SECRET FRENCH ARMY

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 5, 8 January 1944, Page 5

SECRET FRENCH ARMY

READY TO HELP INVASION

Rec. 11 a.m. LONDON, January 7. French refugees report that a secret French army known as the Macquis plans vengeance against traitors and quislings and all who have collaborated with the~ Nazis. French "girl friends" of German soldiers have been executed without mercy by special squads of the Macquis who are stated to be highly organised and ready to help Allied invasion. In the Haute Savoie region of south-eastern France the Macquis receives arms, supplies, and money by parachutes dropped by British airmen. Instructors, drawn mainly from the old French army, train recruits in guerrilla fighting. Speaking over Paris radio, Marcel Deat, the French Nazi sympathiser, said that Allied invasion was inevitable, and this, coupled with the state of terrorism in France, necessitated strong government. "We must dismiss all in the administration and others in leading positions who are still pro-Allied and hampering the Government's programme," he said. "We must arm the police effectively to deal with terrorists. The Courts must cease passing light sentences on bandits. We have a strong Government, and all we need is a united front to meet an Allied landing in France."