CENTRAL CONTROL OF GERMANY

Timaru Herald, Volume CLVIII, Issue 23376, 6 December 1945, Page 5

CENTRAL CONTROL OF GERMANY

Attitude Of France (7.30 p.m.) LONDON, Dec. 4. General de Gaulle’s Cabinet has approved of opposition to a centralised Germany, says the Associated Press correspondent in Paris. The Foreign Minister, M. Charles Bidault. stated France’s position thus: “There will be no French consent to the centralisation of some aspects of German life until Germany’s western boundaries are determined.” The correspondent says that boundary determination means to the French a decision on France’s proposal for internationalising the Ruhr and detaching the Rhineland from Germany proper. A French delegation at present is discussing the proposal with Russian officials in Moscow.

Coal Sabotage German obstruction described by the French Minister of Industrial Production (M. Marcel Paul) as “intelligent sabotage based on the French Resist-i ance model” has partly caused a drop in French coal supplies from the Ruhr, says Reuter’s Paris correspondent. The destruction is carried out by railwaymen. M. Paul said: "If we cannot maintain a minimum of 300,000 tons of Ruhr coal a month France will face one of the greatest economic catastrophes of her history. Six million tons of coal are ■waiting at Ruhr pitheads, while France has a deficit of more than 1,000.000 tons in the present quarter.” M. Paul said that France is earnestly asking the British Government to intercede on her behalf with the British military authorities in the Ruhr. Two new laws—one to knock out a large section of Germany’s war potential by smashing forever the I. G. Farben Trust, and. second, to knock the martial spirit out of the Germans by outlawing military training under any guise—is published by the Allied Control Council. The Allies already have seized a majority of I. G. Farben properties in Germany, but the latest law formally vests in the Countrol Council legal title to all 300 Farben plants. The Control Council stated: “The law has been enacted to ensure that Germany will never again threaten her neighbours or the peace of the world.” The commanders of the four occupation zones will serve as the Farben control group. Troops in the British zone in Germany have officially been warned to be on guard against attacks by Germans, reports Reuter’s correspondent at Rhine headquarters. Twelve thousand service women in the British Army of the Rhine must be accompanied in movements by armed escort besides the driver, and must be quartered in guarded premises. The warning, which follows the murder of two soldiers and the wounding of a third, said: “Conditions for Germans in the winter are likely to be aggravated by food and fuel shortages. It is improbable that billets at headquarters will be in danger of attack by a large number, but attempts may be made to set fire to them or throw a bomb through the windows. The greatest danger will be attacks against isolated personnel, particularly after dark.” The statement added that a defence scheme had been prepared.