FOLLOWERS OF PETAIN

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 78, 1 February 1943, Page 5

FOLLOWERS OF PETAIN

APPOINTED TO HIGH POSITIONS ALLEGATIONS BY CORRESPONDENT London. Jan 30 “More liberal censorship now makes it possible to reveal that of about 20 arrested in North Africa at the time of Allied landings only about two have so far been released, both on the score of age and sickness.” says the Algiers correspondent of the “Daily Express.” “The rest have been detained, thoroughly isolated from the British and American forces they assisted last November. Mr Murphy and Mr MacMillan have protested to General Giraud, so far without result. General Giraud insists that if he is to rally a French army he must do so his own way without political opponents at his back. “Many new appointments are being made to high positions, there are almost without exception men who still acknowledge Petain as their leader. It is difficult, if not impossible, for a Jew or a de Gaullist or other anti-Vichy follpwer to get a job. Many leading industrialists and businessmen made fortunes by selling wine and food to the Germans and are now taking high profits by supplying the Allies. They do not attempt to disguise that their sympathies are chiefly with Petain and his policies.

"A constant flow of mail and couriers passes to Petain through the Vichy embassy at Madrid. Foreign Legion officers are nearly all supporters of Petain. I saw an order of the day in which one commandant stated the Germans had not yet lost the war. Until they do. it is the Legion’s duty to take orders from Petain and wait and see what these blackguards. presumably British and Americans, will do.

“General Nogues is openly derisive about the Allies in semi-public statements. The pity of it all is that not one per cent, of the local people have the slightest idea of the mistrust and antagonism their politics have excited in Britain and America because no reports of British and American reactions are published here. There is gross and w'ide misunderstanding because the truth has not been let in North African Frenchmen are living in a political vacuum. The growing number of British and Americans here strongly feel that we have not yet put our protests strongly enough, nor given enough directions.” —P.A. CONTRARY VIEW New York. Jan. 30. The "New York Times” correspondent. Drew Middleton, at the Allied headquarters in North Africa, says that General Eisenhower’s statement that the British and American staffs were in complete acord on political as w r ell as military matters should assist to end rumours in Washington and London that Messrs MacMillan and Murphy were opposed to such matters as M. Peyrouten’s appointment, and also make it clear that Britain and America are wholeheartedly behind General Giraud’s administration. “Both Generals Giraud and de Gaulle are exceedingly stiff-necked, but erstwhile admirers of General de Gaulle are inclined to believe that the dashing of the Allied hopes of French unity after the splendid beginning at Casablanca is more General de Gaulle's than General Giraud’s work.” the correspondent says. “General Giraud i« conservative, but there is no reason to doubt his good intentions. The atmosphere has undergone a change, though it is difficult to believe that the military liaison will be as close as was first expected or that the economic and financial partnership which is necessary to handle many of the problems is nearer than it was a ago.”