TO VERSAILLES

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXIII, 4 December 1940, Page 5

TO VERSAILLES

MOVE PLANNED FOR PETAIN GOVERNMENT NEW LAVAL DEAL WITH HITLER FEARS EXPRESSED IN FRENCH PRESS [U.P.A.—By Electric Telegraph-Copyrightj (Received 4th December, 9.30 a.m.) LONDON, 3rd December. A communique issued in Vichy states that the Cabinet met and dealt with various questions relating to the forth- ; coming transfer of the Chief of State j to Versailles (10 miles outside Paris). Unconfirmed reports from Spanish and other sources state that M. Laval, the French Vice-Premier and Foreign Minister, is going to Berlin to make a | new deal with Herr Hitler. It is be- I lieved that other members o£ the Vichy Government are opposed to a visit, as they fear M. Laval might agree to sweeping new surrenders. The Ankara radio expressed the' opinion that the Germans would try once more to get an understanding with France now that Italy’s humiliating failure in Greece has made it pos- ; sible to ignore her territorial claims. j Fear of what the Germans might do is expressed in the French Press. One ! newspaper states: “Do we realise that I a victorious army occupies two-thirds of France and will occupy the whole of our country if we do not comply with the whole of their demands?” A Frenchman who broadcast from Egypt last night summed up the Ger- j man tactics as follows:—“They give i their word as soldiers, then take it' back; they propose to give it again on ! another basis of collaboration.” MISGIVINGS OVER PETAIN LONDON, 3rd December. The announcement that Marshal Petain is shortly to be installed at Versailles in the midst of his German masters of occupied France is viewed with misgivings by French people, who regard the move as an attempt to embroil France with Britain. This decision does not make it clear whether the whole Government or merely Marshal Petain is to go to Versailles. It is also not certain whether what measure of independence the Government preserves at present will be maintained. One thing is certain: that in Versailles either Marshal Petain or the Government will be surrounded by German troops. If Marshal Petain goes alone, he will be isolated from those members of the Governmnet who have curbed the activities of M. Laval. With Marshal Petain, who does not enjoy the full confidence of the French people, un- ; der their control, the Germans will i have an asset in their attempt to break the rising spirit of resistance among the French to the Germans and their agents. It is clear that the Germans need Marshal Petain to deal with the antiGerman feeling in occupied France. This is shown by the Germancontrolled radio at Lyons which warned the French people that unless they collaborated with the Germans, the whole of France would be occupied, the 2,00,000 French prisoners would be kept in Germany in concentration camps for life, and the youth of France would be compelled to break stones on the roads.

SABOTAGE GROWS

GERMAN FACTORIES IN FRANCE LONDON, 2nd December. An account of how French workers are risking death by sabotaging German aircraft factories in France is given by the “Daily Mail,” which publishes a story written by a Frenchman who has reached England. He says that sabotage is rapidly increasing at the Citroen, Gnome, Renault, and other factories where Germans are bribing or threatening certain Frenchmen to mingle with the workers and report the most outspoken of them. These are picked out and shot. Eight Citroen employees thus became victims in October. Of 20 fighter planes made at the Parisian factory and tried out by the Germans three crashed, two of the pilots being killed. The Germans then tried to counteract sabotage by using French pilots, but this ceased because the Germans feared that the planes would be flown to England. The article gives details of numerous incidents illustrating the French hatred of the Germans. German soldiers are ordered to keep together when out sight-seeing. This is done for their own protection. Communist cells are active in Lyons, and hundreds of Frenchmen in key positions in the police and administrative offices are doing their utmost to hinder the Germans and to assist escaped prisoners. Wherever possible, the French are assisting British prisoners. HUNT FOR COMMUNISTS LONDON, 3rd December. The “Daily Telegraph” states that hundreds and perhaps thousands of Communists have been arrested in France as a result of a recrudescence of Communist propaganda. They include M. Louis Thorez, brother of M. Maurice Thorez, general secretary of the French Communist Party, who disappeared to avoid arrest at the time of the Daladier anti-Communist decrees in 1939.