The Humble Echo (Humble, Tex.), Vol. 2, No. 39, Ed. 1 Friday, March 10, 1944 Page: 2 of 8
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THE HUMBLE ECHO
Washington Ditfestj
Allied Command Aided
By French Underground
Quarter of Million Men in France Said to Be
Ready, Anxious and Able to Bear
Arms Against Germans.
By BAUKHAGE
News Analyst and Commentator.
IVNU Service, Union Trust Building
Washington, D. C.
“Arms are what we want, arms,
arms, arms!”
My companion leaned across the
table and pounded it with Gallic
fervor, his black eyes flashing.
It was our first meeting for more
than a year, and I knew that those
eyes fixed on me so earnestly had
met the light of the desert sun, for
hi‘had/fought with the Free French
forces under De Gaulle in Africa
and had had many an adventure
serving his country abroad before
he returned for this visit to his tem-
porary home.
“We have a quarter of a million
men in the French underground,
ready, willing, able and anxious to
bear arms—only one out of 20 of
those has a single firearm, and that
means that while 12 men can har-
rass the German forces, as they are
doing every day and every night,
despite their inadequate help from
the outside, 228 others must sit,
twiddling their thumbs. They are
getting very tired of waiting but
their ennui would leave them if fire-
arms could be put in their hands. If
America will provide them, we will
guarantee to get them into France,
we will guarantee to transport them
anA distribute them.”
'“^t is very difficult to write of that
shadowy world, the European under-
ground, for even the few scraps of
information which one might piece
together make a dangerous pat-
tern which might bring swift enemy
reprisal.
There is no question about the
efficiency and the effectiveness of
this silent army in France, in all
tiie occupied countries for that mat-
ter. There is no question about the
fact that through it flows a steady
stream of information out of the
heart of the enemy territory right
hack to the Allied high commands.
Today two-thirds of the Creusot
factories, once the makers of the
•famous French 75s, long a vital
source of the German arms supply,
have been put out of commission
by a group of loyal Frenchmen, ac-
cording to a story that is now cur-
rent in Washington.
Few Involved
They did it at very little expense,
few men were involved, and not a
single civilian life was lost. They
did it by blowing up a key dam and
thus cutting off the electric power
from the plant. At least three ex-
pensive Allied air raids, long and
carefully planned, had failed to de-
stroy this dam.
Not long ago, word came to an-
other group of these French guer-
rillas that a German munition train
was about to move over a certain
stretch of track. The bolts were re-
moved and the rails spread. Then
came the word that ahead of the
munition train was a passenger
train. Immediately men were sent
out to flag the passenger train and
order it to slow down while other
men worked feverishly to put back
the bolts. The passenger train went
on safely. Once more, the bolts
were withdrawn and before long,
the munition train was a wrecked
and smoking mass. No French ci-
vilian had been injured.
Less dramatic is the thankless
and difficult task which the French
National Committee of Liberation
has before it, attempting to work out
with the provisional assembly, the
machinery for administering the
areas of France as they are liberat-
ed by the Allied armies. The com-
mittee must labor in an atmosphere
of deliberation and enforced delay
which the mood of the underground
finds it hard to grasp.
The members of the French Na-
tional Committee of Liberation, with
headquarters in Algiers, have grad-
ually achieved more and more au-
thority under the Allies. There have
been many obstacles to overcome
and the French, of course, feel that
they have not been given the free
hand which they desired and de-
served. However, within recent
weeks, it has been evident that the
Allies are changing their ultra-corn
servative policy and it is now taken
for granted that representatives of
this committee, and later the pro-
visional assembly, which meets in
Africa, and which is made up of
persons representing various groups
in France, will be given the respon-
sibilities of administering the re-
occupied French territory as it is lib-
erated, piece by piece; also of cre-
ating the machinery for the final
plebescite which will decide the per-
manent government.
Great Difficulties
The committee itself works under
great difficulties. Many of the mem-
bers are utterly inexperienced in
politics and they have responsibili-
ties much greater than a normal
J governmental body would have.
They must serve as an administra-
tive agency, they must serve as a
quasi - legislative body, and they
must likewise plan regulations gov-
erning procedure in the interim be-
tween liberation of France and the
time when a free election is held.
The recent meeting of the assem-
bly (February 29) began the long
and complicated consideration of the
plans for the provisional govern-
ment. One typical plan suggested
can now be described in some detail
although, of course, it is likely to be
modified as a result of the discus-
sion in the coming weeks and
months, and in its application there-
after.
It covers, roughly, two phases.
First, is partial liberation.
Just as soon as the Allies have
taken over a portion of France and
the military organization moves for-
ward, the French committee would
be placed in charge under this plan.
Immediately municipal officers would
be selected, councils for each mu-
nicipality. When an entire province
has been taken over, each munici-
pal council already functioning would
select delegates to the assembly now
existing in Algiers. There are, at
present, about 110 members of this
assembly, composed of Frenchmen
who have been selected by the un-
derground organizations, by politi-
cal organizations and by labor and
other groups, and have been smug-
gled into Africa. They would be
joined, or perhaps substituted by,
the newly elected delegates chosen
by the municipal groups of each
province. There would be approxi-
mately one for each 100,000 inhabi-
tants.
Finally, the day comes when Al-
lied troops march down the Champs
Elysees and across the Seine to the
Place du Palais Bourbon. Then the
ancient building, which housed the
chamber of deputies of the Third
Republic, will open its doors to the
new assembly. By this time, it will
probably represent at least two*
thirds of France.
Second Step
Now the second step of the plan,
now considered, will be taken.
The assembly will have reached,
depending on the populations liber-
ated, some 400 members.
Then the provisional government
(I use the word “government” in
the European sense; we would call
it the “cabinet” with an executive
head) would be chosen by the as-
sembly. The national committee
would cease to be the executive body
but would assist the assembly, un-
der this chosen government, to work
out the plan v for the general elec-
tion which vfould decide upon the
form of government which France
would have.
However, this election could not
be held at once for the thousands
upon thousands of Frenchmen taken
from their homes for forced labor
in Germany and elsewhere would
have to be repatriated first.
Every attempt is now being made
to carry out the preliminary plans
for procedures in the spirit, if not
exactly in accordance with the let-
ter of the French constitution and
law.
BABY CHICKS
Get your chicks from a poultry farm. We
are breeders of eighteen breeds of pure and
hybrid chickens. All matings of Leghorns,
Minorcas, Rocks, Giants, Australorps,
Orpingtons, Anconas, Wyandottes, Reds,
Games and Austra-White and Layorca hy-
brids. Write today for our free descriptive
literature. Hornung Brothers, Poultry
Farm, Cameron, Texas.
Quality Baby Chicks at new low price.
Giants, Rocks and Australorps, as hatched,
$10.50; cockerels, $11.90; pullets $15; Ancon-
es as hatched, $10. White Leghorns $12.50 as
hatched. Light breed cockerels $3. Order
now. Neighborhood Hatchery.Brenham,Tex.
Baby Chicks from blood-tested flocks of
Looking for Sugar
BABY CHICKS, we breed White Leghorns
------- pUj]ets> —’-
ur ordei
KUBALA HATCHERY, Schulenburg, Tex.
erels at $4 per 100;
chick
book
cock-
rder now.
Mazanec’s Reds—Only ROP Red Breeder
in Tex. Laying contest winners. U. S. cert,
heavy layer chicks, $15.75 hundred p. p.
Literature free. Anton Mazanec, Waco, Tex.
Business Opportunity
SALE OR LEASE—Store building on cor-
ner, a live spot, main Hway. to Camp
Hood. (Other business.) ARTS PHOTO &
GIFT SHOP, Box 687, Killeen, Texas.
CHICKS
BROILER CHICKS for immediate delivery
only, straight run as hatched $8.90 per
hundred postpaid. We do not guarantee
breed or color, yet you may get all one
breed. Order from this ad. Send Check or
Money Order or we’ll ship C. O. D.
BERRY’S ENID HATCHERY
127 East Main - Enid, Oklahoma
MAZANEC’S REDS—Only ROP Red breed-
er in Texas. Show winners. Laying con-
test winners. U. S. certified heavy layer
chicks $15.75 hundred, postpaid. Literature
free. ANTON MAZANEC, Waco, Texas.
COTTON SEED
Anton Improved Pedigree cotton seed direct
from originator, breeder and grower; pri-
vate ginning battery, properly bred and
selected for prolific yields; 1 1/32 quality
staple; 40% lint; big storm proof easily
picked bolls; drought resisting; seed Cere-
san treated. W. H. ANTON, Lockhart, Tex.
HARM FOR SALE
200-ACRE MILAM COUNTY FARM, 3Ya
miles north Thorndale, Texas; 2 sets im-
provements; 85% cultivation; $75 acre.
HENRY L. MELDE, Thorndale, Texas.
FOR SALE
FOR SALE
ARMY RAINCOATS
Used, reconditioned, sound, serviceable.
Sizes — large, medium and small. Bargain.
$1.00 each postpaid. Send money order or
check.
ALEXANDRIA HIDE & FUR CO.
ALEXANDRIA, LA.
HOTEL APARTMENT HOUSE; No vacan-
cies. Wonderful opportunity. Selling ac-
count age; $8,000.00, small down payment,
easy terms. Box 2037, Glen Rose, Texas.
GRAPHOLOGY
LEARN TO KNOW YOURSELF and un-
HELP WANTED
MILL HANDS
With Experience in
Flour, Rice, Corn and Feed Mills
Steady year 'round work in essential
war activity. Pay in line with other
war plants. Hourly rate on incentive
plan.
PHONE, WRITE OR WIRE
HOUSTON MILLING
CO., INC.
P. O. Box 3012 (1), W-7145
long DUtones 831 Houston, Texas
HOGS
REGISTERED MEDIUM TYPE Poland
China bred gilts and pigs. Choice stock.
CHAS. L. STEPHAN - STAR, TEXAS.
MISCELLANEOUS
DOT-DASH ALPHABET (See) Boys-Girls
don’t miss this. Send a dime and self
addressed stamped envelope for alphabet
complete. C. W. CAMP, 700 North 24th
Street, Lincoln, Nebr.
PLANTS
Dalmation Broad Leaf Sage Plants, 6 for
$1.00. Write for prices on greater amount.
Harry B. Black, Leland, Mississippi.
RANCH LAND
4,300 ACRES IN DIMMITT COUNTY, Tex-
as, southeast of Carrizo Springs on Brund-
age-Asherton Highway. About 1,000 acres
subject to clearing for cultivation; remain-
der good ranch land. About 3 miles front-
age on Nueces river. Well fenced. TRUST
DEPARTMENT, FROST NATIONAL.
BANK, SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS.
REGISTERED CATTLE
REGISTERED BRAHMAN BULLS
4 two year olds; 7 one year olds.
Write or phone
M. G. SIMONS - LE WARD, TEXAS.
REGISTERED Jerseys, nice assortment
fresh and heavy springing young cows
and heifers; also bred and unbred heifers.
REED & BUTLER, TRENTON, TEXAS.
TRAILERS
AVAILABLE: Within 10 days upon surren-
der of WPB Certificate, all sizes of grain,
cattle and van trailers. Write, wire, or
phone for further information.
HYDE CORPORATION
401 N. Main, Ft. Worth Tex. Phone 2-6383.
TRAILER REPAIRS
DOES YOUR PRESENT TRAILER NEED
REPAIRS? Possibly new cattle racks,
grain boards or new floor. We splice trail-
ers, add number of feet desired and repair
commercial trailers of all makes.
HYDE CORPORATION
401 N. Main, Ft. Worth. Tex. Phone 2-6383.
Good Buy for You!
★ UNITED STATES WAR Bt)NDS ★
Good By for Japs!
You SAVE when you
buy. You SAVE when
you bake, with ..!
Clabber Girl
CLABBER GIRL goes wit
the best of everything, for baking
CLABBER GIRL
HUtMAN AND COM PA N V TERRE H A ii T E . . I' N D 1. A N A
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Beaumont, E. The Humble Echo (Humble, Tex.), Vol. 2, No. 39, Ed. 1 Friday, March 10, 1944, newspaper, March 10, 1944; Humble, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth648360/m1/2/: accessed June 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting Humble Museum.