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Show 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 Neivs Analyst and Commentator. occupied French territory as it is liberated, lib-erated, piece by piece; also of creating cre-ating the machinery for the final plebescite which will decide the permanent per-manent government. Great Difficulties The committee itself works under great difficulties. Many of the members mem-bers are utterly inexperienced in politics and they have responsibilities responsibili-ties much greater than a normal governmental body would have. They must serve as an administrative administra-tive agency, they must serve as a Quasi - legislative body, and they must likewise plan regulations governing gov-erning procedure in the interim between be-tween liberation of France and the time when a free election is held. The recent meeting of the assembly assem-bly (February 29) began the long and complicated consideration of the plans for the provisional government. 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 discussion discus-sion in the coming weeks and months, and in its application thereafter. 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 forward, for-ward, the French committee would be placed in charge under this plan. Immediately municipal officers would be selected, councils for each municipality. mu-nicipality. When an entire province has been taken over, each munici- i WNU 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 he 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 temporary 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 har-rass the German forces, as they are doing every day and every night, iespite 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 firearms 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 and distribute them." It is very difficult to write of that shadowy world, the European underground, under-ground, for even the few scraps of information which one might piece together make a dangerous pattern pat-tern which might bring swift enemy reprisal. 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 underground un-derground organizations, by political politi-cal organizations and by labor and other groups, and have been smuggled 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 approximately approxi-mately one for each 100,000 inhabitants, inhabi-tants, i Finally, the day comes when Al-j lied troops march down the Cnamps 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 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 liberated, 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 assembly. as-sembly. The national committee would cease to be "the executive body but would assist the assembly, under un-der this chosen government, to work out the plan for the general election elec-tion which would 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 letter let-ter of the French constitution and law. There are, however, many practical difficulties which arise. Take the question of woman suffrage. suf-frage. Under the French constitution, constitu-tion, wnrncn are not permitted to vote. However, at present,- with most of the men away In the army or as deportees In Germany, the women make up the majority of the population. Therefore, it would be desirable for thern to cast the ballot In order to get a true representative opinion of any locality. Meanwhile, the cry of the loyal Frenchman, In and out of his country, coun-try, is for unns and ammunition, dynarnile and the oilier tools ol (sabotage and demolition wilh which they believe they can vitally disrupt dis-rupt cor nmunientioiiH and assist the invasion. There is no question about the efficiency and the effectiveness of this silent army in France, in all the occupied countries for that matter. 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 back 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, according ac-cording to a story that is now current 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 expensive ex-pensive Allied air raids, long and carefully planned, had failed to destroy de-stroy this dam. Not long ago, word came to another an-other group of these French guerrillas guer-rillas that a German munition train was about to move over a certain stretch of track. The bolts were removed 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 civilian 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 liberated liberat-ed by the Allied armies. The committee com-mittee must labor In an atmosphere of deliberation and enforced delay vhich the mood of the underground finds it hard to grasp. The members of the French National Na-tional Committee of Liberation, with headquarters In Algiers, have gradually grad-ually achieved more and more authority 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 vhich they desired and deserved. de-served. However, within recent weeks, It has been evident that the Allies arc changing their ultra-conservative policy and it Is now taken for granted that representatives of this committee, arid later the provisional pro-visional assembly, which meets In Africa, and which In made up of persons representing various groups In Kranee, will be given the r'-spon-r.ihililieg (it administering the re- |