100,000 NAZIS HOLD

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 21633, 9 February 1945, Page 3

100,000 NAZIS HOLD

FRENCH COAST PORTS DESIRE TO STAY ALIVE .LONDON, Feb. 7. Nearly 100,000 Germans who are holding out in the French Atlantic ports want to keep alive until Germany is defeated and then return to the Reich as heroes, according to an American major who participated" in the truce talks at Saint Nazairc, says Reuter’s correspondent at Supreme Allied Headquarters. The major added: “They try to be friendly and seem very hurt when we shell them. One Luftwaffe lieutenant asked me to bring him some swing records next time we held a parley. A Wehrmacht captain wanted to install a telephone line between the German office at Saint Nazaire and the Allied office at Nantes, so that he could have a chat with the French and American commanders when truce problems arose and he was very hurt when we rejected the idea.” The major said the Allies did not require the ports. The Germans were isolated and harmless, but the French and American troops were determined to kill as many as possible of the would-be heroes for which reason they had concentrated on a harassing anti-personnel fire. “We pin-pointed the main cinema at Lorient and laid down concentrations five minutes before and after the showing time of the big picture in order to catch crowds in the streets,” he said. “That forced them to install projectors in bunkers, where only 50 could see a show at one time. They complained about that, too.” About six boats monthly have been seen entering Lorient harbour, presumably bringing supplies. The Germans said that submarines brought fresh fruit.