Underground Work Against The Germans: Countess' Dual Hole

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 22914, 5 April 1949, Page 3

Underground Work Against The Germans: Countess ' Dual Hole

(P.A.) AUCKLAND, April 5. For Countess Le Gualez de Mezaudran life before 1939 was a matter of racehorses and travel- With the lightning fall of France her role changed to one that was a matter life and death—as Mayor of the town of Richardis she led several thousand men in underground work against the Germans-

“Now I am back to racehorses and travel, but at the same time I want to tell people about France and the French,” she said, when she arrived at Whcnuapai by air from America this morning. It was obvious that her love for racing dominates her. Her sporty gold-buttoned blue jacket carried a silver stirrup and the gold-braided pocket design of a horse-shoe and a horse’s head. Added to that, the countcss “will not miss the Ellerslie races lor pounds.”

“In a month’s visit she wants to see as many stud farms as possible, go to race meetings, and give talks about France.

“People don’t realise the huge amount of work done by the resistance workers when the British and American armies came into France,” she said.

"Hundreds of bridges were blown up behind the German lines, leaving the German army in a net.” “What was her own part in the resistance? Under the guise of Mayor of her home town, Eichardis in Brittany, she was chief of several thousand underground men and women.

"I am very lucky because the Germans never caught me,” the countess said. “We gave them a good run for their money.” She was nearly shot three times. - Now that the war is over she thinks that greater international harmony could be achieved if the people of countries like America and the Continent got to know and understand each other better.

“France will go with Britain and America in everything,” she added. “The ‘lron Curtain’ is a reality; the French learn nothing about Russia. France is not Communist and cannot be because everybody has a home and a garden.”