BEFORETHE BATTLE

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 281, 24 August 1944, Page 5

BEFORETHE BATTLE

Grim Paris People (By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright.) (Special Correspondent.) (Received August 23, 8.40 p.m.) LONDON, August 23. All eyes are on Paris, Its liberation will be the occasion for general rejoicing, in spite of the fact that its capture from the Germans may be incidental to the present campaign. It will be the second European capital to be freed from Nazi domination, and when it comes again under the control of its own people it will be a symbol as well as a prize. Paris has suffered bitterly under the German rule, and it is realized that, there will be a big problem for the Allies in administration and supply. The Germans have dealt harshly with the Parisians, but they failed to break the spirit of the people. The Fighting French headquarters in London state that at a conservative estimate 18,000 Parisians have been put against a wall and shot in the last four xears. Of them 6000 are buried in a single cemetery at Thiais, in the outskirts of Paris. There have also been mass deportations of Parisians numbering 349,000, who are now in German slave camps, while 30,000 more are political prisoners. It is small wonder that there has been appearing all over Paris since the invasion the statement; “Mark down your Boche in advance—there will not be enough to go round on the day.” The Parisians are not well armed, because it has been difficult to smuggle in supplies through the German military control and impossible to drop supplies from the air as to the Maquis. But Paris has been a centre of resistance, producing the first of the secret newspapers, of which there are now 80 in France. Typical of its spirit was a procession one day of Sorbonne students, who carried out their march in silence. They were led by two young men carrying a pole each. Later the Germans realized it was a hostile demonstration, the two poles (deux gaules) symbolizing de Gaulle. Shabbier and Tougher. There have been many speculations as to what Paris will be like when liberated, and it is pointed out that, like London, it is probably a shabbier and tougher place. All its big hotels were taken over when the Germans arrived and many of them used as barracks and offices; some of the places of entertainment remained open, but the newspapers were “directed.” The opinion lias been expressed that the Allied soldiers will not find the people particularly gay, and beneath their great welcome will be bitterness, tiredness and recrimination. It is believed that long lists of collaborators have been drawn up months ago, and that the reckonings -will be swift. D. W. Brogan, writing in the “Evening Standard,” expresses the opinion that when the German collapse in Paris comes there will be perhaps two underground movements, and immense, dammed-up floods of resentment and passion. “What Burke called ‘the old Parisian fury’ may burst out,” he says. The Parisians are sure to be excited, inflammable and angry. “That there will be fighting,” he adds, “is not unlikely; gangsters like those enrolled by Darnand in his militia, the French wing of the Gestapo. or Doriot’s musclemen, or the thugs employed even before the war by that imitator of the stormtroopers, Bucard —these men know their lives are forfeit, and they will die hard if they do not get away in time to take nart in the last spasms of the Third Reich.” From the point of view of the. Allies there will be the problem of feeding the city and supplying its necessities, and it is expected that similar organizations will be established as in Naples and. Rome to this end.

FOOD STOCKS WAITING

LONDON, August 22. A supreme headquarters official stated that huge stocks of food, medicine, and clothing are waiting in Normandy for the relief of Paris as soon as the Germans are ousted. It is estimated that 70,000 tons of food a month must be moved into Paris to feed the population.