MISSING WITNESS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 26 May 1942, Page 4

MISSING WITNESS

RUSSIAN ON THE RIOM FARCE WHY DE GAULLE SHOULD HAVE BEEN HEARD. REAL TRIAL STILL TO COME. Under this head, the Riom trial is criticised by a Russian writer, who accuses Marshal Petain of attempting to convert the Riom trial into a trial of “the Third Republic, of democracy, of every progressive trend of the last few decades.” “If General de Gaulle were present at the trial,” says the writer, “he could tell in what mystic awe the French military leaders, from Marshal Petain to General Gamelin, held the Maginot “De Gaulle could recall that all his suggestions for creating strong motorised troops met with determined opposition from Gamelin and Weygand. De Gaulle could describe the behaviour of the French command in the fatal days of 1940. He could ask why the Third Tank Brigade remained inactive during the battle of Flanders. “The French people are not so keen on historic discussions. They are rallying against France’s sworn enemy, the German forces of ocupation. For the people of France the war is not over yet. “The shots ringing out in Paris are also heard in, Riom. They prove that the war still goes on. The decisive battles are still to come. The real trial is also still to come. Then the French people will bring the true' culprits into the dock.”