LORRAINE ANNEXED

Greymouth Evening Star, 2 December 1940, Page 8

LORRAINE ANNEXED

GERMAN DRASTIC ACTION ALL FRENCH TO QUIT ' • - . — . ■ ... < [BY CABLE.—PRESS ASSN.—COPYRIGHT.] LONDON, December 1. Germany is now annexing the province of Lorraine from France, and the French population is being evacuated. This is in flagrant violation of the terms of the armistice under which France laid down her arms. There is nd evidence that the annexation was preceded by any form of aggrement, though there have been rumours of a secret deal between M. Laval and the Nazis. It is said that now the western frontier of Germany is settled once and for all. These are the words of Herr Josef Buerckel, the newly-ap-pointed German administrator of the area. He also said that only Germans could live in German frontier areas, and that the old struggle for the Rhine was ended. Yesterday Marshal Petain appealed to the French people to extend their charity to the men, women and children, who were forced to leave their ancestral homes in Lorraine.

(Received December 2, 10.50 a.m.) LONDON, December 1. The incorporation of Lorraine in the German Reich was formally declared on November 30. The Nazis say that it will be renamed. M. CHIAPPE’S DEATH. VICHY, November 30. It is officially confirmed that the aeroplane carrying M. Chiappe to Syria to take up the post of High Commissioner of Syria and Lebanon, was lost on November 27 with all occupants. A British fighter machinegunned it during the British and Italian naval engagement midway between Sardinia and the African coast. The aeroplane was an Air France liner of the Farman type. It sent out an SOS at 12.6 p.m., saying that it had been hit and was on fire. Air and sea searches were fruitless. Pieces of wreckage, including an apparently unused lifeboat marked Air France, were later recovered. There was another passenger in the aeroplane besides M. Chiappe. FREE FRENCH STRENGTH. RUGBY, November 30. General de Gaulle, broadcasting, said: “We now have 35,000 trained troops under arms, 20 warships in service, a thousand airmen, and sixty merchantmen at sea, and are also increasing our financial resources, newspapers, and radio stations.

ENGLISHWOMEN ARRESTED TWO SENTENCED TO DEATH. LONDON, November 30. It is authoritatively stated that the British Government is aware that the Germans have sentenced to death an Englishwoman, Winifred Harle, the proprietress of a secretarial establishment in Paris. It is believed that she was accused of listening to 8.8. C. broadcasts, and also of distributing copies of them. The American authorities persuaded Berlin to reconsider her case. There is no information about Florence Frickard, who also is reported to have been sentenced to death at Paris. Another Englishwoman, May James, has’ been arrested in Paris. She has been in a military prison for about a fortnight. It is believed she is accused of espionage and of the illegal possession of a wireless transmitter.