Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1942-12-25
French Arms Mission
Arrives 10 Advise j. )
On Needs in Africa
Gen. Bethouort Heads
Officers Who Will Aid
In Expeditine Supplies
By the Assocfated Press.

By the Associated Press.
Gen. Emile Bethouart, French
hero of two wars, arrived here yes
terday as head of military supply
mission for the French forces in
North Africa.
His primary function, it was UNI
derstood, will be to advise War De-
partment officials on the needs Of
the French African troops fighting
with the Allies and the types Of
Equipment they have been trained to
use.
Official announcements did not
specify the exact status of the mis-
sion or the machinery by which It's
supplies would be furnished. Since
the mission came here under the
auspices Of the War Department,
however, it was believed that Its
supplies would be allocated by the
assignment to the French forces OF
Army-owned Equipment, rather than
through lease-lend. Thus the re-
ception of the mission apparently
involved no political recognition of
it's principals, and no announcement
was made by the State Department.
Georges-Picot Is Aide.
Accompanied by several French
officers and by Brig. Gen, Shepler
w. Fitzgerald, commander of United
States forces in Central Africa, Gen.
Bethouart arrived by plane at Boiling
Field and was met by 1t. Gen.
Joseph T. McNarney, Army deputy
chief of staff.
AS liaison officer for this mission,
Gen. Bethouart has selected Gull
laume Georges-Picot, who was
counselor of the French Embassy
here from early In 1941 until rela-
tons with the Vichy government
were severed following the Amer
lean landings in North Africa. Many
of the embassy staff. including Am
bassador CASTOR Henry Haye, were
interned at that time but Georges
Picot was among those permitted
to remain in Washington because of
their known sympathy for the
Allied cause.
Gen. Bethouart himself. said the
War Department in announcing his
arrival, used his position as head OF
the French Armistice Commission
at Casablanca to resist Axis en-
croachments in Morocco and This
sympathy for the cause of the
United States and Britain has been
consistent and we'll known"
Headed Commission Year.
He. headed the Armistice Com
mission for more than year, and
since the American troops landed
in North Africa has been liaison
officer at Allied headquarters for
Gen. Henri Honore Giraud, whose
assistance contributed materially
to the success of the landings.
Gen. Giraud, now C commanding
French soldiers fighting with the
Allied forces in Tunisia, designated
Gen Bethouart to head the mission
in this country to coordinate the
movement of equipment and sup
plies.
Now SO, Gen. Bethouart is a grad
uate OF Saint-Cyr, who served with
distinction in the First World War,
when he was wounded, and won the
decoration of Chevalier de Maitre
d Honneur for heroism. Between
the two warn he served in various
assignments with troops and the
French general staff, including spe-
cial duties in Finland and Norway,
and a tour as military attache to
Yugoslavia.
In April, 1910, he took a division
of chasseurs to Norway, participant
ing in action at Namsos and COM
handing the Franco-Polish expedi-
ton to Narvik. Troops under his
command captured Narvik May %
and his heroism in the three week
campaign won him the rank of COM
mander of the Legion d'Honneur.
After the withdrawal of Allied
troops from Narvik, he was assigned
to a subdivision command at Rabaut,
Morocco. Later he was president of
the French Armistice Commission,
and last January Is he took COM
mand of the Casablanca Division.