All Corsica Now In Hands Of Allies

Northern Advocate, 27 September 1943, Page 3

All Corsica Now In Hands Of Allies

(Rec. 1.30 p.m.) LONDON. Sept. 26

Palermo radio quoted a report that all Corsica is now in Allied hands.

Bastia, in Northern Corsica, has been taken states a communique from French headquarters.

Another dispute between General de Gaulle and General Giraud has developed over Corsica. The “Daily Telegraph’s” Algiers correspondent says the trouble began when de Gaulle walked out of a meeting of the French Liberation Committee as a protest against Giraud’s sending a military governor to Corsica, namely General Mollard, without consulting the Committee.

At a subsequent meting de Gaulle proposed that Giraud should cease to be a member.

One report quotes de Gaulle as yelling at Giraud: “You stole my Corsica.”

The issue is whether Giraud, as Com-mander-in-Chief of French forces under General Eisenhower’s supreme command, was within his rights in sending a military governor with the troops. It is understood that the majority of the committee hold he ought to have sought its consent before doing so. U.S. Recognition The political significance of the Lend-Lease agreement signed by the United States and the French Committee for National Liberation is pointed out by the Algier’s correspondent of the “New York Times.” Economically it merely formalises the states of affairs existing since November, 1942, but politically it provides a great stimulant for French morale which has suffered:

(1) By the limited, recognition extended by Britain and America. (2) By the committee’s non-inclu-sion in. the armistice negotiations with Italy. Through this agreement the United States effectively raised Free France to a status of a member of the United Nations.

Germans Pushed Back

A French communique quoted by a correspondent in Algiers states: “An increasing number of French troops have landed in Corsica and, in close co-operation with patriots, are overcoming the pressure of German troops who have now been pushed back towards the north-eastern part of the island.

“The combined activity of Allied bombers and naval forces is rendering evacuation most precarious. A sharp engagement took place on the eastern part of the St. Lorient region where ,the Germans were repulsed. “Enemy aircraft scattered bombs in the Ajaccio district, causing no damage. French fighters shot down two.” Allied troops are within 12 miles of Bastia, important port in northern Corsica, states Algiers radio.