FRANK MINISTER

Dominion, Volume 36, Issue 95, 16 January 1943, Page 5

FRANK MINISTER

Early French HouseCleaning CHANGES NEEDED (By Telegraph.—Press Assn—Copyright.) (Received January 15, 9.15 p.m.) LONDON, January 14. In the “frankest on record” discussion by an Allied official since the North African landing, Mr. Harold MacMillan, the British Minister in North Africa, expressed the belief that General Giraud is determined to reach an agreement with General de Gaulle. He said that an agreement was in sight which would result in the disappearance of many objectionable features of the present administration. The agreement between the two generals must and would result in certain house-cleanings, and it would lead to the establishment of a de facto provisional French administration to lead the French war effort. The attitude toward Jews must be changed, and the present attitude would never be acceptable to the British and American peoples. If the French were to be allowed to choose their own Government it was up to the Allied nations to create a situation where the national will could exert itself without interference from totalitarian parties. The Allied nations had made natural mistakes, which would bear study with a view to securing improvements for the invasion of Europe. These mistakes must be shared equally by the British and Americans. The British Minister of Information, Mr. Brendan Bracken, said that neither the British nor the United States Government was trying to oppose the meeting between Generals de Gaulle and Giraud. The opposite was the ease. He also said there was no truth in the suggestions that Britain was backing General de Gaulle as a. future leader of Frauce and that America was backing General Giraud. Britain had given power of attorney to General Eisenhower, and had every confidence in him. . Military Views.

The Washington correspondent of the “New York Times” says it is stated authoritatively that the British commanders in North Africa are m full accord with General Eisenhower s policies, politically and militarily, in spite of the views held in some political circles in London. Observers point out that social or political unrest in North Africa might imperil the military operations by hampering communications. General Eisenhowei prefers to finish the campaign before dealing with politics. . It is believed in well-informed circles in Washington, he says, that there is a desire in London to inject de Gaulle into the North African picture in some political capacity. It is freely admitted that politics cannot be treated as something apart from military operations, but it is believed that if a farreaching political shake-up occurred it would not be in the military interest. Fighting French quarters interpret the report that M. Marcel Peyrouton, the former Viehyite, is en route from Argentina to North Africa to take .an important post as another indication of the American State Departments intention to proceed without regard to de Gaulle.

NATIONAL MOVEMENT

Outline Given By French Communist (British Official Wireless.) (Received January 15, 7 p.m.) RUGBY, January 14. ' a former French Communist deputy, M. Grenier, who recently escaped from France, spoke in London today of France’s underground newspapers and sabotage and the reluctance of the French workers to go to work in Germany. After reaffirming the adhesion of the French Communist Party to the De Gaullist cause, M. Grenier, who for nine months was in a prison camp at Chateau Briand, said, “Theer is no longer any question of fair play between Germany and France. There has been too much blood shed; too many Frenchmen have been killed for us ever to forgive or forget.” The feeling in France was now clear and simple. People were either with Vichy or with General de Gaulle and the Allies for the resurrection of France.

M. Grenier for some time was in charge of the clandestine I’ress in France, and he said that this was now fully developed. The newspaper “Humanlte” was published every fortnight, and had now reached its 200th edition. There was a special underground paper for the trade unions called “Working Life,” and another, “Russia Today.” In addition, many pamphlets were published, and there was even a publication for prisoners in the German prisoner of war camps. Taking all the publications together, in 1942 6,000,000 documents were published. “When you consider,” said M. Grenier, “that it is illegal to get paper for such documents, and that their publication is punishable by death, you will realize what a great feat it has been.” “Limit of Resistance-” M. Grenier also mentioned the formation of a non-party French National Movement in France. All Frenchmen, he said, were agreed on the one fundamental point—driving the Boche out, of France.

Referring to sabotage, he said that this was organized not only in the big tank and lorry factories, but also in others such as factories making preserves. Many German officers and men on the Russian front had died because they had eaten preserves made in French factories. There were also organized bodies of franctireurs and partisans, who considered themselves as the vanguard on French soil of the French army which was now covering itself with glory in Africa. Railway engines were being sabotaged everywhere, and German troops were being ambushed everywhere.

The prestige which Marshal Retain might have iiad at the beginning had now disappeared, more particularly since the events in Africa, M. Grenier added. The wish of the great majority of Frenchmen was to free their country from the occupation, but the physical powers of resistance of the French had reached the extreme limit. Eighty per cent, of the school children in French working towns were threatened with tuberculosis. The French people desired that the french territory which was freed from Vichy or Germany should be placed under the control ot* General de Gaulle, and General Girand was considered to be the man to be entrusted with the reconstituted French armed forces. The French people could not understand why the Communist patriots who had been Imprisoned in North Africa had not been released.