Evening star., 1941-11-17

Mr.. Porter, Dho had been Paris
correspondent since 1887, re-
manned in Paris during and for
sir months after German occu-
nation, returned to America on
leope and then ,Dent back to the
occupied territory.
BY ROY P. PORTER.
The saying goes in France, either
occupied or unoccupled:
Ninety out of every 100 French
men are against coll -boration with
the Germans; out of the remaining
10, five are making money dealing
with the Germans and the other
five are trying to get travel permits
from the Gestapo."
While this statement has the
earmarks of wisecrack, it never
theless is characteristic of COM
mon French attitude in political
and commercial cooperation with
German occupation authorities.
The primary reason, Informed
Frenchmen say, is that the inde-
pendent French are shying away as
much as possible from any contact
social, political, or economic
with the victors in the 1939-40 war.
And. these sources continue, while
the French, constantly harassed
during 18 months of military occu-
patton, are nearing the point OF
subjugation, they still retain enough
spirit to make German efforts
toward collaboration bog down time
after time.
The degree to which this oppoSi-
ton goes, on the basis of an official
French analysis in the occupied
territory. varies in three different
kones.
This sounding of public opinion
was conducted through the Offices
of the regional projects in the zone
under German control and its re-
suits tabulated by experts under
the supervision of Ambassador Fer
nand de Brinon, Vichy's contact
man in Paris with the German
military authorities and himself
leading collaborationist.
Inc analysis SHOWS.
!. Opposition is most active In
Brittany and Normandy in extreme
Western and Northwestern France.
The Bretons and the Normans,
tough, hard-headed. independence
loving people who furnish the best
sailors for Frances navy and mer-
chant marines, are traditionally
opposed to any kind of occupation.
They fought the Celts. Normans
and even French revolutionists in a
vain effort to achieve the indepen-
dence of Western France. They dis
puted with British troops stationed
in Brittany before the 1910 German
blitzkrieg which ended in Frances S
defeat. And now they are fighting,
with both active and passive re-
sistance. the German occupation.
M. De Brinon, commenting on
this phase of the projects reports
said recently: The Bretons and the
Normans are, and have been, against
anything and everything. They even
are against themselves"
Some of the facts brought out in
the report showed:
An active campaign of sabotage is
In progress. Mysterious attacks re-
eulting in the deaths of individual
German soldiers are frequent. Bodies
of Germans are pulled out Of canals
and rivers.
German Soldiers Slain.
An almost legendary story has
grown up in one sma commune
near Saint Malo, fishing port on
the English Channel in Northern
BRITTANY. In the center of this little
village stands a large tree. historic
In local annals as landmark for
fishing boats, and around which
Breton and English soldiers once
fought a series of engagements.
Each week for the last several
nnonths-the report specified the
Incidents began in July, l941-the
body of a German soldier has been
found lying under this tree. One
week it may be Tuesday, the next
week it may be Friday. but, the re-
port said, one German dead Is found
every week.
German military police have post
ed sentries around the vicinity, they
have watched night after night II
an attempt to catch the attackers
thev have threatened dire reprisal!
on the civilian population, but the!
have not yet arrested any person
they could prove to be connected
S,,ifh tho prisly discoveries
Another frequent form of opposi
tdon in Brittany Is the accidents
which happen to German soldier
strolling along the clay cliffs over
looking the Channel. The winding
paths have always been dangerou
because in fog and mist they becom
extremely slippery. Residents of tn
region know the most dangerou
spots. but the Germans do not. No
do the Bretons admit that all tn
German bodies f1shed out OF thu
Channel may not have gotten ther
simply as a result OF Academia
falls"
A French official from one Bretol
village went so far as to say to M
one day: Those paths always wer
very slippery, but, my they certainl,
have gotten lot more slippery re
cently!'
Acquitted Men Executed.
Nantes, on the southern edge o
Brittany, was the testing ground TO
German reprisals when 100 hostage
were executed in two patches of s.
for the fatal shooting of 1t. Co