De Gaullists prove adept in civil affairs
They take over in Caen with efficiency
By L. S. B. Shapiro, North American Newspaper Alliance
Caen, France –
Gen. Charles de Gaulle’s organization for the relief and rehabilitation of liberated French towns and cities is proving so brilliantly effective in the case of Caen that the pretentious preparation of Allied Civil Affairs detachments seem, to some extent, superfluous.
Even before British and Canadian troops entered the city, resistance leaders loyal to Gen. de Gaulle had, by popular consent, taken over the local administration, food control and health services with the result that Allied officers found that only limited material aid was required of them. Today, Caen is being administered by Fighting French officials acting in cordial liaison with Allied military authorities.
Allies are delighted
Allied civil officers are frankly delighted with this situation. A Canadian colonel charged with Caen’s civilian relief told this correspondent today:
The French authorities are working beautifully. What they need is our help, which is thankfully received. They asked us for oil to work a generator in a big hospital for the pumping machinery with which to restore the water system, soap, medical supplies and a very limited supply of staple foods. These we had prepared and were able to furnish immediately.
Everything else was fully organized by the officials acting under the de Gaulle organization. The city is being administered to the post by Gen. de Gaulle long in advance of D-Day.
The French preparations were meticulous, even to medical orderlies and cooks recruited from among French women in England. They all have been working magnificently with our civil affairs officers and our field commanders.
Within a few hours of the entry of our troops, the French administrators had requisitioned civilian trucks for the evacuation of homeless refugees to Bayeux. Only 3,000 required evacuation, some 30,000 electing to remain in Caen. Civilian casualties thus far counted are below advance estimates. About 650 were found in a hospital and there are about 600 civilian dead.
Worked with underground
The net result of Gen. de Gaulle’s ambitious preparations for civilian relief is that his appointees are everywhere and assuming complete control. This fits in with the plans of Allied Civil Affairs detachments whose instructions are to hand over the civil administration to the French as quickly as they can handle it. And de Gaulle appointees are quick as lightning in presenting the administrative fait accompli in every liberated town.
Everything points to the conclusion that Gen. de Gaulle made his preparations through Underground channels within France long before our invasion. Local leaders and rehabilitation problems were determined the moment Gen. de Gaulle took formal control of the resistance movement in July 1942.