OLD MARSEILLES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 28 June 1943, Page 4

OLD MARSEILLES

EMPTIED OF ITS PEOPLE. THE EVACUATION SCENE. Forty thousand people were expelled from the Old Port quarter of Marseilles on January 24, and the conditions in which the expulsion was carried out were described by a correspondent of “Paris-Soir.” “At eight o’clock a bugle call rang out, and when the inhabitants of this quarter, bounded by the Quai Marechai Petain, La Tourette, la rue Casserie, and the rue Chevalier-Rose, tried to learn what it was all about it was too late. Lines of Mobile Guards barred all issues. It was impossible to escape, impossible to get the line of police to listen to any pleas, orders were strict. “Loud-speakers blared out, ‘Every inhabitant must immediately proceed to indicated points of assembly.’ There was general consternation. At five in the evening, there was not a person left. Nearly 40,000 persons had been taken to the station and from there sent on to Frejus.” Doctors examined those leaving, although the examination, in view of the large number transported, could not have been very thorough. “Parallel with this evacuation, a gigantic round-up was organised. Throughout the town, in every cafe, cinema, and public place police called for the production of identity papers. Six thousand arrests were carried out in less than 24 hours. One • thousand cafes were closed down.”