The Waterbury Democrat., 1942-12-17
PRO-NAzIS IN NORTH AFRICA
 BECAME HATED
By WALTER CRONKTTE United Press Stan CorrespOndentl

Pore 1FNNtey, Ffench Morocco - (Delayed) - (U,p) - A baby. faced boy Of le, bundled into an overcoat which concealed the French Foreign Legion uniform that would have branded him adeserter, offered me Q list of Frenchmen to- day,
 We want you to shoot them as soon as possible" he exclaimed,
 Those on the list were prov hy Frenchmen, They had been in the minority, but for two years they had matters their own way and ruled with an Iron hand under NaA guld- ance, The fostering bitterness which has arisen between them and pro. Allied Frenchmen is . baffllng prob. lem for the ablest diplomats with the American occupation forces In French West Africa,
 Before I encountered that boy I had been sitting at sidewalk cafe filled with laughing, gleeful French. men, It was the "qro~ Allied" cafe of Port Lyautey, Across the street was the "pro-Vichy" almost empty, "Waltcd Two Years" We have had to whisper just as they whisper in Germany and Fran ce," an Allied sympathizer told me He was wearing the trieolor badge his friends had broken out when the American troops arrived. We've waited two long years for you to come" he said, ,"sowe could talk out loud once more" There were Sullen looks from the pro-Vichy cafe. I felt uncomfortable sitting there as though I had step. ped into a family feud, So left and then I met the boy who wan. ted to kill all pro-VlchyiteS,
 He stopped me to inquire the way to American Army headquarters, He answered my quisical look by open ing his overcoat just Q bit to reveal Q glimpse of the bright uniform os the Foreign Legion,
 T have waited two years for a chance to escape sos could fight with the democracies again the boy said, When the Americans came I ran away from my regiment at Meknes and walked 80 miles here, Now will you tell me where the Americans are?"
 Had To Be Returned
 I told him, but knew he faced a rude shock. The American forces had received scores of French Leg ionnaires-Poles, Russians, Czechs and others who had similar ideas, But the Americans had no facilities to care for them and, technically, now that armisticc delegates were meeting in Algiers, they were under obligation to return these lads to their troops,
 Another problem is what to do with the merchants of Morocco, who want to do little business aS usuar with tho help of American merchandise and American money, There are score of first-class shops in this modern colonial out. post of i7,000 persons, some fan- cier than those in an American city of similar si2c, From the hardware merchant to the beauty operator, they told the same story to the first Americans to arrive,
 Nov if America will just send us something to sell" they said, Received Little Goods
 They pointed to empty shelves, Virtually isolated since the fall of France, little merchandise had reach cd them.
 The population would like some- thing to buy, They have fair amount of staples like meat, fish, cereals and the like, which they can produce themselves, but they need clothing, other foodstuffs and gaso- line for their immobilised machines
 The averages of idleneSs are visl- ble throughout Port Lyautey. Its modern docks and warehouses once handled thousands of tons of ship ping annually, sending millions of dollars worth Of merchandise in- land to Meknes and FeZ.
 But when the Americans came they found the machinery of the dock cranes rusted, Ships had been up the river for months or years, either interned or hiding.
 The merchants are clamoring for American goods to speed up the slowing commercial heart cf West Africa.