PARIS NO REFUGE

Evening Post, Volume CXXX, Issue 27, 31 July 1940, Page 8

PARIS NO REFUGE

THE GERMAN ADVANCE

EXILES FROM BELGIUM

TWO REACH ENGLAND

(From "The Post's" Representative.)

LONDON, June 21

Among recent arrivals from the Continent are Mr. and Mrs. R. F. Conrad (nee Maisie Cronin, of Wellington and Palmerston North). They were living in Brussels when that country was handed over to Germany by its King. A hurried exit was necessary and Paris was decided upon as a place of refuge... In Brussels, where they had lived for some years, Mr. Conrad, who is a journalist of considerable experience, owned a film journal. When evacuation became so suddenly urgent they packed up two suitcases each and turned the key in the door of their flat. Everything they possessed was necessarily left behind. The journey by rail to Paris was not very difficult for it occupied only about 'eighteen hours. In Paris for four weeks, Mr. Conrad resumed journalistic work. Then came the bombing of that city and the German invasion. This was a terrible surprise. Panic-stricken people left Paris hurriedly, not knowing at all what was to be their goal. On the roads many of them met death as they were machine-gunned by the Germans or run down by German mechanised units. Paris quickly became deserted: shops and businesses of every description ceased to exist, and there was scarcely a restaurant where food could be obtained. In any case, there had" been a severe shortage of food for some time. DISAPPOINTMENT. Mr. and Mrs. Conrad hoped, with 45 other English people, to be able to get away by a train from the Gare Mont Parnasse, and their spirits rose at the prospect, only to be damped in the space of an hour, however, for the railway agency in the centre of Paris was taken over by America from the French. It was announced that no train would be going. Many decided to walk —whither they knew not. Their one desire was to get out of Paris before the German occupation, and they tried to move southward. Their fate is unknown. Mr. and Mrs. Conrad later found a train. They made for it, each with one suitcase. The limited baggage with which they left Brussels had to be reduced by half. TRAIN A TARGET FOR BOMBS. That journey was a nightmare, for the train was bombed by German planes which continually appeared as if from, nowhere, out of cloud banks or from behind a forest of trees. Passengers in the train were killed and many were injured. Mr. and Mrs. Conrad lay on the floor with the suitcases for some protection. The slow-travelling train had many stops and in the open Chartres-Le Mans country it was always a target for bombers. While it was at a standstill, German bombers and machinegunners got busy again. Passengers fled from the carriages to seek the shel- ! ter of some woods. Mr. and Mrs. Conrad, forced themselves underneath the train, and lay side by side on the permanent way, smothered by dust and dirt released under the train by the concussion of the bombs. As they lay there, with clothes torn, the bullets from enemy machine-guns peppered the field all round the track. The enemy attack from the air was viciously continued. The driver of the train disappeared. PASSAGE ON TROOPSHIP. Presently Mr. " Conrad saw three French machines appearing and the Germans flew off. While Mrs. Conrad was still lying on the permanent way the train began to move. With great difficulty her husband managed to drag her out and lift her into a compartment of the slowly-moving train. For 48 hours they had no food, there was not even water to drink, and sleep was out of the question. On arrival at Rennes they got another, tram to St. i Malo and there they had the good j luck'to be taken on a troopship that was coming to England. The hazard- j ous journey from Paris lasted four days. Mr. Conrad had in his possession 1500 francs, which, by then, were not negotiable. _ Mr. Conrad speaks seriously of the food position in France and of its outlook. Everything is very expensive. He anticipates a famine. He and his wife have lived on the Continent for 16 years, in Berlin as well as in Brussels and Paris. _^___