Evening star., 1944-05-21

1MESNnk611llSUesSkz8 ~ - - s*@+.A
onS of the men of the Maquis.
razor edge on a throat-cutting
pment.
NTH the population but also because
the men OF the maquis form an elite
and must set an example to their
countrynen.
s. There shall be no distinction Of
religion pr politics. Royalists and Conn
n1unists, Je,Ds, Christians and Moslems
are together in the ranks.
z. A man OF the mdQuis ,oiH sdcri-
flee himself for his con1rade and win
replace him tClen he is exhausted or
in danger.
8. A ,oounded man can never be
abandoned. The dead must be taken
atUoy and buried
9. The n1aquis polunteer piH not be
armed until he has proved himself
aoorthy by his toughness, training and
discipline OF receiuing one OF the rare
and precious 1Ueapons. He must neper
let it out OF his sight except ,Dlren 1t u
intrusted to the camp arn,orer. The
punishment for losing a ,oeapon Is
death.
10. Epery man OF the nnquis Is an
enemy of Marshal Petain and the
traitors 1oho obey him.
Live in Small Groups.
Difficulties of supply. as well as the
need to hide, force the men to live In
small groups, seldom more than so
strong. many miles from any inhabited
place. Even this isolation is not sufi-
cient for their safety. They must rely
on their mobility. In one district at.
tackled by the Germans not one unit Of
the guerrillas slept for two nights In the
same place. The worst of this errant life
Is that they often are forced to abandon
whatever small equipment they have
managed to get together. Sometimes the
men prefer to fight 1T out rather than
lose everything. .a1 .....l...-..
The men of the maquis fight and fight
hard. At the time of the Allied landings
on the mainland of Italy their repeated
sabotage of railway lines leading to the
peninsula were of great help to the Allied
command. Sabotage is not primarily
their job. 1t Is In the hands of another
secret organization. But they are al.
ways looking for targets of opportunity
UP TO date their operations have been
costly. Thousands Of the young bush
soldiers have been killed, but they have
inflicted much greater losses on tho
enemy.
Last fall, for example, the Germans
decided to clean up district In the
central mountains of France where, ID
was known, many "maquis" were in
hiding. They sent $500 storm troopers
and 5000 Vichy police. These fought a
real war for two months Their losses
were $50 Germans killed and 500
wounded and 12o Vichy police killed or
wounded. They killed 80 and took %
prisoners from the maquis. At the
tlme the guerrillas in this district were
few and badly armed. Now their mum.
bers have greatly increased and they
have much better arms supply,
Effect on German Morale.
They are having a real effect on Ger.
man morale. People recently arrived In
London from France say that German
soldiers are so nervous they never 20 out
unarmed, and keep looking behind them
for fear of being followed. In a train
they draw their arms every time thew
pass through a tunnel. Even members
OF the Gestapo never are known to 90
out alone.
Some fair-sized battles are fo,lrht
from time to time. Early in February
there was clash between a small group
OF the men of the maquis and German
armed forces of approximately $500. The
German troops had arrived by lorry
during the night. When the alarm was
sounded In the patriots camp eight
men were ordered to fight a stiff rear
guard action to enable the main force
10 Withdraw. The German troops were
equipped with flame throwers, grenades
and machine guns Only after an entire
oay OF bitter struggle did they succeed in
overcoming the rear-guard fighters, four
OF whom had been killed The main
BODY OF the maquis men broke through
the German lines and escaped. Forty
OF the enemy were slain Before with
drawing the patriots set fire to A. mimi.
lions dump and to large stocks of sun-
plies. The Germans celebrated this
great victory by setting fire to a nearbv
village with their flame throwers.
such cases are expected to nu,t;n,v
dally from now on AS more and more
men are drawn from the villages to At
into the skeleton maquis bands, Thev Will,
OF course, rise as one man when word
comes that the invasion of Eurone from,
across the Channel has started in EARNEST
Like troops of ghosts in the night
the men OF the maquis, constantly
under the noses of German soldierv
ana Vlchy police, carry out the raids
upon which they must depend for food.
arms and all other supplies,
1t is an exciting and picturesque life
Inc French Committee for Na,ionoI
Liberation Office here has just received
detailed description of such raid
from one OF the maquis men who took
part in it.
These are the men who will swarm
out OF the mountain gullies with fixed
oayonets when word Is flashed to them
OF an Allied landing on the continent
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