SEQUEL TO FIGHT IN SYRIA

Timaru Herald, Volume CLVII, Issue 23181, 20 April 1945, Page 5

SEQUEL TO FIGHT IN SYRIA

French General On Trial (7.30 p.m'.) PARIS. Apr. 19. General Dentz, former Vichy commander in Syria, spoke for five hours in his own defence when brought up for trial on a charge of high treason. General Dentz claimed that the sole motive of his resistance against the British in Syria was to avoid giving the Germans an excuse to take charge of French colonies. A juryman: In ordering a fight, which cost 1500 French and a number of British lives you were merely acting a comedy? General Dentz: Far from it. It was one of the most painful situations I had ever been in. The armed resistance I ordered had to be genuine to convince the Germans that France was still capable of defending her colonies. Accused added that the real objective of all his actions was the protection of North Africa. If the Germans had occupied North Africa in 1941 the Allied operations in the following year might have been postponed for a long time. When asked by the judge why after his return to France, he expressed himself violently anti-de Gaulle and antiBritain. General Dentz replied: “I had to soothe openly expressed German suspicions that I double-crossed them in Syria.” The charges against General Dentz are: (1) That he allowed the Germans to use aerodromes, ports and roads to aid the anti-British revolt in Iraq in 1941; (2) that he allowed arms to pass through Syria to Iraq; (3) with beginning a fratlcidal struggle against. French and Allied troops and collaborating with the enemy.