Sabotage Crippling Huns In S. France

Northern Advocate, 28 June 1944, Page 2

Sabotage Crippling Huns In S. France

(8.0. W. 1.15 p.m.) RUGBY, June 27. Sabotage is on the increase in southern France where the Germans fear an Allied landing, states authoritative French sources in London. Damage to railway lines is so widespread in that part of France that the Germans are unable to deal with all oi it. and only priority lines are being repaired. Among the latest operations carried out by French forces of the interior in tiie south which can be specifically mentioned are: Two railway tunnels near Bedarieux. in Hersault Department on the Mediterranean coast, seriously damaged, overhead power cables between Bedarieux and Narbonne cut for a distance of over 400 yards. Further west at Vaison, north of the mouth of the River Rhone, in a clash between Germans nnr Maquis, forces of Maquis killed 150 Germans and tock 50 prisoners before being forced to retire. Maquis losses were six men. As a reprisal the Germans shot 18 men at Vaison.

The railway line running between Culoz and Amberieux, a vital link in Communication between Kesselring’s and Rundstedt's forces has been damaged so often that the Germans, through lack of rails, had to convert it into a single track.

A French Lidice?

The same source says tlcslrucion of an entire French village by way of reprisal has been reported.

It was Oradour sur GHane, 45 miles north-west of Limoges, which was

razed by the Germans on June 10, four days after D Day. The

scattered population were mach-ine-gunned and the 1200 inhabi-

tants were killed or had to run for their lives.

Sabotage by French forces of the interior lias so disorganised railway traffic between Paris and the Swiss frontier that it is now making detours via Brussels, says a French Provisional Government communique.

Locks have been blown up in a canal linking the Rhine and the Rhone. The enemy is dispersing forces in all directions, seeking battle with patriots who retain the initiative. Severe fighting continues in the Alps, where hundreds of Germans have been killed in the last few days.

Patriots occupied the important Py-

rennean own of Tarbes and withdrew after destroying factories. Important enemy forces have been immobilised in South Garonne. The Germans have launched a campaign of terror executing many patriot prisoners including wounded. Co-cperate With Italians

After a few days’ pause, the Maquis in the Jura Mountains of Savoy are showing signs of renewed activity, says the Geneva correspondent of “The Times.” The road over the Fauculles Pass and oilier roads north of the Jura Range have been cut off, and the Lyons-Geneva railway has again been interrupted. A conference was held on June 23, be-

tween French and Italian Maquis, and the talks were most friendly. Important

measures have been devised with a view to co-operation and timing of future operations. Frivate information from the Italian border shows that great anxiety prevails in Neo-Fascist circles because Marshal Graziani’s army is dwindling daily, and is now reduced to 70,000 men. Recruits, as soon as they arc equipped, slip off to the Italian Maquis, who are most powerful in regions north of Como and Bergamo. and also the alpine valleys. It is rumoured that Mussolini and Farinacei, alarmed by the Allied advance into Italy, have fled to Germany.