CITIZENSHIP OFFER

New Zealand Herald, Volume 82, Issue 25203, 16 May 1945, Page 7

CITIZENSHIP OFFER

FRENCH IN NORTH ITALY "STRANGE THINGS" OCCUR LONDON, May 14 "Strange things are happening in the zone occupied by the French between Turin and the French frontier," states the Times correspondent in Turin, re»f erring to an invitation "in the name of the French Republic" by the French occupying forces tQ Italians within the area to apply for French citizenship. Placards have been posted up, saying that French troops are giving the inhabitants an opportunity of determining to which country they wish to belong. According to some reports inhabitants who decline to declare in favour of French citizenship are being refused rations. It is stated that similar conditions prevail in the Italian Riviera, where French troops advanced to the neighbourhood of Savona, 20 mileß from Genoa. GERMAN PRISONERS NOT "FRIENDLY ENEMIES" EISENHOWER EMPHATIC LONDON, May 14 General Eisenhower, in a statement issued at Supreme Headquarters, said he regretted any instances in which senior American officers had treated captured Nazis or high German officials on a "friendly enemy" basis, which was a direct Violation of his orders. "Drastic measures are being taken to assure forthwith the termination of such errors," the Supreme Commander stated. "Moreover, any past instances of this nature are by no' means indicative of the attitude of the United States Army, but are. the results of the faulty judgment of the individuals concerned, "who will personally be acquainted of my definite disapproval." CLEANING NAZIS' BOOTS JOB FOR BRITISH 80LDIERS (Heed. 6.30 p.m.) LONDON, May 15 British soldiers are cleaning the jackboots of 18 German officers who are living in a country mansion near Edinburgh. These officers arrived in Scotland by air last Friday to disclose to British naval and military authorities full details of Norway's defences. The soldiers who are acting as their batmen brush their uniforms and wait on the table, but they refuse to salute the Germans. It was suggested to the gardener's daughter, who does the shopping, that while the Germans were at the mansion she should use the rear entrance, involving an extra walk of one mile each way. The girl promptly refused. LONDON AND PRAGUE CONVERSATION BROADCAST (Reed. 9.25 p.m.) LONDON, May 14 The B.R.C. tonight in its 8.30 p.m. Czechoslovakian bulletin broadcast a two-way conversation between London and Prague, the first hook-up of this kind between London and~a liberated capital, says the British official wireless. The speaker in London was Dr Denkl, former Mayor of Prague, and recently released from Buchenwald. His opposite number in Prague was the present Mayor, Dr Bacok. HUNGARIAN GENERAL (Reed. 5.35 p.m.) LONDON, May 14 General Karoly Bereczky, Com-mander-in-Chief of the Hungarian Army, was captured while hiding in a tank close to the Austrian border, says Router's correspondent with the American Third Army. Bereczky said: "Tire Germans betrayed Hungary and treated my people like second-class citizens." BRITISH ON HELIGOLAND LONDON, May U British forces occupied Heligoland, where the White Ensign of the Royal Navy now flies, says an agency report. Heligoland, the tiny island in the North Sea, 30 miles from the German coast, became an important German fortress and naval base until temporarily demilitarised by the Treatv of Versailles. It was a British base during the Aapoleonio war,