ARMED PEASANTS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25561, 14 June 1944, Page 5

ARMED PEASANTS

SOUTH OF FRANCE AFLAME WIDESPREAD SABOTAGE LONDON, June 12. The south of France is on fire, says the Daily Mail’s correspondent on the French frontier, in a aespatch dealing with partisan risings in the south, south-east, and south-west of France. He adds: “The battle zone covers the Cavennes, the Pyrenees, and the Italian Alps. The number of partisans participating is estimated at 400,000. All through this zone armed peasants are reported to be pouring in from the hills. Travellers and diplomatic officials all agree that this is not a series of riots but the rising of the whole countryside against the enemy.”_ Resistance groups throughout France are intensifying their attacks on the German communication lines. They claim that since the invasion bega.i they have sabotaged sectors of the railways running from Paris to Cherbourg, Brest, and Quimper, and in other towns and ports of North-western France. The Times quotes a private message saying that throughout a large region (apparently further south) more sabotage was committed last week than for several months. The Daily Telegraph’s Zurich correspondent says the Maquis have surrounded Grenoble. Ail communications with Grenoble have been interrupted, but unconfirmed reports reacning nearby Switzerland say that the patriots have occupied the town. An official communique issued at Berne states that because of the general situation additional Swiss troops are being called up. General mobilisation will be ordered whenever the danger to the country is considered acute. Correspondents in Switzerlanu report a pitched battle between partisans and the Germans on the Maiche plain, near the St. Hyppolite-Swiss border. , , * French resistance forces have occupied Bellegarde, an important French railway town near the Swiss frontier and the border of Haute-Savoie, according to the Geneva correspondent of the Daily Express. The patriots swept down .from Ihe mountains, seized railway yards, and wrecked everything possible. The Germans brought up 400 reinforcements. Fighting went on for 48 hours, the patriots forcing the Germans to withdraw from the town after heavy casualties. . Patriots also occupied Fort de le Cluse, near the frontier. It controls the roads from north ana south. Other resistance forces are harassing the Germans at many parts in Southeastern France, tying up large .forces of Germans. Strikes are also occurring in many towns. Twelve separate battles are in progress in the Jura Mountains. The Germans’ communications in HauteSavoie are so devastated that at present they are unable to transport the wouV.ed to Germany.