FRENCH HOSTAGES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 25 February 1942, Page 3

FRENCH HOSTAGES

SLAUGHTERED BY NAZIS VICTIMS INCLUDE CRIPPLES & OLD MEN. MASS EXECUTIONS IN PRISONS. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) LONDON, February 23. The latest issue of the underground newspaper “Liberation,” contains an eye-witness account of the execution of French hostages at Nantes, reports the British United Press correspondent on the French frontier. “Fifty victims were led to a quarry at dawn. They were massed against a wall and a machine-gun opened fire. In a few seconds all were dead. Those executed included old men, cripples and two youths, aged 17. The bodies were later carted away in lorries which left trails of blood. Next day thousands of mourners covered with flowers the blood-stained stones at the foot of the quarry wall. Germans published the names of 48 victims, including M. Jost, president of the National Union of Communists. Two names were not revealed. They are believed those of women. “ ‘Liberation’ also gives details of mass executions in prisons. It says a German officer admitted that ‘they die with extraordinary courage, singing hymns and saluting their country.’ “Though possession of ‘Liberation’ involves imprisonment, and the printing and distribution of it means almost certain death, ‘Liberation’ circulates throughout occupied and unoccupied France. The newspaper has organised many resistance groups in readiness for future action against the Germans.”