KEY POINT

Wairarapa Times-Age, 28 October 1942, Page 4

KEY POINT

IMPORTANCE OF DAKAR ALLIED ACTION DISCUSSED. POSSIBLE EFFECT ON VICHY. Dakar, French strategic port on the African West Coast, has again become the centre of rumours and speculations. writes Egan Kaskeline in the “Christian Science Monitor.” The German radio has recently accused the United States of plotting a new attack on the French colony. Vichy radiocasts have denied reports that Germany asked France for the use of bases in Dakar and Casablanca. Marshal Philippe Petain recently received Gover-nor-General Pierre Boisson, Vichy Pro-Consul in West Africa, who, after this interview, immediately returned to Dakar. Reports from Stockholm, which has lately become the distribution centre of planted Axis news, indicated that Adolf Hitler has prepared a new move toward French Africa and that he had even in mind “to send at least one armoured division and other proportionate forces to the French colony.” These reports, if they indicate nothing else, point to the fact that since British and German Armies in Egypt are fighting for a decision and since Brazil entered the war on the Allied side, the strategical importance of the African west coast has greatly increased. At present, however, the United Nations are perhaps less eager to occupy the important harbour than to prevent the Nazis from establishing themselves in Dakar and developing there a strategic base. ALLIED OCCUPATION. A possible occupation of Dakar -by the United Nations would considerably strengthen the Allied position in the South Atlantic, and the sea lanes to the Middle East and India would become more secure than they are today. The western hemisphere would be efficiently protected against possible German bombing raids or even invasion attempts. Yet, in spite of its high strategical value in the long run, an occupation of Dakar, which would probably be a very costly enterprise, is not likely to help the United Nations to attain their immediate aims—to divert the Gentian onslaught on Russia and to bolster the defence of the Middle East. On the other hand, Vichy would be thrown entirely into the Nazi orbit. It is, therefore, probable that the present situation in Dakar —in spite of numerous rumours —will not be fundamentally changed in the hear future. In September, 1940, a combined British and Free French expeditionary force failed to take Dakar from the defending Vichy French. Since this unsuccessful attack the defences of Dakar have been largely extended and strengthened. Concrete pillboxes have been erected along the shore and the entire coastal line is under the fire of Dakar guns and machine guns. New batteries have been established at several points Of the harbour, and especially at the Island of Goree, which protects the entrance to the port. TROOPS REINFORCED.

During the last two years the troops defending the city have been considerably reinforced. Today their number is estimated at between 20,000 and 30,000 men, mostly native soldiers—known as Tirailleurs Senegalais—commanded by hand-picked Vichy officers. There are also artillery and light tank units composed exclusively of white soldiers. Defences of Dakar also include several American-built aeroplanes, which, h'owever, are mostly obsolete. Recent reports, however, indicate that the Dakar air fofce has been reinforced by modern aeroplanes. , The strength of Dakar’s defences is increased by the presence of important units of the Vichy fleet in its naval port. The 35,000-ton battleship Richelieu has been heavily damaged by the British. The ship served as an antiaircraft base and its guns protected the harbour. Although not yet completed, the ship has been repaired and is believed to be seaworthy again. Three of France’s most modern light cruisers, several destroyers and submarines lie in Dakar and form an important task force to defend the city. An American visitor who in the fall of 1941 returned from a voyage to French West Africa indicated that at that time no German troops were seen in the city. It actually appears that the situation in Dakar is somewhat different from that in Casablanca, where German officers and soldiers in uniforms walk through the streets, where German generals have established their headquarters, and where the coastal batteries are said to be manned by German gunners. FRENCH STILL MAN GUNS. Although the Gestapo is likely to have numerous agents on the spot, the military installations of Dakar are probably still in French hands at this moment. Governor-General Boisson declared that “if he had defended Dakar against the British he would defend it a hundred times more stubbornly against the Germans.” . French officers and the majority ot the white population in Dakar, which numbers about 46,000, are mainly antiGerman, but many of them—especially the corps of naval officers have a strong anti-British bias. The native troops would probably fight any adversary indicated by theii’ white officers. The higher class of native is a French citizen and is as pro-Vicny as the majority of his white compatriots. Yet while the city and the port: bi Dakar is likely to be still under VichyFrench control, recent reports indicate that the Germans have already established several small jungle air. bases in the vicinity of the city. Geiman aeroplanes have been frequently seen in the West African sky, and early m 1942, Fort Lamy, Free French keyposition in Central Africa was bombed by several “unidentified aeroplanes. An Allied attack on Dakar would probably provoke Franco-German co-oper-ation in the defence of the city. REAL QUESTION. Governor-General Boisson, veteran of World War I and a convinced iollower of Marshal Petain, is probably willing and prepared to deiend the colony against an unexpected. Germa attack. The question, however, is: Will Dakar continue to resist German control if Vichy decides to extend collaboration to French West Africa. The example of other high Vichy officials has proved that most of them . thought hostile to Germany in their hearts—accept and execute Vichy s decisions even as far as to deliver the French Empire to France’s hereditary enemy. We do not know how far Pierre Laval has given in to Hitler’s demands, but the surprise visit of French African governors in Vichy indicates that something is going on behind the scene. It is, moreover, likely that German submarines have already profited by the harbour facilities of Dakar. British sources have indicated that German submarine raiders have been refuelled in Dakar and have even claimed that French reconnaissance aeroplanes collaborated with German U-boats, in in forming the French radio station in Dakar of the presence of Allied convoys in the vicinity by uncoded mescnprpcf 1 M It would, however; not be easy for the Nazis to send troops to Dakar, fin seaway is controlled by the Allied fleets and to reach Dakar overland from North Africa, the Germans have to cross almost 2000 miles of desert semi-desert. The Trans-Saharan, railwk over the Sahara is far from being completed.