DE GAULLE INSPECTED FRENCH FORCE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 87, Issue 202, 27 August 1943, Page 6

DE GAULLE INSPECTED FRENCH FORCE

■MESSAGE TO GEN. GIRAUD

Rugby, Aug. 24. In a letter to General Giraud on his return from an inspection of the French Expeditionary Force somewhere in Algeria, General de Gaulle said: “The units which I had the honour of inspecting in the past fewdays constitute a strong force of which the organisation is a credit to yourself and the leaders who perfected it. The enemy will soon appreciate their value.” London. Aug. 24. With the exception of the handful of Vichy collaborationists, France is now nearly 100 per cent, de Gaullist, eagerly awaiting the arrival of the Allies,” stated a Swiss traveller who has returned from a long tour of France, according to the Daily Mail’s Geneva correspondent. The traveller reported a marked deterioration in the German occupation troops. "I spoke to several German officers, some whom have lost as many as five brothers,” he said. "One declared that his last brother had been killed, for which reason he would return home to help his mother. He was later executed. “The French Communists are well organised, but the de Gaullists are even better organised. They have 22 training camps throughout the country. The Gestapo is doing its utmost to find the leaders, but the secret is well kept.”