ARMISTICE TERMS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 11 July 1941, Page 5

ARMISTICE TERMS

NOT YET ACCEPTED IN SYRIA PROGRESS MADE IN FURTHER OPERATIONS. VIGOROUS AIR ATTACKS. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright i LONDON. July 10. A statement issued in London about the position in Syria denies Vichy allegations that no reply has been sent to General Dentz’s request for an armistice. An immediate reply was made. Until the acceptance of these terms Allied forces would continue to fight. A Cairo communique reports progress in every sector in Syria. A Vichy 6,000-ton ship and a trawler today entered a small Turkish port to escape being seized at Beirut by the British. The R.A.F. attacked a number of targets in Beirut yesterday. At Aleppo two Vichy planes were destroyed and ten others damaged. One British plane is missing. SURRENDER OF ARMS DEMANDED BY BRITAIN. CHOICE FOR VICHY TROOPS. ANKARA, July 10. The Syrian armistice terms are reported to include provisions that all arms, ammunition, planes and' warships are to be handed over to the British authorities, and that the Vichy forces must either repatriate or join the Free French. Britain, it is reported, guarantees that no proceedings will be taken against the Vichy army personnel, but demands that all Italians and Germans be handed over to the British. VICHY DECISION TERMINATION OF HOPELESS EFFORT. SIR H. M. WILSON’S ULTIMATUM. LONDON, July 10. Explaining the Vichy Government’s decision to seek an armistice in Syria, a communique issued in Vichy says that despite all the efforts of the Government it was impossible to send sufficient supplies and reinforcements to enable the continuance of the fight. As the combat was daily becoming more unequal and in order to shorten the sufferings of the populations in Syria and Lebanon, the French Government decided to authorise General Dentz to ask for an immediate suspension of hostilities. Steps were taken in that, direction on July 8 with the United States Consul-General at Beirut as intermediary. The British United Press Vichy correspondent. says that the request for an armistice followed the sinking of the St. Didier loaded with material for General Dentz’s army and also Turkey’s refusal to permit the passage of supplies across Turkey. According to the Jerusalem radio, General Sir H. M. Wilson sent an ultimatum to General Dentz to withdraw from Beirut by 5.30 in the morning. The ultimatum was radioed to General Dentz from Jerusalem as follows:— “British forces have entered the outer defences of Beirut and are closing in on the city. Anxious to spare civilians from damage and loss of life. I appeal to you to declare Beirut an open city and withdraw the Vichy forces. Otherwise military action will be taken.”