FRANCE AND GERMANY

Greymouth Evening Star, 26 October 1944, Page 5

FRANCE AND GERMANY

DE GAULLE’S STATEMENT

OCCUPATION ARMY (Rec. 10.55) LONDON, October 25. “It is inconceivable that the occupation of Germany could be settled without France,” declared General de Gaulle addressing a Press conference at Paris. He added: French troops will occupy German territory they capture, but there have not yet been conversations on this question with the Allies.. The Allies will probably have to fight a long, hard campaign on German soil this Winter. We now face a continuous German front powerfully defended with its strength increasing daily. Some 70,000 Germans are still holding out in Western France with the badly-armed French Forces of the Interior bearing the main brunt of containing them. France desires to play an increasingly large part militarily in the war against Germany and also a bigger part politically in international affairs, including the settlement of the German problem. ~ ~ General de Gaulle said the Germans left French agriculture relatively undisturbed and, superficially, France appeared to have suffered less from the occupation than was anticipated. Industrially, however, the situation was very bad. Many industries had been completely drained by the Germans and reserve stocks and many machines had been removed. The French wanted democratic institutions and would not accept dietatorship from any side or organisation The French understood perfectly the extent of the disaster which had overtaken them and they knew that they themselves were partly responsible for that disaster. Referring to the Army, General de Gaulle said that in five to six months the members of the French Forces of the Interior would make an impressive army, integrated into the regulai Army. About 52,000 members of the French Forces of the Interior were already with General de Lattre s army in Lorraine. He had seen these men three days ago The Government was having no difficulty in. re cruiting volunteers for an expeditionary corps for Indo-Chma, which would be ready when the opportunity occurred. GOLD STOCKS (Rec. 9.35 a.m.fLONDON, Oct. 25. k Commenting on French finances, the “Manchester Guardian states. The Bank of France is said to have at least six hundred millions worth oi gold and dollar balances which have been held abroad Throughout the period of the German occupation. Part of the gold has been in V est Africa, and another in Martinique, but large funds were deposited by the bank in the United States. So far as is known no substantial assets are held in Britain. Now that the Fiench Provisional Government is recognised, it is taken for granted that Washington will release two hundred and fifty million sterling or so of French assets, owned either by the Central Bank or private persons, which have ben locked there since 1940. France can now make free use of the large hoard of gold dollars—probably larger than Britain’s —to place contracts for all materials that must be brought in for the physical reconstruction of the country.

NEWSPAPER MAN CONDEMNED

LONDON, October 24

Georges Suarez, managing director of the newspaper “Aujourd’hui,” was condemned to death at the Paris Assize Court on Monday. He is the first of the accused in the collaborationist trials, says Reuter’s correspondent in Paris. Suarez took over “Aujourd’hui” after the editor, M. Henri Jeanson, had refused to carry on because of German attempts to dominate the paper’s policy. The indictment asserted that Otto Abetz, the German Ambassador to Paris, gave Suarez control of “Aujourd’hui,” and that Suarez wrote articles urging complete collaboration with Hitler. ' x- • . Under the Judges questioning Suarez admitted that he advocated that British and American subjects in France, besides French Jews, should be seized as hostages and shot if the Allied bombing was continued. When accused of admiring Germany, Suarez answered: “So dia Lloyd George and Austen ChambeilaiThe trials of French collaborators will continue all this week. Members of the Petain Militia and of the Legion of French Volunteers (Frenchmen who volunteered to fight against Russia) will appear.. Feeling in Paris is particularly high against the militiamen, who are considered to have been more cruel than the Gestapo, with which they collaborated.