More Treachery by Laval Exposed

Manawatu Times, Volume 66, Issue 123, 26 May 1941, Page 7

More Treachery by Laval Exposed

FAKED COMMUNIQUE LONDON, March 27. Another act of anti-British treachery by Laval has been exposed. This time in connection with the death of M. Jean Chiappe, the ex-Police Chief of j Paris, when he was flying to Syria as l Vichy’s High Commissioner designate, j Chiappe ’s air liner was reported to I have been shot down by a British 'fighter during a sea battle between the British and Italians in the Mediterranean on November 27. It was revealed that the phrase “by a British j fighter ’ ’ was inserted in the Vichy communique on Laval’s orders. Furthermore, there is evidence that the aeroplane was shot down by an Italian I fighter. j These revelations are made by a j special correspondent in Lisbon of j France, the organ of the Free French Forces in Britain. He has been investigating the tragedy for two months. He says that on November 28, the day after the affair, the Italian Ministry issued a communique at about 5 p.m. It was broadcast at 6 p.m. and was recorded by the “listening service” of a neutral Government. The communique admitted that patrols had attacked a big aircraft of a type not identified, which they believed was shot down. Subsequently the story was suppressed by the Rome censors. It appeared the following day in only one newspaper, La Stampa, of Turin. Meanwhile, in Vichy the only information received was: (1) An S.O.S. from the aeroplane picked up by Mar-seilles-Marignane radio; (2) discovery by the French destroyer Bison of an Air Force lifeboat floating in the sea. “Thereupon,” writes the correspondent, who has pieced the story together from interviews with officials, politicians and journalists, “the authorities in Vichy drafted a communique merely stating that the Air Force aeroplane had been shot down in the Mediterranean during an Anglo-Italian air figlit. “But this did not satisfy M. Laval then Vice-President and Minister for Foreign Affairs. M. Laval at once gave orders that the French communique should specify that the aeroplane was shot down by a British fighter. “There was no disobeying M. Laval. The words ‘by a British fighter * were added to the communique. Next day all the organs of totalitarian propaganda everywhere launched a fierce attack on Great Britain. ”