WILL TO FIGHT

Wairarapa Times-Age, 24 December 1940, Page 9

WILL TO FIGHT

FREE FRENCHMEN'S SPIRIT STORIES FROM EGYPT. SOME DESPERATE ADVENTURES. Stories of epic heroism and desperate adventure that are now reaching Australia reveal the dauntless spirit of free Frenchmen who, refusing to submit to German nomination, have found their way to Cairo to enlist in the Allied forces. The Commonwealth Department of Information, in a bulletin released in New Zealand by the Australian Trade Commissioner (Mr C. E. Critchley), says that many of these men escaped from Syria, and wandered in the desert for weeks after having run the gauntlet of their guards. Their sufferings from heat and thirst were extreme, and those who won through reached their goal half dead. “Others performed almost incredible deeds to escape with their planes to Allied posts; others have arrived in Cairo haggard and spent but refusing to talk of their ordeals. “In a suburb of Cairo is the seat of the National French Committee and there every day, Free Frenchmen are arriving to renew the fight against the dictators in their own national units. British newspaper correspondents have seen dozen of them, and have reported their adventures.

“One man, for example, crossed the Syrian frontier to enter Palestine, but lost his way during the night. For two weeks he wandered in the stony solitude, and twice was saved only by the ministrations of friendly Bedouins. Each time he recovered only to resume his dangerous trek, but never once did he think of returning to Syria and personal safety. Finally, he reached a village in Palestine and today he commands a detachment for Free France. “Another is a submarine commander, of whom a strange story is told. He escaped from Tunis with his ship some weeks after France capitulated, but how he escaped is not known. He had trouble with his crew, but finally, eliminated the doubtful elements — mostly petty officers and midshipmen —and reached Malta with the remnants of the submarine’s complement. “British . bombers, suspicious of the strange craft, went into the air, but happily refrained from attacking her until the commander was able to explain his ship and her mission, when they escorted the vessel to Malta.

“A third was a lieutenant in the North Chad Camel Corps. From the moment France ceased fighting, he wished to join the Free France Movement, but his superior officers brought pressure to bear on him to await developments. Finally, he could wait no longer, and with three non-commis-sioned officers, he decided to make for Khartoum, 720 kilometres distant. “Tortured by thirst, blinded by the sun, and half maddened by mirages, they pushed on to reach Randonnec, and the first news they received when they stumbled into Khartoum was that Chad had joined General de Gaulle! “An urgent message awaited the lieutenant asking him to return immediately to take up an important position in the colony.

“Still another drove an armoured car from Aleppo across Syria, forcing all barricades and holding up sentries with a rifle. Finally, he crossed the Syrian-Palestine frontier with the cry ‘Vive La France! “One of these heroes had to retrieve his magneto surreptitiously from the authorities, and ‘clean up’ two machine gun posts, before he was able to flee with his ’plane from a Syrian aerodrome. “One story just received in Australia recounts a dramatic scene at Cyprus. The first battalion of a French infantry regiment was the garrison there, and when France capitulated, the colonel, who came from Syria, assembled the men and harangued them, preaching loyalty to Vichy, and respectful subservience to the Germans. When he had finished, a deathly silence lasted for two seconds.

"Then., half the battalion burst spontaneously into the Marseillaise. That

was their reply. Those who sang are now in Egypt. Those who were silent returned to Syria. "On? correspondent ends his story in tiles? words: 'Men' arrive every day. Already the gracious and formerly disused house in the suburb of Cairo <me Free French headquarters) has overflowed, as its two predecessors overflowed. Soon, they will have other quarters. Already French units have been in action against the Italians in the Western Desert. French pilots have taken part in raids throughout the whole of the Middle East. Their fighting forces continually increase.’ ”