BOMBS ON PARIS?

Evening Post, Volume CXXXI, Issue 119, 22 May 1941, Page 8

BOMBS ON PARIS?

DECISION EXPECTED

FORCING REALITY ON VICHY

"HIT HARD & OFTEN"

A decision is expected at any moment by the British War Cabinet as to whether the Royal Air Force shall bomb the immense war factories around Paris, states a cable message sent on Sunday to the Sydney "Sun" by its London correspondent, Mr. Gordon Gilmour. These factories are making guns, tanks, planes, and subma-

rine parts for Germany,

Now that the Vichy Government, has openly surrendered its Syrian aerodromes for German use against Imperial troops in the Middle East, it becomes the instant duty of Britain to consider whether innocent French civilians are to be sacrified for their leaders' treachery.

Paris was bombed only once in the war, and some authorities believe that the French Government of that time quit fighting rather than risk its destruction. Military experts are urging Britain not to be swayed by considerations of the "correct thing," but to hit Germany hard and often wherever she may find or even seek a footing.

To date, the British War Cabinet has authorised bombing only of those places in occupied France, Belgium, and Holland where German activities have immediately threatened Britain, either by air or invasion, or by attacks on her shipping. No count is possible of French, Dutch, and Belgian casualties caused in the frequent bombings of Dunkirk, Calais, Boulogne. Brest, Lorient, Ostend, and Rotterdam, but in spite of the known accuracy of the R.A.F. and its concentration on given targets, such casualties must have been considerable. EVIDENCE OF NERVES. Although the French people well understand our action in bombing the coastal areas, there is nervousness, as apparent in the utterances of the Vichy Government, lest Britain should now tardily regard France as a hostile country and take vigorous action .m Syria. North Africa, Dakar, and occupied and unoccupied France, Examples of this nervousness are French statements that "Vichy does not consider the British bombing of German planes on Syrian <aerodromes as aggression" and "Vichy does not wish to attack Britain." Vichy also asserts that it will not. permit the Germans to occupy Dakar. In addition to the genuine nervousness displayed, such pronouncements are Nazi-inspired. Hitler is anxious not to precipitate United States entry into the war, and he is aware that President Roosevelt is determined to prevent the sinking of American arms-laden ships. How far such bombing would tend to arouse French hatred against the invader is unpredictable. It might eventually provoke a degree of disorganisation and stimulate and harden anti-German feeling in occupied France, especially if the reason for the bombing were widely disseminated beforehand by leaflets and broadcasts; but at present the French populace is numbed and blinded to realities. - WHAT SOLDIERS SAY. However, as Major-General Sir Ernest Swinton declares in the "Empire News," "these factories can no longer be spared for the sake of Paris. They are producing submarines, tanks, aeroplanes, and other weapons which will be used to kill our people, "We must not waste time parleying but must warn Vichy and carry on as common sense dictates. The need is desperate and urgent." Field-Marshal Lord Milne, in the "Sunday Chronicle," and MajorGeneral Sir John Duncan, in the "Sunday Graphic," are among others demanding immediate and comprehensive action to prevent the Germans swooping down on Egypt. Lord Milne says: "It is a strong point in our favour that the whqle Arabian, indeed the Mohammedan world, has disclaimed the usurper, Rashid Ali, and the situation in Irak is slowly turning' to our advantage. , "Early reports indicate that German armoured vehicles have already landed in Syria. If the Germans also seize French tanks and armoured vehicles they might be able to build up a formidable mechanised unit without too much reliance on air-borne vehicles." "LET THE CLASH COME." Sir John Duncan insists: "We have left the initiative too often to the enemy, in our endeavour to do the right thing. "Something energetic must be done to make the French realise that they cannot treat Britain in the way that Petain and Darlan contemplate. Let the clash come now before the Germans are able to establish themselves in Syria.

"If we moved on Syria it is doubtful whether we would be strongly opposed. The French army there has been reduced to 60,000. The remainder has been demobilised and repatriated.

"Most of those in Syria are indifferent colonial troops, whose morale has diminished. Being far removed from the German menace, they would more likely look upon us as deliverers than as enemies.

"We can always assure them that Syria will eventually be returned to France, and that the reason for our entry is to prevent the country falling into the hands of the common enemy."