Show with ernie pyle at the front i hungry paris rejoices at liberation from nazis last three weeks of occupation prove decided hardship on city EDITORS NOTE although ernie pyle is now in england and headed horns home for a much needed rest alter after two and one half years on the fighting fronts this column mas written before he left france by ernie pyle PARIS eating has been skimpy in paris through the four years of german occupation but reports that people were on the verge verae of starvation apparently we were re untrue the country people of normandy all seemed so healthy and well fed that we said all along well country people always fare best but just wait till we get to paris well see real suffering there of course the people of paris have suffered during these four years of darkness but I 1 dont believe they have suffered as much physically as we had thought certainly they dont look bedraggled dragg led and gaunt and p pitiful as the people of italy did in fact they look to me just the way you ernie pyle would expect them to look in normal times however the last three weeks before the liberation really were rough for the germans sensing that their withdrawal was in inevitable began taking everything for themselves there asvery is very little food in paris right now the restaurants either are closed or serve only the barest meals coffee and sandwiches and the national coffee as they call it is made from barley and is about the vilest stuff you ever tasted taste france has had nothing else for four years if you were to take a poll on what the average parisian most wants in the way of little things you would probably find that he wants real coffee soap gasoline and ci garets 0 eating is the biggest problem right now for us correspondents the army yet set up a mess we cant even get our rations cooked in our hotel kitchens on account of the gas shortage so we just eat cold K rations and 10 in I rations in our rooms for two days most of us were so busy we eat at all and on the morning after the liberation of paris some of the correspondents were actually so weak from not eating that they could hardly navigate but the food situation should be relieved within a few days the army is bringing in tons of food right away for the parisians Pari that is only about two pounds per person but it will help in little towns only 10 miles from paris you can get eggs and wonderful dinners of meat and noodles food does exist and now that transportation is open again paris should be eating soon autos were almost nonexistent on the streets of paris when we arrived that first day we met an english girl who had been here throughout the war and we drove her for some distance in our jeep she was as excited as a child and said that was her first ride in a motorcar ir in four years we told he her that it I 1 a motor motorcar cap that it was a jeep but she said it was a motorcar to her outside of war vehicles a few french civilian cars were running when we arrived but they were all in official use in the fighting all of these had french forces of the interior painted in rough white letters on the fenders tops and sides 0 0 although it appears that the germans did conduct themselves fairly properly up until the last few weeks the french really detest them one woman told me that tor for the first three weeks of the occupation the germans were fine but that then they turned arrogant the people of paris simply tolerated them and nothing more the germans did perpetrate medieval barbarities against leaders of the he t resistance movement as their p plight light became more and more desperate but what im driving at is that the bulk of the population of paris the average guy who just gets along no matter who is here really fare too badly from day to day it was just the things they heard about and the fact of being under a bullheaded and arrogant thumb that created the smoldering hatred for the germans in the average parisians Pari heart you can get an idea how they feel from a little incident that occurred the first night we were here we put up at a little family sort of hotel in the landlady took us up to show us our rooms A cute little french maid came along with her As we were looking around the room the landlady opened a wardrobe door and there on a shelf lay a german soldiers cap that he be had forgotten to take the landlady picked it up with the tips of her fingers held it out at arms length made a face and dropped it on a chair whereupon the little maid reached up with her pretty foot and gave it a huge kick that sent it sailing across the room 0 in paris we had slept in beds and walked on carpeted floors for the first time in three months it was a beautiful experience and yet for some perverse reason a great inner feeling of calm and relief came over us when we once again set up our cots in a tent with apple trees for our draperies and only the green grass for a rug hank gorrell of the united press was with me and he said this is ironic that thai we should have to go back with the armies to get some peace the gaiety and charm and big of paris somehow had got a little on our nerves after so much of the opposite I 1 guess it indicates that all of us will have to make our return to normal life gradually and in small doses paris unquestionably is a lovely city it seems to me to have been but little hurt by the war you can still buy almost anything imaginable if you have money everybody is well dressed but prices are terrific and already they have started zooming higher those of us who expect to be coming ho home rr E before long have made shopping tours and stocked up with gifts and with the exception of perfume which is dirt cheap we pay about three times what we would at home for the same thing im sorry the restaurants open before we left for although im not much of a gourmet I 1 do value the sense of taste and weve eaten enough meals in private homes and small town restaurants over hire here to realize that its all true about the french culinary genius they simply have a knack for making any old thing taste wonderful just as the british have a knack for making everything taste horrible 0 we thought there were a lot of people on the streets those first two days but you should have seen paris a few days later when the whole populace began to come out by it is almost impossible to drive in the streets because of the bicycles they take up the entire street as far as you can see the sidewalks are packed its like christmas shopping time at home within three days paris was transformed from a city crackling and roaring with brief warfare into a city entirely at peace within three days paris was open for business as usual and its attitude toward the war reminded me of cairo after its threat of danger had gone 0 As usual those americans most deserving of seeing paris will be the last ones to see it it if they ever do by that I 1 mean the fighting soldiers only one infantry regiment and one reconnaissance outfit of 01 americans actually came into paris and they passed on through the city quickly and went on with their war the first ones in the city to stay were such non fighters as the apsy warfare and civil affairs people public relations men and correspondents |