LAVAL’S BLUSTER

Wairarapa Times-Age, 7 May 1942, Page 3

LAVAL’S BLUSTER

LYING CHARGES AGAINST BRITAIN TALK OF HIGHWAY ROBBERY. AND DEFENCE OF FRENCH HONOUR. IBv Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright) ' y P LONDON, May 5. The Governor of Madagascar, General Guillemet, reported to Vichy .that the British ultimatum demanded unconditional surrender. Marshal Petain, M. Laval and Admiral Darlan sent messages to the General- urging the troops to resist the ■attack and “defend the honour of the French flag.” The invading force appeared off Diego Suarez with strong air formations yesterday. The British delivered a seven-hour ultimatum to the Gover-nor-General, who rejected it, declaring that the defence of the island would be carried out to the end. The first attack* occurred last night. Laval, in his message to the Gover-nor-General, said: “Again the British, instead of fighting their enemies, attack a French colony far from the metropolis. Make the British pay dearly for this act of highway robbery. Do not forget that the British betrayed us in Flanders, attacked us treacherously at Dakar and in Syria, are murdering civilians in Paris, and tried to make women and children in Jibuti die of hunger. The day will come when England will pay.” The Vichy news agency reports that the British are developing a double attack against Diego Suarez consisting of a frontal thrust from the sea by warships and. squadrons of planes and an overland assault from Courier Bay.

Dispatches from Vichy today suggest that Laval is worried over the fate of the Comoro Archipelago and Reunion Island. The Vichy news agency says there is no news of the fate of the islands. Commenting on the report from Vichy that large forces of British paratroops opened the attack, the agency says that they may be from

the Middle East, where men drawn from the Eighth and Ninth Armies were given special training. Britain now has enough trained paratroops to spare large numbers for overseas.