Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1943-03-18
Revolt in Savoy

Inc patriotic rising in the Sa-
voyard highlands against Axis tyr
amy, whatever its outcome, has an
epic quality that instinctively grips
the hearts of liberty loving men.
wherever they may be found.
Throughout France, especially, it
should be as a beacon, presaging the
liberation of happier morrow.
Haute Savoie-High Savoy, is off
the tourist track. Yet multitudes of
Americans have glimpsed its rugged
heart as they gazed at the eternal
SHOWS of Mont Blanc from the es-
planade at Geneva or looked across
the lake from Lausanne at the ma
jestic grandeur of the Dent du Midi,
1t is in that tumble of mountains
which bars the confluence of France,
Switzerland and Italy, that streams
of resolute men have taken refuge,
fleeing from the cruel edicts which
condemn them to forced labor in
Germany. The core Of resistance is
a group of veteran French Army
officers headed by a certain General
Cartier, described as "a lean, luxury
hating puritan, devoutly religious"
a sort Of modern Cromwell" who
fasts periodically, marches indefati-
gably, and batheS in icy mountain
streams. This picked nucleus has
been supplied with weapons from
parachutes dropped by British air
planes. For months they have lain
quietly in the mountains, avoiding
observation and gathering recruits.
The forced labor edicts OF Pierre
Laval swelled the tide of fugitives to
a flood. Some of these young labor
draft evaders have proved faint
hearted, but the boldest defy an off,
cial ultimatum and persist In their
resistance. Up the valleys move de-
tachmentS of Mobile Guards, Vichv
gendarmes Well-paid to do Laval's
dirty work. Behind them, in reserve,
stand regiments of black-uniformed
SIS, ready to 60 into action if the
French mercenaries fail to do their
job against their fellow countrymen.
The fight is on. For several days,
the rumble of mountain guns has
echoed across the Swiss frontier.
Neutral observers are not Sanguine
of the ability of the insurgents to
hold out long against odds described
as suicidal" Yet the morale of the
patriots is reported to be high, and
their determination to prefer death
to slavery in the Reich is said to be
mistaken. Desperate and perhaps
prolonged resistance may therefore
be anticipated in a region where
squads of dauntless men equipped
with automatic rifles and machine
guns can sometimes hold regiments
at bay. Even bomb dropping air
planes are not always effective
against groups we'll hidden in narrow
gorges or on rock-strewn slopes.
Meanwhile, all over subjugated
France, evasion, sabotage, and covert
ACOCiA1oAA sloW aPo~S. why Aho
German agents throw police cordons
around the working quarters of
French cities, making house-to- house
searches and rounding up sullen
laborers to be shipped like cattle to
Germany. The quotas Of forced labor
agreed upon between Vichy and
Berlin are thus filled by presSgan
methods. Nothing less can produce
the required totals. The efficiency
of such reluctant labor can be mag
ined in German industrial centers
Systematically devasted by the
R. A. F. and its block busters"
France thus strains at her letters.
And, in the Savoyard mountains,
some Of her sons have already broken
their chains.