PLAN OF SABOTAGE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25565, 19 June 1944, Page 5

PLAN OF SABOTAGE

FRENCH RESISTANCE ARMY TRAFFIC PARALYSED (Rec. 8 p.m.) RUGBY, June 17. The magnitude of the part which the French Resistance Movement has taken in the present operations for the liberation of France is revealed in a special communique issued by an advanced command post with the Allied Expeditionary Force. Some parts in the interior of France are already liberated, and the movement of German reserves to the front has been delayed In many ways. The communique states that since June 6, the Army of the French Forces of the Interior has increased, both in size and in the scope of its activities. This army has undertaken a large plan of sabotage which includes, in part, the paralysing of rail and road traffic, and the interruption of telephone communications. In the '.majority of these cases, their objective has been attained. The destruction of railways has been most effective, bridges have been destroyed, derailment effected,' and at least 70 locomotives sabotaged. It is reported that both road and rail traffic is completely stopped in the valley of the Rhone. Canals have not been spared. One was damaged, one cut, and another put out of action. Four consecutive locks of another have been destroyed, subterranean cables have been cut in many places, and although some were well defended, they have been attacked and destroyed. Many acts of sabotage have been carried out against transcontinental railroad stations. Sabotage, co-ordinated with the Allied effort, has delayed considerably the movement of German reserves to the combat zone, and direct action has also been taken against the enemy. The Maquis are reported to have taken 300 prisoners and a German garrison has been attacked. In some areas villages have been occupied and street fighting has occurred. Elsewhere, guerrilla operations against the Germans are in full swing, and in some areas the French Forces of the Interior arc in full control. At the end of the first week of the invasion the French Army of the Interior has played its full part in the battle of liberation.

Allied planes dropped arms to French partisans all day on Wednesday, says reports from Switzerland. Partisans in the Vosges Mountains, of Eastern France, have been joined by thousands of recruits from Alsace.

The reports add that the biggest battle yet between the Germans and French partisans is developing in the Vosges. The partisans wrecked a tunnel near Annemasse, on the Swiss border, entombing a German troop train.