MASS EXECUTION

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24850, 25 February 1942, Page 6

MASS EXECUTION

FIFTY FKENCH HOSTAGES NAZI RULE AT NANTES (Rec. 7 p.m.) LONDON, Feb. 23. The latest issue of the underground newspaper Liberation contains the account of an eye-witness of the execution of French hostages at Nantes, reports the correspondent of the British United Press on the French frontier. The 50 victims were led to a quarry at dawn, and they were massed against a wall. A machine gun opened fire, and in a few seconds all were dead. Those executed included old men, cripples, and two youths aged 17. The bodies were later carted away on lorries, which left trails of blood. Next day thousands of mourners covered with flowers the blood-stained stones at the foot of the quarry wall. The Germans published the names of 48 victims, including M. Jost, president of the National Union of Communists. The names of two victims were not revealed. They are believed to have been women. Liberation also gives details of mass executions in prisons, and says that a German officer admitted that " they die with extraordinary courage, singing hymns and saluting their country." Although the possession of Liberation involves imprisonment, and the penalty for printing and distributing it, if those responsible were caught, would almost certainly be death, the paper circulates throughout occupied and unoccupied France. The newspaper has organised many resistance groups in readiness for future action against the Germans.