FRENCH FLEET

Waikato Times, Volume 128, Issue 21374, 19 March 1941, Page 5

FRENCH FLEET

GROWTH IN STRENGTH EFFECT ON POLICY DARLAN IN BERLIN (United Press Assn.—Elec. Tel. Copyright) LONDON, March 17 According to the Vichy correspondent of the Swiss newspaper Gazette de Lausanne, authorised information states that the French fleet is stronger than at any time since the armistice, and is a force upon which the country can base its policy. France’s new battleship Jean Bart is anchored at Casablanca, West Africa, and the Richelieu is at Dakar. Both are intact. The battleship Dunkerque is undergoing repairs, and her sister ship, the Strasbourg, is in a constant state of preparedness. It is claimed that of the older battleships the Provence is intact at Toulon. The Courbet and Paris are anchored in British ports, but it is alleged they are of no naval value. France lost the Bretagne at Oran. The Lorraine is held at Alexandria. The French Vice-Premier, Admiral Darlan, will return to Vichy this afternoon, it is stated in Berlin. Admiral Darlan met German officials at breakfast yesterday morning in Paris, and later had a long conversation with the German Ambassador, Abetz. NAVAL STRENGTH BRITAIN'S NEW CRUISERS united states and japan (United Press Assn.—Elec. Tel. Copyright) LONDON, March 18 The latest issue of Jane's Fighting Ships states that Britain placed 12 new cruisers in commission during 1940. Five of these cruisers were of the Fiji class, of 8000 tons, a'nd mounting 12 6in. guns. Twenty destroyers, it is stated, have been built since war began. Japan is said to be building four 'new warships rather larger than the pocket battleship type, but smaller than existing battle-cruisers. The United States is building six battle cruisers, but no details of their design have been released officially. M. TITULESCU DEAD EX-RUMANIAN MINISTER (United Press Assn. —Elec. Tel. Copyright) CANNES, March 17 The death has occurred of M.

Nicolas Titulescu, former Rumanian Cabinet Minister, aged 57 years.

DICTATORS’ AIM * FREEDOM OF CHOICE M.nited Press Assn.—Elec. Tel. Copyright) ROME, March 17 A Rome broadcast announcement states that the supreme aim of the totalitarian States is an international system in which each country will be free to choose the Government it requires. WOMEN REPRIEVED DEATH SENTENCE COMMUTED <United Press Assn —Elec Tel. Copyright) PARIS. March 17 The death sentences passed by the Germans on two British women, Miss Winifred Harle and Miss Florence Frickard. have been commuted to life imprisonment. Both have been sent to Germany. Miss Harle, proprietress of a secretarial establishment in Paris, was sentenced to death in November. It is believed she was accused of listening to British broadcasts and distributing copies of the news items. Mi«.s Frickard has also been under sentence of death for some months. The American authorities made representations to Berlin to reconsider the decisions. 4000 MURDERED FATE OF CZECHS TORTURED BY GESTAPO l nitecl Pre?> Assn.—Elfo. Tel. Copyright) MONTREAL. March 17 M. Vojta Benes. brother of the Czecho-Slovakian President and an organiser of the Czecho-Slo\ ak movement in America in the last war. in a broadcast charged the Nazis with having murdered 4000 prominent Czecho-Slovako. The Gestapo, he said, had tortured prisoners to death-

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