Evening star., 1942-08-05
1900 Vichy Trucks
Reported Delivered
To Romme| This Year
Mony Were Sobotoeed,
Indicating Laval Can't
Hold French People
By PERTlNAX.

! man high command whenever plans
for a second front seem to take
/ shape in London and Washington
! Between January and April of
| this year. no fewer than 1900 army
| trucks were delivered to Nazi Field
| Marshal Erwin Rommel by Vichy
| authorities. The United States Gov
! ernment lodged a protest against
| that form of military assistance and
! the Petain government had diff
cult time making explanations. But
recently it has become known that
many of the trucks slated for the
| Germans had been sabotaged be-
! fore they reached Marshal Rom
mel. Official German military pa
pers seized by the British in Libya
| tell the story. Marshal Rommels
staff was incensed and laid the
| blame on the careless officers in
| Tunis, who had taken over the huge
number of trucks without making
sure they were in working order.
That typical incident shows that
| the efforts of the French collabo-
rationists, however sincere. are
methodically undermined by the
rank and file which has to carry
out their instructions. Chief of Gov
ernment Laval. so far has not been
! able to straighten out that state OF
! affairs.
Gets Wheat Supplies.
At present, all indications of an
| official origin are to the effect that,
at the most, Rommel is getting sup
| plies of wheat and edible Oil from
Tunis. But the arrangements made
by Laval with the German high
| command eventually to face a sec
ond front would fare no better than
those which former Vice Premier
Jean Darlan had hand in when he
was at the head of the government.
Very little has been heard re-
Gently of the bargain whereby
French workmen were to be sent to
Germany in exchange for release of
French war prisoners from German
camps. The French workmen SIM
ply refuse to fulfill their share of
the bargain. They don't want to
60 to Germany.
Such being the case, the German
high command must treat France
as potentially hostile. 1t cannot
afford to withdraw large bodies of ,
troops from the occupied zone" to
feed the furnace in Russia with
maximum manpower. But the in
genious plan worked out last WIN
ter for massing all possible men and
machines in Eastern Europe and
still keeping a curb on the French
people continues to work. An area
near Paris has been set apart for
assembly and training new armored
divisions.
Three Units From France.
Germany had 20 armored divisions
! last year when she launched her
attack on the Soviet Union They
were refitted during the winter and
! increased to Is. OF these, two units,
the 18th and 2lst Divisions. are serv-
ing in Libya. But of the % armored
| divisions now engaged against the
Red Army, three, at least, came from
France and today fresh division
| is being formed there.
While these forces in France can
not be considered as fully efficient at
present, nevertheless, their presence
is impressive and they could be
used in an emergency. If Anglo.
! American troops were to be landed
tomorrow the German units would
he 1nnI tr,tn fr~, ~,
Western Europe pending the arrival
of reinforcements These troops
undergoing training did not partici-
pate in the big parade the Nazis
staged along the Champs Elysees in
Paris the other day. Only tanks
attached to infantry formations
were to be seen.
that the Germans and Italians are
not as well equipped with all the
weapons of mechanical warfare as
they would like the United Nations
to believe Marshal Rommels Afrika
Korps has only three armored divi-
sions, the 18th and 21st German
divisions, and the Italian Arieti
)lSlSlUIl. n SCCOllO lbnlidli al lilol GU
division, the Littoriale, is hardly
more than skeleton.
Question of Tanks.
But what has become OF the
French made Renault and Samua
tanks? They have not been reported
in action in either Russia or Libya.
Current reports are that they were
turned over to the Italians who
permanently keep two armored divi
sions in the Pc Valley, probably on
the theory that they may need them
if and when Hitler permits them to
enter the French districts adjacent
to Italy, which Rome has been
clamoring for during the last few
years.
In Libya, an additional armored
division would suffice to put an end
to the present stalemate. The odds
are the Germans have not found it
prudent to divert this division from
Eastern Europe up to now and it
remains to be seen whether Gen.
Sir Claude Auchinleck will be given
an extra division to forestall any
possible Nazi move.
The difficulties attending the set
ting up of a second front are so huge
that they tax to the utmost the
resourcefulness of the United Nations
commanders But if these difficulties
can be overcome, the German high
command might have to grapple
with a still more serious problem.
released by North American Newspap per
90 AllianceD