CONTENTS

Editorial Inside Front Cover

Achievements in Algiers Page 1

General Giraud's London Visit „ 7

Successes of the " Normandie " Squadron - 9

French Pilots in Russia (pictures) 10-11

Fighting France in the News : French Commandos in LampeduM Raid, French Forces with Allies in Sicily, Two New Squadrons in Action, Governor-General Cournarie takes up appointment .. ,13

The Weapon of Silence ,.14

Honours for the Merchant Nav^ • • „ 17

The " F6lix Roussel " (pictures) „ 19

Message to France. Anthony Edeh, Quatorze Juillet .. „ 21

LA LETTRE DE LA FRANCE COMBATTANTE, Vol. HI, No. 6.

Issued by the Press Service FIGHTING FRENCH HEADQUARTERS , 4 CARLTON GARDENS •""J's LONDON, S.W.I Whitehall 5444. Ext. 42 t

Prlntotl in Great Britain by Harrison & Sons. Ltd., St. Martin's Lane, London. W.C.I, for the %oiiM del EdMona do la Franco LIkre Lad.

R6imprim^ par La Cie de Piiblicatien Lc Nouvelliste, Trois-Rivieres, Qui. Can.

Printed in Canada HE invasion of Europe has begun. Sicily, Italy's island bastion, is invaded by the forces of T the United Nations. The French people, warned by the Allied High Command to reserve the blow which for so long they have been waiting to strike, will see in this operation the beginning of the relentless series of assaults which are going to crush their oppressors. In these assaults French forces are to play their full part. Those who have not ceased to fight since September 1939, and those who have gloriously resumed a fighting role since French North Africa was liberated in November 1942, will together avenge the shadow of defeat cast on the French armies by the events of Summer 1940. iy39 Quatorze Juiiiet. France, on the eve of war. It appears that the union which for three years has existed inside France is now in the process of being cemented outside, in those parts of the French Empire which were prevented from remaining in the war by the side of the traditional Allies of France. The important thing— LA LETTRE DE LA FRANCE upon which all lovers of France and liberty may congratulate themselves— is that union is being made on the basis of the aspirations and the dignity COMBATTANTE of the French people. Out of this union has sprung the French Committee of National NEWS OF FIGHTING FRANCE Liberation. This Committee has received much publicity, publicity which has been imposed rather than sought. Rather less publicity has VOLUME III JULY, 1943 No. 6 been given to the Council of French Resistance which is now meeting regularly inside occupied France, and which represents all sections and movements of resistance which for three years have been waging relentless war against the Nazi enemy. There is some difference between the Council and the Committee, but both have one thing in common—the ACHIEVEMENTS IN ALGIERS fact that they are both servants of the French people, whom they cannot claim fully to represent, but of whose interests they can hope to be Work of the French Committee of National Liberation trustees until liberated compatriots can freely elect the first government of the Fourth Republic. Since our last issue the French U.S.A. it was decided to establish Committee of National Liberation a permanent military committee Bastille Day this year again afforded proof of the solidarity of all has been hard at work in aII spheres. sections of French opinion in the war against the enemy and his hench• now composed of General Giraud, men. Before General de Gaulle made his remarkable speech at Algiers, While General Giraud was answer• General de Gaulle, General Juin, eight orators representing eight different political affiliations paid glowing ing President Roosevelt's invitation General de Larminat, Admiral tributes to the spirit of the renovated republic,, and paid them in similar to visit the U.S.A., General de Auboyneau, Admiral Collinet and terms. France is on the march to her " new destinies." Gaulle assumed presidency of the General Bouscat—the latter as Committee, which is now meeting single commander of all French three times a week. One of the Air Forces. first problems requiring settlement ^^eittt dtia alfance &mbattmte Apart from everything else, tech• was the fusion of the two armies nical difficulties arising from the led by General de Gaulle and fact that North African French General Giraud, and before troops are" receiving equipment General Giraud's departure to the from the Americans, whilst the

1 Fighting French arc mostly Dakar in September 1940 and High Commissioner, Admiral equipped by the British, arc such who was replaced by Pierre Charles were again taken. The two most Robert, had consistently remained that they cannot be settled over• Cournarie, Governor of the spectacular were probably the dis• faithful to Vichy, but evidence was night. Settled they will be, ho.vever Cameroons. Cournarie had been solution of the Parti Populaire now forthcoming that he realised —and in time for the coming major with the Fighting French since the Frangais, the pro-Fascist party the time had come to change his operations on the continent of beginning. headed in France by the arch- policy. The Committee announced Europe. traitor Jacques Doriot, and the July 1st. The Cornmittee made dissolution of the " Black Trade the constitution of a delegation Meanwhile the Committee has public, among other decisions, the Unions "—professional organisa• which was " to negotiate the return achieved great successes in ad• intention of forming a military tions created by Vichy, of which of the French Antilles to French ministrative and political fields. tribunal destined to deal with membership was obligatory and of unity in the war." The delegation The following table will give some crimes committed by certain autho• which the presidents, secretaries was headed by M. Marcel Hoppe- idea of these achievements:— rities against political prisoners in and treasurers were appointed by not, member of the Giraud Mission June 25th. In a plenary session, North African concentration camps the State. to the U.S.A., and included Colonel under the presidency of General and prisons who had in most cases de Chevigne, head of the Fighting de Gaulle, the Committee studied only been guilty of loyalty to the French Military Mission to the French Antilles Join the following decrees : (i) cancel• ideals of Fighting France, at a time U.S.A., Captain Wietzel, of the the Allies ing all measures of repression taken when North Africa was still under Fighting French Merchant Navy by the Vichy authorities against the Nazi jackboot. In the first week of July it be• Headquarters, as well as a! member French patriots ; and (ii) imme• July 3rd. The Committee again came apparent that a new situation of the French Naval Mission in diately restoring to office all civil had a long and fruitful session. It was being created in the French America. At the same time servants dismissed or demoted by was announced afterwards that Antilles, and notably in Mar• Brigadier-General Henri Jacomy, Vichy or the enemy for patriotic " the National Festival of July 14th tinique. The Antilles were the only commanding a sub-division at activities. will, this year, be celebrated with French territory outside Japanese- Rabat, was appointed General June 29th. The Committee particular brilliance in a spirit of occupied Indo-China which had Officer Commanding French forces accepted the resignation of Pierre national and republican unity for not yet returned to war by the side in Guiana and the Antilles. Boisson, Governor-General of victory and the liberation of of the Allies and was not under Out of all this hard work two French West Africa, who opposed France." the authority of the French Com• certain facts emerge; the new the Allied attempt at a landing at July 6th. Many vital decisions mittee of National Liberation. The Committee of National Liberation

2 3 s in London were rcvitv 0 :m • ia! d'tefc>'er de la Vivjerie.

detachments of American and " France is not a sleeping has taken great strides towards the stration such as the tovra has never British troops, and then came the beauty. She will not be gently restoration of the repubHcan spirit seen. French detachment, appearing for awakened one day. She has got to and regime in French North and " Before the dais from which the first time ceremonially in new fight for her freedom. Today West Africa, and it has done much General de Gaulle watched a drill uniforms modelled on the French people are assembled en• to cement the unity for which all military parade was a banner bear• American iniform. thusiastically under their flag, patriotic Frenchmen have been ing the words ' Alger capitale de " The infantry were followed by demonstrating their unity in Algiers working so hard and so long. VEmpire.' mechanized and motorized units in striking fashion. Our people are " About 200,000 people crowded of all kinds and including French united in one desire—to wage war the streets to witness a ceremony tanks. until they are free. How Algiers Celebrated the which fell into two parts. The first " General de Gaulle stepped " Certain people have imagined Quatorze Juillet was the traditional military parade, down from the dais to shake hands that our soldiers are different from which was led by a United States with war veterans who were parad• those of other nations, and that Unity under the sign of the Army band. The second was a ing for the first time with their flags they could be induced to plunge Republic—that was the keynote of civilian demonstration in which since they were disbanded by blindly into battle without finding the great celebrations which took General de Gaulle addressed dele• Marshal Petain. No moment in out why they were going to their place everywhere in the French gations comprising various groups, the parade was cheered so heartily death. These so-called realists are Empire on July 14th, 154th anni• including Communists and the as this." ignorant of stark reality. French versary of the capture of the extreme Right, who had carried on In his speech, General de Gaulle resistance has never flagged and Bastille by the people of Paris. resistance during the Armistice spoke of the fervent desire of France was never more united In Algiers the ceremonies were period. France to fight for her own than to-day. Never have our particularly brilliant. This is how " Before reaching the dais freedom :— underground organizations been the Times correspondent described General de Gaulle reviewed guards " After three years of trials the so numerous or so highly deve• the scene:— of honour of French, British, and French rise again. To-day the loped. " Patriotic fervour which Algiers American troops, and the three spirit of resistance in France is " The Fourth French Republic has not found occasion to display national anthems were played. He stronger than ever. Never before will want to be served and not since the beginning of the North was accompanied by General Juin, has the national rising that will made to serve. France will African campaign was released to• representing General Giraud. In greet the Allies been so fully pre• advance. France will take a new day in a Fourteenth of July demon• the parade the American band led pared as it is to-day. highway to freedom." 4 5 AFRICA GENERAL GIRAUD'S LONDON VISIT he.w French Army:Chis(f. • of- Talks with Chiefs of Staff jtaff, (left) General rf- Larminac and (right) General Giraud, co-president of have been made along the road to Genera,' Juin . the French Committee of National victory since the autumn of 1940. Liberation and Commander-in- By defying Germany at the very Chief of the French Forces in North zenith of her power, the country and West Africa, arrived in London of Winston Churchill made it pos• on the 21st July, on his return sible for all the forces of Freedom- journey to Algiers from the U.S.A. Russia, the United States, Overseas and Canada. He came to this France—to rearm, to unite and to country as a guest of the British reorganise. Last autumn the init• Government, and his crowded pro• iative passed to our side ; we still gramme included an audience with have it in taking the oflTensive and the King, lunch with the Prime we shall have it all the more with Minister and Mrs. Churchill, talks our success. After Stalingrad, with Chiefs of Staffs and Ministers, Tunis ; after Tunis, Sicily. Here and a visit to French Headquarters the Allies have achieved what the in Carlton Gardens, where, at nine Germans were never able to do in o'clock in the morning, on the 22nd spite of their boasting : they have July, he was welcomed by General transported whole armies across the d'Astier de la Vigerie, General de sea in one operation, set them Gaulle's Deputy, and he inspected ashore despite opposition, and a Guard of Honour of all the established a bridgehead which, is Services, who afterwards marched being extended every day. Soon past as General Giraud took the it will be the French army's turn to salute. take its place in the lines, this That evening. General Giraud time with the ultra-modem equip• broadcast on the B.B.C. French ment which President Roosevelt Service : has assured me will be delivered as Co-r.r,,:t'ce of National " Only a few days ago I was in quickly as possible. in session in Algiers. America, an America buzzing with " Never has an army set out with the noises of war factories produc• such a sacred sense of its mission ing more and more planes, tanks, or such a fierce resolution, for we ships and regiments. To-day I are bent not on conquest or even speak to you from London before defence, but on rescue and de• this microphone through which, liverance. unflaggingly, a band of French " Soon it will be Lorraine, patriots has been giving you Alsace, Victory ! Soon it will be reasons for confidence. From Liberty I Soon it will be . . . London, where General de Gaulle France I " rallied together the heroic vanguard of the Army of Liberation. From London which bears the honourable Pressing Need of Equipment scars of enemy bombardment and which was, in the very darkest At his Press Conference, the days, the citadel of hope and following morning. General Giraud resistance. gave further precisions of the press• " H is here that one can best ing need of equipment for the measure the immense strides tliat Frendh Army in North Africa, and >UCCES?Eb OF THE - NORMA-NDIE SQUADRON Seven Months of Conibac in Russia

It is seven months since—in the its gallantly well worthy of the best words of their commander, Squad• traditions ot the men of Fighting ron Leader Louis Tulasne—the France. men of the Normandie Fighter These se\en months have seen Squadron " put away their tropical the growth of a rare comradeship shorts to don Russian moccasins with the fighting men of Russia and fijr coals. U is seven months with whom they have shared the since the first group of officers and dangers and hardships of one of the N.C.O.'s, tanned by the hot sun of most ferocious campaigns of this or Teheran, stepped from a Soviet any war. Such a comradeship is a plane into—the heart of a Russian rare and precious thing, and can winter. Seven months since they only be created by those who hold made their first acquaintance with to the same faith in a common the men of the Red Air Force who cause. were to be their comrades in the fight against the common enerj^y. Interview with Squadron Seven months since, in welcoming General Giraud talking in a Freich parach jtisi and Air Marshal Leader d Astier de la Vigerje, after reviewing French troops jn London. the Squadron to the territory of the Soviet Union, Ilya Ehrenburg, Squadron Leader Tulasne has of the promises made by President proved that given the necessary the well-known Russian journahst, himself spoken of this remarkable Roosevelt to accelerate the delivery arms they would do all that was wrote these words : solidarity in an interview he gave of vital supplies. At Casablanca, he expected of them. General Giraud " I have found myself face to face to a Soviet journalist : said, he had already told President cited an instance at Medjez el Bab with the real France. I have met it •• We quickly made friends with Roosevelt and Mr. Churchill of the on the 19th November, when two again buried deep in the snows of the Soviet airmen," he said, " and state of the equipment of the squadrons of the 4th Chasseurs Russia.- From afar we have fol• now feel ourselves to be members seasoned French troops which, be- d'Afrique (commanded by Colonel Jonging to the Army of the Armis• Lecoutteux), with their rifles and lowed with affection and emotion of the family." tice, had only the arms the Germans anti-tank guns held the bridge the exploits of the patriotic French '• We quickly made friends with had'allowed them to keep. How• against a vastly superior enemy soldiers. Now we see them on the Soviet airmen "—and not only ever, during the six months of force consisting of two German Russian soil. They have borrowed with the Soviet airmen, and the fighting in North Africa, between infantry battalions, a group of our fur caps, our ear-protectors and Soviet people, but with Russia the 19th November and the 12th 105's, four squadrons of Stukas and our fur-lined boots. But on their herself For Squadron Leader May, 75,000 troops were in action a tank squadron. By the evening breasts they carry the badge of the Tulasne went on, " and summer —first, fighting on their own, until only 80 of the 190 French soldiers Fighting French Air Force, and here—these pines, the wild straw• the advance guards of the British engaged in the action were alive. the coat-of-arms of Normandy." berries, this river, all this resembles and American armies arrived, after• The bridge, as a result, never fell to And Ehrenburg added this : France so much ! " wards with these forces—and they the Axis force. suffered 15,000 casualties: 2,500 " Soon we shall hear more of the This is a new Russia for most of men are known to have been killed, Normandie Sqtiadron—and of its us, who think of her as a land of and the numbers of missing have 40,000 prisoners captured by successes." vast, unending spaces and limitless French Forces not yet been counted. The French Seven months ago . . And in snow, this Russia of pines and wild Army, with its out-of-date equip• By the end of the six months of those months we have indeed strawberries which put the French ment, fought splendidly against the fighting, 50,000 French troops were "• heard more " of the Normandie pilot in mind of home. Germans using Tiger tanks—they still in action in Tunisia. The other Squadron—and of its successes. But it was Air Commodore Valin, were tried out in North Africa 25,000 had either been relieved as Chief of the Fighting French Air before being sent to Russia—and the British and American troops Those successes have been many, its exploits inspiring and numerous, {Continued on page 12) {Continued on page 20) 9 F.A.F.L. FRENCH PILOTS IN MEN Oi- .OfUv1ANDl£" FIGHTER SQUADROhTJ SUCCESSES OF THE "NORMANDIE" SQUADRON War, First Degree. Two other {Continued from page 9) oflicers and an N.C.O. of the Squadron received the same Order Force, who said in a recent broad• in the second degree, the citation cast that he had promised not to commending them all for their speak of the Nonnanclie Squadron " exemplary execution of orders until it should first have had its against the German invaders." successes, and before writing further The Squadron has from first to of the squadron it would be well to last come in for a lot of attention imitate his example, and say what from the Soviet Press, and a great those successes have been. deal of space has been given to its Flying Russian-built aircraft many exploits, reflecting the keen (YAK 1), the Normandie Squadron interest which Russian readers went into action last April, and have shown in the men who are drew its first blood in combat with fighting with their own pilots and German Focke-Wulf 190's. flying the machines which Soviet FIGHTING FRANCE IN THE NEWS. Two pilots, a Marseillais, named workers have built, " Izvestia " Durand, and Preciozzi, a Corsican, recently published an article from a French Commandos in " He is married to a Chelsea girl were escorting Russian bombers special correspondent who paid a Lampedusa l^aid working in the Aliens Department on a raid on a railway objective. visit to the Squadron at the Front of the Home Office. He was at and described for his readers the On the return flight they were 13.6.43. French commandos were Dieppe and St. Nazaire and helped navy blue uniforms they wear, intercepted by two Focke-Wulfs. mentioned as being in action, by to destroy 34 enemy planes at listed their decorations, and gave There was a fierce dog-fight, which James Cooper, Sunday Express Kairouan in a hit-and-run raid vivid impressions of leading per• ended in the destruction of one of correspondent with the commandos, earlier in the year." sonalities in the unit. It is clear the enemy aircraft, which crashed in his story of the first raid on that for the Russian people the French Forces with Allies in in a forest, and in damage to the Lampedusa which gave the Allies Normandie Squadron represents a Sicily other. Both the French pilots the necessary information concern• first-rate " Human Story." This General Giraud, when visiting brought their machines safely back ing its defences to enable them to interest is all part of the general the United States Military Academy to base. Round One to the capture it so quickly after Pantel- friendliness which characterises the at West Point, revealed that French Normandie Squadron, it was a laria. " It was just a week ago," he relationship of the men of the troops were taking part in the pleasant augury for things to come. wrote, " that 1 went out with squadron with their Russian hosts. fighting in Sicily. Since that day the enemy has had torpedo-boat crews and comman• Two New Squadrons in Action rough handling by the Squadron, dos to find what opposition the and a report last month gave the " France "—Open Sesame little rocky island could offer. The It was recently announced that score as twenty-five Nazi planes It was in this same " Izvestia " Italians have described that visit two new squadrons, the Artois destroyed. Since then the Squad• article that the story was first told as a raid in force which was Squadron and the Picardie Squad• ron has fought with the Russians of the two French pilots, who, being repelled with heavy losses. Ac• ron, have been in action. The in the great counter offensive out of petrol, were compelled to tually it was a small scale com• Aitois Squadron operates from around Orel. Within the last make a landing on the outskirts of a mando landing aimed at the French Equatorial Africa and the fortnight the French flyers have village near the Russian front, and destruction of the island's radio Picardie Squadron from Syria. brought down four Messerschmitts found themselves surrounded by a station and signal tower. Governor-General Cournarie and three Focke-Wulfs. Squadron hostile crowd, not unnaturally sus• " Few commandos took part takes up Appointment Leader Tulasne destroyed one of picious of men speaking a foreign these planes. in the raid, but they were all 14.7.43. M. Pierre Cournarie, language. One of the crew, the seasoned men, including fourteen successor to M. Boisson as Gover• French gallantry and skill has story goes, promptly saved the Fighting French led by a 32-year- nor-General of French West Africa, been recognised by the Presidium situation by a single word, old lieutenant, formerly of the arrived in Dakar, after touring the of the Soviet of the U.S.S.R., " France," which he called out Foreign Legion, who was taking Cameroons. He was Governor of which has awarded to Squadron loudly and repeatedly. The word part in his fourteenth or fifteenth the Free French Cameroons from Leader Tulasne and Captain Albert was an " Open Sesame " to these raid. ' I forget which,' he said. November 1940. Litolff the Order of the Patriotic {Continued on page 20) 13 12 THE WEAPON OF SILENCE ^horiique ies Lelltes Lib'reg

French Writers under the Occupation Le drame des Letfres Fran^aises sous I'occupation: Trahison o What first struck me when I saw It can only be published in a Avant d'analysei eomine U le viclion Intelleciuello raerite ie benu llvre de Jacques neiOn q«i, converti X 's study, after the Germans liberated France. Until then— Maritain : A travers U dfsastre, rait VSSJiJi came, were the gaps among his silence." books. The close-packed volumes * * * had shuffled and spread : rows of X belongs to the group of bindings leaned obliquely on the French writers—by far the largest laborators before the fact. Add to depleted shelves : the overflow no group—who have resolutely refused these, the " opportunists " whose longer littered the window-seat or any and every form of collabora• convictions, if any, date from the piled up in corners. Fully a third tion with the enemy. Taken as a defeat—Bonnard, Chardonne, Her- of his library was gone. whole, Frenchmen of letters reflect mant ; and the equivocal on-the- " Stowed away for safe keeping," faithfully the attitude of the nation ; border sort, like Paul Morand and X explained, and added with a among them there exists a minute the ageing Henri Bordeaux. There percentage of capitulards and col• wry smile, " fortunately there was a the list ends, for it is hardly possible cache ready and waiting, the one laborators—and an overwhelming to include among French men of my patents used for their silver in majority of resistants. letteirs the unknown scribblers and 1870." The outside world has come to penny-a-liners born of the defeat Even more striking was the recognise the fact, in spite of the fog like a swarm of blowflies. absence of papers. They used to of censorship that lies over Nazi- What gave "prominence to this lie about the room in an untidy dominated France, and the efforts very negligible percentage of French risky procedure, since the mere clutter. Every fiat surface held of German propaganda to obscure intellectuals was the fact that they presence of a familiar name in a crazy heaps of notes, sheets and or distort the picture. and they alone could make them• Nazi-sponsored sheet, has sufficed folders that no housemaid was ever " Presque toiite I'inlelligence selves heard in Nazi-dominated to compromise the writer. (The permitted to tidy. ' Now, not a fia/ifaise, presque lout le lyricisme France. As for the others, only Nazis have seen to that.) For all paper was in sight except for a few fran^ais est centre nous," admits the writers In exile such as Maritain these men, the problem of existence scribbled pages on the table-top. Drieux la Rochelle, who as editor and Bemanos have been able to is acute. Some manage to exist X 's papers had joined the of the blatantly pro-Nazi " Nou- speak out openly. For the past through the help of devoted friends, books in their retreat. The Ges• velle Revue Fran^aise " is one of three years, they have served as some live by expedients, accepting tapo was " just a little too curious," the militant advocates of Franco- mouthpiece for their comrades in work, however humble, that as• X told me. " They came one German collaboration. France, condemned to silence be• sures them food and shelter—pro• afternoon when I was away and The list of French writers who cause of their refusal to collabor• viding it is honourable and can in spent several hours prodding flower have gone over to the Nazis barely ate. Of this last group, little can no way be interpreted as a com• beds" in the garden with their exceeds a dozen names, few of be said, since to praise the attitude promise. Many temptations have bayonets." which arc outstanding (twelve— of any given Svriter singles him out come their way. They have been X showed me the ingenious when the total number of French as a target for reprisals. Some like approached, solicited, threatened hiding-place where he kept the authors includes at least 100 dis• X have shut themselves away ... to no avail. France will have MS. he was at work on. The tinguished names and fully five in the country, hidden their notes every reason to be proud of her scribbled sheets on the table were times as many talented if less- and papers, and in the silence of a men of letters when at last their purely decorative, he said. He left known writers). Foremost amongst dismantled study work at an MS. story may be told. them lying there ... to amuse the the twelve are men whose enthu• that can only see the light of day * * * " visitors," in case they came again. siasm for Fascist doctrines and in a liberated France. Others con• Silence, however, is a two-edged In the meantime, his new book was methods dates from pre-war days. tribute anonymously to the clan• sword. nearly finished. Montherlant, Drieux la Rochelle, destine press; still others have Effective as a weapon against the " What do you intend to do with Celine, Chateaubriant, Fernandez contrived through the medium of invader, it has meant that the great it?" I asked. . . . Their acceptance of the Nazi verse, or literary criticism, to define voice of France, that of her thinkers " Leave it where it is—in prison. order was logical : they were col- their attitude—a courageous if and writers, has been stilled for 14 15 years—an incalculable loss both for The character of this particular HONOURS FOR THE MERCHANT NAVY Frenchmen at home and for the German is revealed in a series of world at large. " conversations "# which are. in "Felix Roussel" Officers ar Men Decorated for Action at Si lapore There appeared recently in Lon• fact, monologues. Beneath the don the first of a series of publica• green uniform is the Germany that " The Felix Roussel is in port." Japanese had repaired the cause• tions called appropriately " Les mis great—the Germany of Beet• At the words, there flashed across way, they were already on the Cahiers du Silence " which aims to hoven and Bach, of Kant and my memory a vivid picture—a great island. At the entrance to the bring before the public the manu• Goethe. The oflicer is a survival white ship against the blue of the harbour, a swarm of enemy planes scripts of the " silent " authors of of that past, a spectre in flesh and Mediterranean, with the hills of dived on the ship. Back and forth France. blood that hopes—naively—for Estaque in the background, as she they wove, dropping bombs and " the marvellous union of our two The first number to be published headed in towards the docks of raking her with fire, while machine- peoples," a marriage of love be• contains a long nouvelle " Le Si• Cape Pinede. I had seen her often guns blazed all along the Roussel's tween Beauty and the Beast, be• lence de la Mer." The author thus, or lying alongside the Mole E decks. Two planes went hurtling tween brute force and subtle spirit. signs himself Vercors. This nou• with her white sisters, unloading into the sea—one for each of the " Out of this war, hideous in itself, velle had already been published precious cargo after her passengers bombs that struck amidships be• will come great things. . .. We need clandestinely in France by " Les had streamed ashore. A handsome tween the RoussePs twin funnels. France. . . . France will teach us to Editions de Minuit." ship—one of the finest of the pas• While men on the top deck fought be really great and pure." senger fleet that sailed in peacetime fires, engineers coaxed the motors It is difficult for those who have This romantic idea of collabora• from Marseilles to Suez and ports to work again (at the blast of the never lived in enemy occupied tion, an idea fragile as glass, is east... bombs they had shuddered and country to realise what such a necessarily shattered when this Three long years since I saw her stopped) and the ship moved on to publication signifies in terms of dreamer contacts reality •— his last—and there she lay, the long the quay to unload troops and daring and resourcefulness. As the brother oflRcers, men of Hitler's wall of her hull towering above the munitions. All day the work went preface points out, the author, the Germany who say : " This is our quay of a British port. No longer on—the gaps in the deck were publisher, the men who advanced chance to destroy France . . . not white : she was as grey as the docks patched ; dozens of snapped elec• funds, procured presses and paper, only her power, her soul. Her soul about her, but the silhouette against tric cables mended ; when night the type-setters and binders, in fact is the greatest danger. . . . We the pale northern sky was unmis• came, the Roussel took on refugees everyone who touched the book will corrupt her thinkers . . . she takable. An old friend in a war• . . . thirteen hundred women and risked his life and liberty. Yet the will crawl at our.feet like a dog." dress, with 130,000 miles of sea and children. Then she put to sea— book was printed and distributed, the last great ship to leave Singa• And so the drama of" collabora• a gallant record behind her. Battle- and a copy found its way through pore—and began the long journey tion " moves to its inevitable scarred and dingy, with her flags— the police barriers and over the north, running the gauntlet of air defeat. More than that—Germany the Tricolour, the Lorraine Cross Atlantic Wall to England. and under-sea attacks to bring her herself and her only authentic and the Union .lack—fluttering overhead, she had never looked precious cargo to safety. " Le Silence de la Mer " claim to greatness is lost : she is her own victim . . . and assassin. more noble. Bit by bit, I gathered the story First Clandestine Book from the men who had lived it. The one word spoken by the two In February 1942, she was at The story has three characters : It was none too easy a task to listeners throughout the story is Singapore—one of the last great an old Frenchman, his niece, a break down their wall of reticence, when the defeated dreamer leaves ships to put in at the doomed port Nazi officer. The Nazi in the house since men of action everywhere are for the hell of the Eastern Front. ... only a few hours before the end. ... the situation, the hostile silence notoriously chary of phrases. "Yes, It is for him and for all that he She carried troops, the 9th Royal that's the way it was . . " they ad• of the old man and the young hoped for . . . " Adieu." Northumberland Fusiliers. Every woman are typical. Only the man aboard knew that the chance mitted, " but what of it ? Others officer is not true to type. The I do not know who wrote the was desperate, but still they hoped have done more, and been through author did not intend him to be so " Silence de la Mer "—what author, ... " Good work," said one of worse...... He is a thought, a symbol, a surely great, whether old or new. the officers, as their destination was It was all part of the war job— creation of the author's mind. As one of the clandestine sheets flashed to them at sea. " Yes, and getting men and materials to stated Could such a German exist to-day ? said recently : " For us and for perhaps ... good-bye," nodded the points at stated times . . getting The author asks the question and the present, names mean little. Captain grimly. them there, whatever the cost. A gives the answer. If he does exist, What counts is that French thought It was not " good-bye," but very long task, faithfully carried out for he is doomed. can find expression." close . . The city flamed ; the months on end—the task of the 16 17 Merchant Navy in wartime. They by one, Captain Wietzel read the were not working for glory, they citations : that of the Roussel's were working for a ship. Three Commanding Officer whose skill years .. and no leave for anyone on and courage saved the ship and her board, until they reached the passengers and brought them from British port. Singapore to safety ; that of the For her "part in the action at present Captain who, as Second- Singapore, " for the gallant con• in-Command of another ship, duct of her Captain, her officers leaped into the sea to ward off a and crew," the Felix Roussel was floating mine that was drifting mentioned in the Order of the Day dangerously near. . . Four officers of the Forces Frartfaises Litres. and four men of the Roussel's crew Early this month, in the port where •were also honoured for their action she now lies after long months of at Singapore. service, individual members of her Other merchant seamen to re• staff and crew received honours, ceive honours were . the Captain, together with seamen from other two engineers and four gunners of a gallant ships of the Marine Mar- freighter that took part in a running chande de la France Libre. fight with a U-boat, damaging the The ceremony, at which Capi- enemy and putting him to flight, and taine de Vaisseau Wietzel, Director the Captain of a second freighter of the Merchant Fleet (France who brought his torpedoed ship Libre) presided, was dignified and safely to port and, while doing so, simple. It took place in the former went to the aid of a sinking trawler. " winter garden" on the Roussel's Last of the series, the engineer of a promenade deck—as bare to-day as torpedoed tanker' who, with a the deck of a battleship. Partici• group of volunteers, boarded the pants and distinguished guests- blazing ship after the crew had city and harbour officials, French taken to the boats, put out the fire and British officers—stood on three and saved the tanker and her sides of a hollow square, facing the cargo. Brave men all . . of whom guard of honour. France and her Merchant Navy may well be proud. The ceremony on board the Fusiliers Lost their Lives Defending the Ship Roussel ended with the unveiling of a metal plaque on the main A minute of silence in honour stairway. Draped with bullet-torn of the ship's dead . . and of all the flags, it bore the ship's citation and brave dead of the war, opened the an inscription in French and ceremony. As the bugle sounded English to the memory of " five the " Salut aux Morts" Frenchmen brave soldiers of the 9th Royal who listened associated in their Northumberland Fusiliers who thoughts the Roussel, the gallant gave their lives in defence of the Fusiliers who lost their lives defend• ship on the 5th February, 1942, at ing her, and the memory of a ship Singapore." As the ceremony that is no more : the Roussel's came to an end, the strains of the sister ship, lost after many months Marseillaise and " God Save the of faithful service somewhere in the King " echoed through the ship— winter Atlantic. . . a symbol of the union of two great A second bugle-call brought the peoples in the cause for which these minute of silence to a close. One men had died. 18 SUCCESSES OF THE " The Italian passengers began "NORMANDIE" SQUADRON to scatter and were immediately {Continuedfrom page 12) MESSAGE TO FRANCE taken prisoner. Amongst them people, to their homes and to were six Italian generals who were their hearts. trying to escape from Tobruk under It is a simple story, this, hut cover of the Red Cross." " In North Africa, which is once more French and free, a start has been one not without its signiTicance. Tnen follows this agreeable ex• made towards liberation. French soldiers of that Army of Africa, Squadron Leader Tulasne was change ; which the enemy believed disarmed and disrupted, have fought vic• clearly a hero to the journalist " Pravda " correspondent: " Per• toriously in the ranks of the United Nations, and like those Frenchmen from " Pravda" who recently mit m:, Squadron Leader, to con• who, from Egypt to Tunisia, shared the fortunes of war with our 8th interviewed him, at a field aero• gratulate you on that remarkable Army, the French troops in North Africa fought with incomparable victory ! " drome near the front, and pub• gallantry. lished a sympathetic account of the Squadron Leader Tulasne: "I flew under the British flag. That activities of his Squadron. The "Indeed, the battlefields of North Africa have witnessed the birth of a Squadron. Leader was pressed to was a coalition victory." new brotherhood in arms between our soldiers and yours, a renewed give sOine account of himself during The Interview ends on a note of confidence and a mutual professional respect among soldiers. the time he served in Africa before high confidence, which may, in its taking up his duties in the Soviet turn, serve as a fitting conclusion to " In Algiers, a French Committee of National Liberation to-day presides this brief account of the Normandie Union. Squadron Leader Tulasne over the destinies of a French Empire which is reunited under a single is quoted as follows : Squadron in its relation to the brave authority. Its aim is to bring the maximum contribution to the general " I met an Italian Savoy 79 fighters whose cause—the cause of war effort of the United Nations. In a word, France is back in the war ambulance plane flying from all the United Nations—it is help• Tobruk when it was besieged by the ing to defend. as a great power. That is a result of far-reaching significance. It is British. Red Cross signs pre• " The hour is near," said the also a moral triumph which Hitler, that expert in systematic demoralisa• vented me from opening fire, but, Squadron Leader, "when the now tion, believed absolutely impossible three years ago. Has he not recorded simply because I approached, the occupied territories of our countries that ' a nation which has once voluntarily capitulated will never again brave Italian pilot immediately will be completely cleared of the find sufficient reason or the energy to take up arms again' ? landed on the beach inside the Germans. We may be certain of British lines. victory ! " " Hitler mistook the shadow for the substance. The people of France did not capitulate. Neither did they allow themselves to be identified with the ' capitulards.' Instead they resisted. Without this resistance the re-entry of the French Empire into the war would lose its significance, GENERAL GIRAUD'S since in the last resort it is the French people who must be the deciding LONDON VISIT rate, and America was doing every• factor in their own destiny." {Continued from page 8) thing possible to speed supplies for the 300,000 French troops under advanced, or had become casualties. ANTHONY EDEN. QUATORZE JUILLET These 50,000 troops succeeded in his command. {from a broadcast) taking 40,000 prisoners between the The purely military nature of his 1st and the 12th May. visit was stressed several times by General Giraud, who said that he General Giraud said that he had The Editor of "La Lettre de la France Combattante " seen the inferior equipment of the had come " as a beggar, to beg informs readers that, following a decision of the French French Army in 1940 and he did supplies for the Army." He also Committee of National Liberation, the title ot this not wish French forces to fight aflfirmed the desire of France to win publication will be changed next month. The magazine will continue to be published as usual in London. again so ill-equipped. If he had the peace, and added that his father decided that French troops should fought in the war of 1870, he in fight in Tunisia without proper 1914, his sons in 1940, and he hoped material, it was because he felt it his grandsons in 1960 would not SubscriptloiiB to LA LETTRE DE LA FRANCE COMBATTANTE was absolutely necessary. The have to fight again—his grandsons, (NEWS OF FIGHTING FRANCE) should be sent to The Editor, equipment that had now been pro• who, with their mother, were now Ld Lettre de la France CpmbattanU, Fighting French Headquarters, 4, Carlton Gardenj, London, S.W.I.. Subscription rates—68. for mised from the U.S.A. was first- being held as hostages in Berlin. 12 months, Ss. 6d. for six months. 20 21