Evening star., 1945-05-24
French Troops Move
Into Action in Two
Colonial Possessions
By the Associated Press.

fAR1S, May Z4.-Ihe map OF
the French Empire was splotched
with red today as blood flowed
in three important areas France
claims as her own. They are
Indo-China, Algeria and Syria
Lebanon.
In the first two countries French
troops already are in action. In
the third, trodble was building up,
with Spokesmen for the Syrian and
Lebanese protesting the arrival of
French reinforcements and declar-
ing they would resist with every
means at their disposal any in
fringement of their sovereignty.
In all three areas the troubles
stem from the collapse of France
in 1910 and the consequent weaken
ing of bonds between the mother
country and the colonies, both in
actual physical communications and
from the standpoint Of French
prestige.
Japs Take Over.
The japanese Army entered rub
ber-rich Indo-C China in the fall of
1910. For nearly four years Tokyo
paid lip service TO the fiction of
French sovereignty there. Early in
March the pretense was dropped
and the Japanese oficially took over
the whole country.
The small and inadeouately armed
French colonial forces tried to fight
but they have been driven into DESC
late inaccessible mountains on the
border between Tonkin and South
China.
The joint British and Free French
campaign against the Vichy gov
ernment's hold on Syria and Leba- .
non also came in 1910. France had
acquired mandates over the two
countries from the League OF Ma
tions. After the expulsion Of the
Viehy regime they declared their
independence.
Nevertheless, they were completely
under French influence. Armed
forces in both countries remained
under the command of French off,
GERS and the policies of their govern
ments were more or less dictated by
the French, first from Algiers and
they from Paris
Seek Real Independence.
Today the Syrian and the Leba-
nese governments are trying to
make their independence a fact.
They have protested the arrival
of reinforcements which the French
say were sent merely in preparation
for Use in the Pacific. Riots and
strikes have broken out in Bey-
routh and Damascus. the capitals
Yesterday in Paris the Syrian and
Lebanese Ministers issued joint
statement that the whole Arab
world would assist the two countries
in resisting with every means at
their dispossl-bac cked by state
ment earlier in the week against
the French by the new Arab League
Of Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Iraq, Iran,
Yemen and Saudi Arabia.
Berber Tribesmen Rise.
Meanwhile, in Algeria something
very similar to the American Indian
wars has broken out on q large
scale. Berber tribesmen rose sud-
denly two weeks ago and attacked
French villages and outlying farm
houses. Nearly 1900 Europeans and
natives have been killed in the
fighting, by the latest French War
Ministry figures.
tReports reaching Washington
said the Algerian disorders
started in Setif, a town on the
railroad between A1giers and Con-
stantine, when armed native
bands attacked We day cele-
orants on May 8.
(These reports said from 1000
to 10000 natives and over 100
Europeans were killed in fighting,
which centered in the noun
famous region around Setif for
the next five or six days.
(The disorders were said to
have been brought under control
by French military air and naval
forces aiding the local police.
French ofiicials blamed the
disorders on two Moslem nation
alist groups, the illegal "Parti
Populaire Algerien" and the
"Amis du Manifesto" There also
was hint of participation by a
fifth column of former Vichyites
in the French reports.)
The famous French Foreign Le-
gion, supported by aircraft, has gone
into action against the mountain
eers. The government said the situa-
ton is coming rapidly under control.
Gen. De Gaulle's government thus
faces serious difficulty in re-estab-
fishing possession of the huge French
Empire. The Japanese simply
grabbed Indo- China and even their
defeat may leave conditions dis
turbed in a colony which already
has had native troubles. The ris-
ing tide of Arab unity is threatening
the empire seriously in other areas
where France exercises the biggest
single oyerlordship over the worlds
Arab population.