Evening star., 1945-05-25
500 B-29s Blast Tokyo Again;
French Urge Break With Spain
After Refusal to Give Up Laval
Assembly Group
Demands Action
ToOust Franco
BY the Associated Press.

PARIS, May 25.-The French
Foreign Affairs Committee asked
the De Gaulle government today
to break relations with Spain,
force the extradition of Pierre
Laval and propose means to the
Allied Nations to force General
issimo Francisco Franco from
office.
The committee is composed of
members of the assembly and it
corresponds roughly to the United
States Senate Foreign Relations
Committee.
The recommendation to Gen
Charles de Gaulles government as
serted that the Franco regime was
no different from the erstWhile
Fascist government of Italy before
its surrender.
The Spanish regime was termed
a menace to- world democracy.
Wants Laval Handed Over.
The committee also demanded
that the government lose no further
time in forcing Spain TO hand over
Laval to France Laval, chief of
government in the Vichy regime, is
under death sentence in France as
a traitor and is in custody in Spain
after fleeing Germany by air.
The committee said the Allies
should take joint action to remove
Franco, head of the Spanish gov
ernment since the old republic was
overthroWn in civil war, and provide
the Spanish people with the means
of holding an immediate consulta-
tive election.
The committee said the Franco
regime was forcibly imposed and
that throughout the European war
its neutrality was a fiction. The
pronouncement said the security of
France demanded the resignation of
Franco and the substitution of a re-
publican form of government.
Dispute Over Laval.
The Laval case has been develop
ing over the last three weeks into
a serious dispute. He landed at Bar
celona early this month.
France asked Spain to deliver him
to the frontier and the Spaniards
refused.
Both the United States and Great
Britain were reported to have urged
Spain to surrender him. The atti-
tude of both governments, however,
was said to have been that the Laval
affair should be settled directly be-
tween France and Spain.
The suggestion that a British
warship take him to French port
was said to have been accepted by
the British Foreign Office, but it
was reported here that Britain later
baked. Laval eventually may be
flown back to France.
:. Italy Urged to End Ties.
Even as the French committee
spoke out, the Communist Party
publication L'Unita in Rome called
on the Italian government to break
off diplomatic relations with Spain,
charging that Franco was giving
refuge to high-ranking Fascists.
The newspaper asserted that
Filippo Anfuso, Italian Fascist Am
bassador to Berlin, had arrived in
Barcelona late in April aboard a
"Croat plane" and was using the
name of Count Monoi of Monsas-
sino. The publication said:
Pending application by the demo-
cratic governments of the Yalta de-
cisions, which provide for complete
destruction Of all remnants of Fas-
cism, let us for once set the example
by breaking with Franco"
A London dispatch described Brit
ish reaction as wait and see." The
British Foreign Office declined COM
ment and officially responsible cir
cles took the position that Britain
still had normal diplomatic rela-
tions with Spain.
Discussions Inevitable.
British quarters said discussions
with Spain on such questions as
Tangier, the African zone opposite
Gibraltar which Spain occupied
during the war, were inevitable. 1t
was emphasized that the French
committee action was a recon-
mendation and not in itself a break
in relations.
It was recalled that a year ago
Prime Minister Churchill deprecated
the fact some people think our
foreign policy is best expressed by
drawing comical or even rude car
toons of Gen. Franco" He said the
Spaniards had Continued absolute
ly friendly and tranquil throughout
the period Of warfare in the Medi.
terranean, though under German
nreSSllre