Evening star., 1943-01-27
1000 French Officers
Reported Held by Axis
In Plot 10 Join Giraud
Failure of Escape Plan
Viewed as Handicap in
Drive Against Enemy
BY BLAIR BOLLES.

The NaziS number among their
prisoners 1000 French Army Of
f1cers who had made secret ar
rangements with Gen. Henri Giraud
to escape France and join him in
North Africa, it was reported today.
The absence of these men creates
diff1cultieS for Gen. Giraud and
Gen. Charles de Gaulle in fulfilling
the agreement made at sablanca
during the talks OF President Roosa-
welt and Prime Minister Churchill
to organize major French fighting
force that could play large role
in forcing the unconditional sur
render of Germany and Italy. The
two generals need officers.
Meanwhile it was hoped here
in the wake of the CasablanCa
conference that the United States
and Great Britain would force the
sending of the French ships i'm
modified at Martinique and Alex
andria, Egypt. back into the war
against the Axis.
The arrangement with the officers
was made by Gen. Giraud before
his escape from France and the
British Navy had plans to take
them from France to Gibraltar
then to North Africa--by barges in
small groups from a number of
embarkation points along the
French Mediterranean shore.
Gen. de Tassigny Led Group.
The leader Of these men was Gen.
Jean de Lattre de Tassigny. who,
until his recall to France by the
Vichy government last August, was
French military commander in
Tunisia. where he inspired the colo
NAL troops with so vigorous an anti
Axis sentiment that Germany forced
his removal.
The plan to move De Tassigny
and the others fell down because
of a misunderstanding by Gen.
Giraud about the date of the North
African invasion. He learned about
the precise date only three davs
before the landings were scheduled
though he had been figuring that
ne had two weeks in which to COM
plete arrangements for the officers
transfer.
The invasion Of North Africa pre-
clpltated the Axis occupation of all
of France before the officers could
be removed, and they were arrested
by the GermenS almost at once. The
arrest of Gen. de Tassigny has been
reported previously, but without ex-
planation of its reason.
Some of the French troops fight
ing in TuniSia in company with the
Americans and British are men who
served under De Tassigny, and they
reflect his teachings.
Could Battle U-Boats.
Augmented by the Martinique and
Alexandria ships, the French Navy
observers say, could make a useful
contribution to curbing the U-boat
war that is harassing Allied trans
Atlantic shipping and reducing the
effectiveness of the American war
production program.
The U-boat warfare remains a
serious obstacle in the swift de-
velopment of the Roosevelt Church :
i'll plans for a blow that will crush
the enemy.
The course Of events in the war
since the Allied landings in North
Africa has erased the major con-
siderations that led to the American
agreement for the immobilzation of
the French ships in Martinique and
the British agreement for the i'm
mobilization of the French ships at
Alexandria.
A factor in these agreements was
concern lest the Germans use the
French ships in Toulon and Africa
if the United Nations insisted on
using the French ships in Mar
Unique and in Alexandria. There
was also concern that the Ger
mans might try to take control of
the French ships in Martinique.
Now most Of the ships that were in
Toulon have been scuttled, and the
ships in North Africa and at Dakar
have joined the Allies. The French
Navy available to the Allied Nations
consists a. of a fiotilla of small
craft at tn disposal of Gen. de
E,alllla