Evening star., 1942-10-19
French Flyer Victim
0fU. 5. Plane Over
Africa, Na1is Say
Berlin Radio Quotes Viehy
On Reported Fight
Soltl, of Dokor
By the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press.
NEW YORK, Oct. ia vichy
dispatch broadcast by the Berlin
radio said yesterday that 1t. Comdr.
Ballliere, French officer killed in an
air hight on the African west coast
october II, was hit while flying as
an observer in French plane which
was attacked by United States
pursuit ship.
The French officer, according to
the dispatch, had been ordered to
make a reconnaissance flight south
OF Dakar ito obtain reliable infor-
nation about the strength OF United
States reinforcements landed at
Freetown recently" + = ;.
Freetown is on the coast of the
British West African colony of
Sierre Leone, and the vichy account
indicated the air fight started over
or very near British territory.
Interested In u. s. Landing.
The French machine was hit by
q single bullet, which killed the ON
Ger, but the pilot brought the plane
to Konakry in French Guinea, the
Vichy account said.
The report was one of several
broadcast from Berlin indicating
that the Germans were showing the
liveliest interest in a message from
London Saturday, not ofilcially con-
flrmed, that United States troops
had landed In the Negro republic Of
Liberia.
There was no comment from Ger
man sources, but the Berlin radio
said Spain was deeply concerned by
the possibility that her African pos
sessions might be involved in mill
tary operations. Madrid political
fand diplomatic observers" were
quoted as saying that American and
British forces are landing on the
African west coast because conveys
have difflculty reaching the war
zones by way Of Northern Russian
ports or through the Mediterranean
Sea.
Consequently, in Spanish opinion,
1t was said, supply and troop
transport route from Brazil, the
United States and Great Britain to
various West African ports was be-
ing organized despite the submarine
menace of the coast.
Bathurst Mentioned ~ Base.
The Madrid newspaper ABC was
quoted as saying the United Nations
would not need French Dakar even
If large bases we're established on
the African west coast. It was con-
tended that Bathurst, in the British
crown colony of Gambia, a little
more than 100 miles south Of Dakar,
would serve the military needs OF
the United Nations.
Another Vichy dispatch broadcast
by Berlin said that American
agents" were intensifying propa-
ganda among natives along the
African west coast, favorite means
of 'incitation" against the Axis
being a charge that the shortage of
tea, sugar and rum is due to military
operations Of Germany and Italy.
u. s. Planes Reported
InsDokor Ait Force
LONDON, Oct. 10 lR.Dakar's
air force was reported by . Fight
ing French oficer yesterday to tn
clude American-made planes which
were still in packing cases in French
Morocco when France signed the
arn1istice with Germany.
Writing in the Sunday Express
the officer, whose identity was not
disclosed, said the West African
port had been strengthened with
"all that Petains France had In
the way of modern equipment" and
was the most powerfully defended
town controlled by the Vichy gov
ernn1ent.
The French fleet at Dakar, the
officer wrote, is composed of the
patched up modern battleship Rich
elieu, the 7,600-ton cruisers Gloire,
Montcalm and Georges Leygues; the
modern 2569-ton destroyers Fan
tasque, Malin and Terrible; three
1,380-ton submarines. five 600-ton
submarines, nine small submarines
recently sent from Toulon, the sub
marine supply ship Jules Verne,
three mine sweepers, 10 corvettes
and some other light units.