SYRIA & CYPRUS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 2 June 1941, Page 5

SYRIA & CYPRUS

NAMED AS NEXT NAZI OBJECTIVES REPORTED ENEMY PLANS. FRENCHMEN UNDER GERMAN CONTROL. LONDON, May 31. The German plans to sweep from Greece and Crete to their next objectives—Syria and Cyprus—are already well advanced, according to reports from the Middle East, says the Istanbul correspondent of the “Daily Mail.” All the power in Syria has now passed from the French to the Germans, and Frenchmen are working six fourhour shifts a day under German overseers constructing live new aerodromes for the: Germans, The German air force already in Syria consists of 11)0 bombers. The Jerusalem correspondent of the "Daily' Telegraph” points out' that a German drive to Syria and Cyprus does not require initially much imported material except what can easily be flown in.

General Wcygand’s original Middle East army was well equipped, and all the stores and arms are still serviceable. Tile Germans, therefore, only require sufficient effectives to handle these guns and transports, and they have been training Frenchmen for this task.

' There is a report from Damascus that British planes have been active over Syria since May 28. raiding the airports and railway stations at Tripoli, Deir Ez Tor, Aleppo and Rayak. BOGUS STORY DEATH OF GENERAL FREYBERG REPORTED BY NAZIS. (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY. May 31. The War Office states, with reference to a German statement alleging the death of Major-General Freyberg, “We are glad to be able to announce that he is alive and with his troops. According to Berlin, the Cairo radio stated that General Freyberg was killed in a plane crash en route to | Alexandria from Crete (reports thel Press Association).