NEWS FROM FRANCE

Evening Star, Issue 23679, 12 September 1940, Page 14

NEWS FROM FRANCE

PARODY OF A GOVERNMENT DISABILITIES OF FREE FRENCHMEN [From Ouu Correspondent] LONDON, July 15. News reaching the outside world from France is extremely scarce, and what does get out is tainted and obviously controlled by the Germans. The most reliable information is that picked up at frontier iposts. Along frontiers it is hard to “ control ” news of what is going on. So many people living each side of a frontier know each other, and often families are intermarried. One cannot have a soldier at every yard of frontier, and peasants working in the fields, who have known each other for years, do not cease to pass the’time of day or to inquire how things are “on the other side.’’ From these sources it is known that the Germans are displaying their usual tact, and the French peasants fear considerable oppression and spoliation. Signs of this are already numerous. The French soldiers and sailors, as well as other refugees, one meets in London, come from every part of France, and along Piccadilly one can hear the accent of Marseilles or Lille or Paris. If one talks to these exiles one gets confirmation of the fact that the present Government, or parody of a Government, in France is a monstrosity brought into being under the will and control of Germany. Nothing else can explain it _ There is nothing spontaneous about its creation. It is condemned by every Frenchman one meets, even by those who are anxious to return to France.

What is not yet clear is how an apparently strong personality like M. Ileynaud could suddenly lose control and the Government pass into other hands overnight. One opinion is that M. Reynaud, thinking in terms of peace time, resigned and let others assume the task of negotiating tho armistice terms, feeling that as soon as the terms were known there would bo a movement of revulsion throughout the country, which to a man would rally round him. ft has often happened in peace time that a French Prime Minister has resigned, only to be called upon immediately to form a new Government. In the tragic days of the collapse, M. Reynaud’s resignation was not followed by the usual consequences, and a Government, which practically constituted itself, seized pow'er. We know the rest. Nothing can be more sad than the lot of those Frenchmen who have courageously gathered round General do Gaulle to continue the fight for liberty and their homeland. While our own soldiers receive their letters from home and are able to visit their loved ones during leave, these soldiers of France who refuse to accept German domination seo day after day pass with no comforting, cheering letter from those they love, and when granted

leave they cannot march opt of camp with the vision of someone somewhere at a station, someone who is all the world to them, mother, dad, or wife, waiting to throw their arms about them. Indeed, it is no ordinary sacrifice that these men have made. Thera is not one among them who to-morrow could not return homo freely to France. And yet they have decided to fight on, to place honour above everything and continue the struggle for democracy and liberty. When I meet them in the streets of London, knowing what is gnawing at the hearts of all of them, I feel I ought to take my hat off to every single one of them. True to type. Hitler cannot keep his hands off sacred spoils, and has decided to send to Berlin, “ on exhibition,” tho, Napoleon relics he saw while in Paris. It is hard to imagine anyone in the distant future wanting to take away relies of Hitler. The Napoleon relics were housed on the first floor of the Museum of the invalides in Paris. Principal among them was the camp bedstead with its green curtains. There, too, were his leather camp folding stool, and his camp table on which many a time ho spread out his maps, with his generals round him. during some glorious campaign won by strategy and bravery, not treachery

and “ fifth column ” tactics. Another souvenir was the garden bench from St. Helena, where he used to sit and gaze out to sea. One upright rail in the back had been removed at his request, so that he might be more at ease. In a large glass case there were also the stuffed remains of his Arab horse and his dog. There were also many souvenirs of St. Helena which had been given by English admirers. A pathetic souvenir was a message on a. tiny piece of paper, a few words to Marie Louise, which Dr O’Mara tried to smuggle from the island. There is little danger of the English souvenirs of Napoleon being taken to Berlin, for they would prove a terrible reminder that the greatest dictator of all time had to bow to England’s power, and dictators to-day, patting themselves on the back, cannot escape from the might of a great empire in arras. How successful and irresistible Napoleon appeared I But all his conquests were brought to nought bv the tenacity of England. History will repeat itself