A badge of freedom for the Resistance warriors
Hour by hour the first complete picture of life in France since the time of Dunkirk emerges in cables from the invasion front.
This is the story to date, told by the Allied team of war correspondents.
The badge of freedom is today being flaunted in the fields and streets of liberated France by every man and woman who once fought ‘underground’.
It is a brand- new battle insignia recently issued and worn only by civilians — the red, white, and blue armband of the Fighting French bearing the Cross of Lorraine.
Throughout freed territory, quislings and traitors are being hunted down and often flogged through the streets by French citizens in a frenzy of hatred.
LASHED WITH WHIPS
In a typical outburst the people of Bayeux seized leading members of the collaborationist clique who had helped the Germans. The chief of them was forced to march through the town, while the populace lashed at him with whips and sticks.
‘There is a deep and intense bitterness among the French, more profound than anything we have experienced in Britain,’ says Christopher Buckley.
Many of them, says richard McMillan, have no conception of what the British suffered soon after the fall of France in holding out against German air raids, the u-boat campaign and the constant threat of invasion.
They are surprised to know we have rationing. They thought Britain was a land of plenty.
Germans bought up all luxury stocks with money the French regarded as valueless. ‘But we hid our best wines,’ a restaurateur
BAYEUX DISPATCH FROM BILL DOWNS
told Lionel Shapiro. ‘ We are digging for it now. In two or three days we shall have our champagne and beautiful sauternes to serve to our Allies.’
Wherever our troops arrive, they find Frenchmen who ask only for the chance to enlist and hit back at the Germans.
Within the Allied lines the French help round up groups of German snipers hidden in houses, shops, and debris.
‘In this village square,’ reports David McNicoll, ‘ two snipers who have just been dragged from the church spire are being taken towards the beach. A soldier told me suspicion was aroused when a woman in a black dress made three trips into the church.’
Yet some of the children have picked up a handful of German words — ‘Ja’ and ‘Nein’, they reply to our troops’ questions. This is the direct result of the attitude of the occupiers.
only one case of overt ‘collaboration’ has been recorded — that of a French girl who tried to pass through the wire cage to her captured German sweetheart a packet of photographs.
And yet the old life of France continues. The orchards are sheathed in blossom that looks like snow. An old Paysanne keeps chickens in a canary cage.
Now over the loudspeakers in freed France, and the whispering, hidden radios of the country the Germans still hold, come the words: ‘Allo! Ici Londres. Patience. On viendra bientot vous delivrer.’
Hello — London calling. Be patient. We are coming to set you free.