GRIM PICTURE

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 102, 2 May 1944, Page 5

GRIM PICTURE

CONDITIONS IN FRANCE

Health situation critical Rec. 12.30 p.m. RUGBY, May 1,

Vr. D'Astier, French Commissioner of the Interior, gave a grim picture of conditions in France today, says an Algiers correspondent.

The food position had been greatly aggravated in recent months, he said. The 2400 calories per person.which is necessary for health had been reduced to 1000 calories. The meat ration last month was 175 grammes. The health situation, he said, was becoming critical. Ten to 20 per cent, of the people sent to the health centre at Clermont-Ferrand suffered from intestinal tuberculosis, 40 per cent, from pulmonary tuberculosis, and 5 per cent, from tuberculosis of the kidneys. In the last three months, with the complicity of the Vichy puppets, 77 billions of francs in new currency have been printed, and this takes no account of requisitioning which the Germans pay for in drafts. Since the beginning of the occupation 750 billion francs have been paid to the Germans, 854 million being paid daily. OPERATIONS AGAINST MAQUIS. M. Venot, French diplomatic delegate in London, stated today that two months ago the Germans started largescale operations against the men of the Maquis, the French rebel organisation. In the Jura Mountains, near the Swiss border, 20,000 German soldiers started <m attack oh April 22. According to messages so far received, 500 Germans have been killed and 600 wounded. Generally speaking, the German losses were higher, in these operations than those of the Maquis, but the Germans had considerable success in destroying part of the Maquis j movement. . ■ Altogether at least 80,000 Frenchmen have been killed by the Gestapo, arid 312,000 interned. The new drive for labour has failed! Last January Laval promised to mobilise 300,000 youths by April 1 to help the Germans in building fortifications. Only 500 . were found for that purpose. One means of frustrating Laval's design was the theft of posters calling up an entire class. Many are joining the Maquis to evade service or to escape working for the Germans.—B.O.W.