UNREST IN EUROPE

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 168, 18 July 1942, Page 6

UNREST IN EUROPE

SABOTAGE IN BELGIUM

SPIES WORK OVERTIME (0.C.) WELLINGTON, this day. Dutch patriots who "insult" Mussert's Nazis on leave from the Russian front have been warned that stern measures will be taken against them, according to the Amsterdam paper Algemeen Handelsblad, states advice received by the New Zealand Associated Chambers of Commerce of the British Empire. An announcement issued by order of the German commandant in the town of Heilo says: "It is outrageous that a Dutchman who has returned from the Russian battlefield should be repeatedly spat upon. A serious warning must be issued to the population to refrain from such provocation, otherwise the strongest measures will be taken." The extent to which sabotage is carried on in Belgian factories may be seen from the report on the year's activity of a Flemish factory guard, a body of pro-Nazis whose job is tc spy on their fellow citizens. It appears that their service involves at least 72 hours a week, and they frequently have to "step in" to deal with "attempts to steal or sabotage material or other goods of vital importance." The secret newspaper "Le Resistance" reports the satisfaction of the people of Liege on learning that owing to lack of copper the cartridge department of the national armament works at Herstal, which has been taken over by the Germans, has now had to close down. The Italian authorities have found it necessary to apply iron fist methods to their home population. A Hungarian broadcast reports that in future Italy will apply stronger measures on the home front against all those who act as a disturbing element in the programme of the Fascist Government in the eccnomic and moral fields. Members of the Italian aristocracy who are not prepared to understand present events have been specially warned.