VICHY REPORT

Wairarapa Times-Age, 14 June 1941, Page 5

VICHY REPORT

FALL OF SIDON DENIED DENTZ INCREASES PAY OF TROOPS. NAZI TALK OF EARLY INTERVENTION. LONDON, June 12. Vichy does not admit that Sidon has fallen and says the defenders are entrenched in orange groves round the town and are meeting continuous Australian attacks supported by tanks. A battleship, two cruisers and five destroyers have been shelling the town incessantly for three days. Officers from Syria who are joining the Allies in considerable numbers reveal that General Dcntz, in an effort to bolster up the loyalty of his troops, has granted big increases in pay. The Cairo correspondent of the “Daily Mail” says that General Deniz's civil administration is going to Aleppo from Damascus and Beirut.

The Swiss newspaper “Nachrichten” says that Germany is relaxing the armistice conditions to help Vichy with arms and equipment for Syria. The Swedish newspaper “Dagens Nyheter” says the Germans will probably release many French prisoners for France’s colonial army and France is also expected to enrol her demobilised men for service in Syria. The Germans do not expect that the British will encounter stern resistance from the French and they predict early active German intervention. FORTRESS CAPTURED. The capture of the Khaim fortress was the prelude to the fall of Merj lyun, states a special correspondent of the Exchange Telegraph Company with the forces in Syria. Merj lyun, he says, was well defended by a minia-

ture- Maginot Line. The Australians opened fire at 8 a.m. against Khaim, which was the key position of the defences, and soon a tremendous explosion blasted the air when the ammunition dump in the fortress was hit. Tanks immediately went into action, and the Australians took the fort by 10.30 a.m., despite a hail of machinegun and mortar fire. A later message states that the Free French forces have taken 700 to 800 opposing troops; it is not known whether they are prisoners or have come over to General de Gaulle.