NEWS FROM FRANCE

Western Star, 26 April 1940, Page 4

NEWS FROM FRANCE

PARIS LETTER. The ‘ ‘Alt-mark 1 ’ action, with the rescue of British seamen from the prison-ship by the gallant crew of the “Cossack” was as cheering a bit of news for thei 1 rcnch as for the Biitish, and all French newspapers, which splashed the story on front page, accompanied it by expressions of satisfaction and admiration for the great Biitish Navy and its living up to traditions. In no country in thei world is admiration for the British Navy greater than in France. With its coast so close to that of England, and its sailors in the seas of its empire constantly meeting our own, l r ranee knows our Navy well. The French, Mo, are fully able to judge, for they themselves are no mean sailors. The. greater part of their crews is recruited from the coast, regions of Brittany, where every man is the son of a son oi a sailor, so that on every French warship there is an important framework constituted by real seamen bora to the sea, The French Navy has played a worthy part in the war, and one of its destroyers, the “Siroco,” is top-scorer in the destruction of enemy submarines. After the British soldiers who are growing more numerous in the streets of Paris, enjoying short leave, we are beginning to see a few members of the British women’s units in uniform. While the feminine uniform is smarter than that of the- Wars, in the last, war, the French pass it- over in silence. Somehow the French don’t take much to the idea, of women in uniform, and they feel, the women will tell you, that as soon as a woman puts on attire in any way masculine she at once los-\s something of her feminine charm There are ten's of thousands of French women working in munitions and rirplane factories, but while :hey are compelled to wear overalls Id e m< n they never lose -the. distinctly feminine touch, and a French woman in uniform is to them unthinkable. Duy.ag the very heavy snowfalls, one sav hardly half a dozen women in ski trousejs, although with tho extension of wiutei sports in France very large numbers of women have ski outfits in their wardrobes. AH Chamberlain lias made one more speech, dignified and logical, and we were all free in Paris to tune) in and listen to Hitler’s ranting, screaming discourse. Great Britain and France are anxious not to annihilate Germany, but to end once for all the terrible threat of war, a threat that in Fra u© is all the harder to endue since the land of the aggressor touches its own fertile fields, with no dividing strip of protecting sea. Marching battalions, a nation trained in systematic hate, the possibility any time these last- five years of the barriers being ruthlessly thrown down and the red torrent let loos© or. the fields of France —such has been the nightmare in which the French have had to live. With our protecting stretch of sea we always have time- to recover in case of an adverse blew, whereas the French have had to t■ e with the. knowledge that one single hour might treacherously bring overnight irreparable disaster. It is an end of that threat that France wants to see. and to have an assurance that she will be able to lead her own peaceful life her own peaceful way. Frenchmen generally loolc forward to a great era after the war, owing to the system of Franco-Britisli cooperation that is taking shape. It- is felt that the great mistake of the last 'peace treaty was that it was too much the work of politicians and too little the work of economists. The British have fully realised this, it. is stall'd here, and are elaborating a plan of cooperation, first of France and GrmJ Britain, that will make all nations want to enter as it were into wiiat will prove an economically advantageous League- of Nations, and Germany in turn will find that contracts are better than cannons.

This, however, is the work of tomorrow. I o-day is full of ugly r<v>l : ‘i'x. but Franc'*', like Great- Britain. is determined that no peace plans will !; ' discussed that- are not preceded by definite guarantees. Op? of the unpleasant realities of to-day is the serious position in which the Scandinavian States find themselvi s. and in French official circles it is considered that they will soon realise thV the only hope of salvation is in a dunnite Scinclin ymn understanding and de-termin Dm tract together. It is pointed our tha* the Balkan danger has grown con ■khwably less since th© Balkan States In Id their recent congress, when they de cided to sink all differences an 1 pcesciU a united front against anv i xt< i na 1 threat.

Air Sumner Welles’s visit to Europe is being watched with interest, but little is hoped to come from it. Wb-'t will be said to Mr Sumner Welles u Franco and in Great Britain we can ah imagine. The French declare thi 4 Mr Welles is going to find an impossible Germany, for the Nazis are in such a

position that they can make no concessions on any point. News reels of two highly important recent incidents, the return ot the rescued British seamen from the. ‘“.Altmark” and the arrival in Egypt of the first contingent of Australian -troops, have given rise to a certioi appro, hension. Both the rescued seamen and many of the Australian troops are seen to be giving the closed-fist Communist salute-. French audiences are perplexed and wonder whether the seamen and the soldiers keep tlieir fistclosed in order not to appear to be making a Fascist open-hand salute. It seems incredible that men released from the clutches of the allies of Stalin should express tlieir joy by making, the Communist salute. So close is the alliance between the Nazis and 4 he Soviets that the only Communist propaganda now reaching France is con' eyed by the Germans, whoso aviators drop Communist tracts over different parts of France. It is certain that uo Soviet ship would have called upon the “Altmark” to give up its priso iers nnl show the same respect for international law as the commander of the *‘G»a*. von Spee” did when 'his ship [entered Montevideo with British prise .ors on board. One feels distinctly, sifting amidst a French audience, that this closed-fist business leaves an unpleasantimpression. Communism is so completely discredited in France, aft a “ the acrobatics of the party ‘ that wanted war when we tried moderation at Munich and then clamoured for pt-ac© when we wanted to go to the rescue of Poland, that the French speota's.'s of these news reels are perplexed and, it is only fail' to say it-, somewhat uneasy. In the world of sport, nothing has given greater satisfaction than the reopening of international Rugby between Great Britain and France, when representative fifteens of the British and French Armies met at the Parc des Princes, Paris, on February 25. Sin*© the breaking off of relations between between the rugby circles of Great Britain and France the game deteriorated sadly in France, and it was felt +be English attitud^htvas^^atlier .harsh. However, all’s well that ends well, as one realised at the mighty cheer that greeted the kick-off. Incidentally, and as some idea of the extent to wliici the French have taken up sports,* the Parc des Princes, where the match was played, is one of no fewer than six football and athletic grounds set nest to one another at the gates of Paris. It is there that during the season on© can see people on one side of the street paying to go in to watch a Rugby match and on the other side others paying to go in to watch an Association game. •