NO SUBMISSION

Evening Post, Volume CXXIX, Issue 139, 13 June 1940, Page 9

NO SUBMISSION

SPIRIT OF PARIS

CITY NOW A FORTRESS

NAZIS DRAW NEAR

EXAMPLE FROM HISTORY

(Bj Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright. I LONDON, June 12. German aircraft are bombing the Paris area and the Allies are striking back at convoys, communications, and troop concentrations. A message received in London at 12.15 p.m. reported fighting 26 miles north of Paris. The Military Governor of Paris, General Hering, in an interview, declared: "The defence of Paris does not constitute an isolated operation, but remains within the joint strategical framework of the French armies."

News from Paris is very sparse. The last messages received early last evening said that the city was threequarters deserted, with all the stations closed and no trains running. The sound of bombs to the south-east merged with the rumble of guns to the north as the vast caravan of civilians leaving the city continued southward. The latest request from the military governor, which was for all unmobilised Frenchmen over 17 years of age to depart, gave a further impetus to the evacuation. Paris was rapidly and steadily being transformed into a fortress, and every village between it and the enemy had become a 'stronghold. The banks which were removed from Paris are operating normally elsewhere. The civilian Parisians who remain were reported during yesterday to be j going about their business calmly. Shops were open and even jewellery was still being displayed in windows. It was not a panic flight but an orderly evacuation of those who have not got key positions. The last issue of "Le Matin" yesterday struck an inspiring note: "Two thousand years ago bridges were blown up in the suburbs and set on fire in order to halt an enemy, so it will be seen again that there is nothing neAV under the sun," it stated. "Paris remains unsubdued. Paris never submits." The two German drives towards the west and east of Paris are obviously with the aim of encircling the capital. There can be no doubt that the fate of Paris is in the balance. Only civilians engaged in essential services remain there, and the roads to the south are crowded with great numbers of those who have left on foot and in vehicles. It is authoritatively stated in London that the situation on the Western Front is extremely difficult.