Vichy reports that SOO persons described as Communists face summary trial by a. special Court after a police raid on the Vichy working-class district.

“Way Opened” in Africa.

It is learned in Vichy that in addition to the replacing of General Weygand in Africa, the following other changes are made: — General Audet, commander-in-chief in Tunisia, has been recalled to the command at Toulouse. General de Tassigny succeeds General Audet. General Koeltz becomes commander at Algiers and General Juin commander-in-chief in Morocco, succeeding General Nogues, who remains as Resident-General.

The “Daily Telegraph’s” correspondent, Mr. Wareing, says that General Huntziger’s appointment places General Weygand under Huntziger and removes from Vichy one of the chief opponents of Darlan’s policy. Generals Weygand and Nogues remain in North Africa, but they have titles without power and will be obliged to look on impotently at any measures of collaboration Admiral Darlan and the Germans decide on. The foreign editor of the “Daily Express” says that General Weygand had refused to admit Germans to French Africa in force, for which reason Admiral Darlan has appointed someone who will. General Huntziger will be immediately in charge of the troops. General Audet at Tunisia had also kept too sharp an eye on the Sicilian Channel, for which reason Admiral Darlan has substituted the more subservient de Tassigny. Juin and Koeltz are nonentities, on whom Admiral Darlan can depend. “Thus the whole military field in French North Africa has been cleared for German action at any time,” the writer says. Mailing Planes for Nazis. The Free French headquarters in London have received information of a vast programme for a resumption of the French aircraf t industry, which presumably will be part of Vichy’s collaboration with the Reich. The programme will include constructions costing 15,000 million francs, and French and German of aircraft will be built. Preparations are being made for the manufacture of machinery and study of plans. The programme should enter into the production stage toward the end of this year, and the first delivery is due in March, 1942. The aeroplane factories may start work in both the occupied and unoccupied territory. A certain percentage of the planes will go to the French air force.