"PHANTOM FRENCHMEN"

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIII, Issue 134, 9 June 1942, Page 5

"PHANTOM FRENCHMEN"

ENEMY HURLED BACK AGAIN

(Rec. noon.) RUGBY, June 8. A graphic account of the fine resistance by the Free French at Bir Hacheim has^reached London from a Free French *war correspondent. "Spitting sand from their teeth and | shaking it from their hair. General jKoenig's lean, grim, unshaven ghosts have risen to the occasion once again and hurled back another heavy Axis assault at Bir Hacheim," he says. "The attack, preceded by artillery fire, was made with numerous tanks. ! "General Koenig's men are described as ghosts by Italian prisoners. 'We are beginning to believe Bir Hacheim is iheld by phantom Frenchmen; we cannot believe they are still alive after the terrific pounding we have been giving them in the last ten days,' one man said.

"As soon as the Axis armoured forces were sighted the alarm was flashed to every man. The French held their fire, and then, at a given signal, let them have it. The desert seemed to shudder at the concerted barking of their 75's, mingled with the staccato rattle of machine-guns. The German tanks stopped in their tracks or slewed round in circles, churning up sand like great jungle beasts in their death throes.

"On Sunday, for the fifth time, enemy officers advanced with the white flag and called upon General Koenig to surrender.. The French are beginning to find this sport a trifle monotonous, as they are running short of epithets with which to embellish their replies. However, they are running a sweepstake on the number of hours that elapse before the next surrender demand.

"The R.A.F. continues to give the greatest support to* the beleaguered French at Bir Hacheim."—B.O.W.