Evening star., 1941-08-12

day. expensive by French stand
ards. And there wasn't much food
to be had though the Chalon re-
gion is one of fattest in France.
Nothing at all could be had with
out food tickets. I had none until
our Embassy in Paris sent me a
batch of German Army food tick
cts supplied foreign diplomats by
the authorities Of occupation. With
these I could occasionally get half
a pigeon or a chicken leg and now
and then a microscopic piece OF
inferior meat.
Shortage Of Vegetables.
Oddly enough there was a great
shortage of fresh vegetables. NY
restaurant proprietor said that 1t
all went to Paris. The Germans
and the Petain regime-do their
best for Paris, knowing how ugly
the Partisan populace can get. Yet
from Paris I heard that weeks went
by when there was no meat at all.
Fish, usually plentiful and cheap,
was very scarce because the Ger
man military authorities along the
coast aren't keen about having the
fishing smacks go very far to sea.
Sometimes they don't come back.
Our guards, very decent boys,
we're shocked by what we got TO
eat. They had meat twice day
and vast platters Of vegetables.
They simply couldn't understand
why prisoners like myself who could
afford to buy food from outside
Jared so badly. It never occurred to
them apparently that the Deutsche
Wehrmacht was snaffling every
thing. The usual explanation was
that the French were bad managers.
And one heard lot about the
British blockade.
From scores of fellow prisoners
who came from Chalon I heard
about the German gsrrison's cele-
bration of Christmas. and how, for
days, the garbage cans outside the
big cafe had been converted into a
soldatenheim for the exclusive use
of German soldiers, were piled high
with refuse, foodstuffs that the
French hadn't enjoyed for months
roasts that had only been nibbled
at. puddings, cakes, etc. This does
not make for better feelings between
occupied and occupant.
Cells Were Overcrowded.
In cells built for one there were
usually three or four of us. One
of us had the solid oak construc-
ton, carved with the initials of
generations of wrongdoers. The
others drew the floor. Each man
had straw pallet and two blankets,
all very soiled, if not infested.
In March it was very cold. The
Germans had outraged the French
prison management by installing
little coal stoves, but there was never
enough coal. And for weeks the ther-
mometer in the early morning hours
hung around 10 above Through the
Red Cross I was able to buy an
eiderdown sleeping bag. Most of the
others slept in their overcoats when
they had them.
Inc Vermln proDlem was serious.
About the bedbugs and feas, at
home there for nearly a century,
there was little to be done. But the
lice we kept more or less under con-
troll by washing our clothes repeat
edly, washing down our cells with
creosote and by scrubbing any COM
rades who seemed to be harboring
guests. This correspondent success
fully organized movement to shave
the heads of two Gypsy lads who
had way Of not only picking life
from the luxuriant hair with the
greatest tenderness, but of Tipping
them at the rest of us.
Our existence was built on a rigid
routine, but never was there a dull
moment, for reasons that I will ex-
plain IN my next article.
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