BETRAYAL BY LAVAL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 19 April 1943, Page 4

BETRAYAL BY LAVAL

FRENCH WAR PRISONERS PLACED AT GERMANY’S DISPOSAL. FOR WORK IN FACTORIES & MINES. (BV Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright) LONDON, April 15. Laval has placed at Germany’s disposal all French prisoners of war in Germany for work in factories and mines, says the “Daily Mail s Madrid correspondent. This affects 1,250,000 men. The prisoners of war were not given a chance to make their own decision. The French Government told them that work was compulsory and that refusal would mean a court-mar-tial. . The German authorities in Paris are arguing that French prisoners will be “free” when they reach labour camps, and say that “news of their release again proves German good faith and cordiality in her relations with France. Laval, under German demands, is squeezing France ever harder in the traffic for human beings, according to a special article in “Neue Zeuercher Zeitung,” says the “Telegraph’s” Zurich correspondent, Official sassess every town as productive of so much manpower. The article says: “Frenchmen up to 40 years of age avoid all public places. Youths sent on errands constantly fail to return home. Some weeks later there is a postcard from Germany. Police press gangs search from house to house. Streets in French towns are deserted because many Frenchmen escaped to Spain. Others are hiding in the country.” The article adds: “There is no question of the Vichy Government wielding any real authority. Half the officials of most of the ministries have decamped and Germans, absolutely control the administration.”