EYE-WITNESS ACCOUNT

Evening Post, Volume CXXX, Issue 83, 4 October 1940, Page 8

EYE-WITNESS ACCOUNT

BRAVE FRENCHMAN

CARRIED ON THOUGH BADLY WOUNDED

(By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright.)

(Received October 4, 2 p.m.)

LONDON, October 3

Captain G. Thierry Dargenlieu, j who is a priest in peacetime, led the party of General de Gaulle's forces which attempted to land at Dakar last week. When the supporters of the Vichy Government fired on the party, Captain Dargenlieu was seriously wounded in the thigh and stood in the boat with blood streaming across his white uniform and iihder a hail of machine-gun .bullets, and directed the withdrawal until the last of his party had been withdrawn. An eye-witness of tlie Dakar action said that two boats shoved off from the French destroyer Savorgnan de Brazza six miles off Port Dakar. The first contained unarmed former French Deputies in full-dress colonial uniform, and the second was manned by non-commissioned officers and sailors who were also unarmed. A young ensign and lieutenant, after first refusing, permitted the party to land, and other Dakar officials telephoned to the Governor-Gejieral for instructions. He flatly refused to receive the delegation and ordered the party out to sea. Captain Dargenlieu asked: "What if we refuse?" The reply was: "You will be arrested." Then an orderly rushed up with a written order commanding the arrest of the entire party. Captain Dargenlieu shouted a quick warning to his officers and leaped into the boat. As they pulled away from the quay an ensign boarded a small trawler and ordered machine-guns to be trained on the party. Hesitation on the part of the gun crew enabled the boats to reach the outer limits of the harbour, and there they met a murderous fire from the harbour moles.. Captain Dargenlieu was wounded immediately, but halted his boat and awaited the second, which was slower.