Partisans V. Rundstedt

Taciturn, aging Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt, placed by Adolf Hitler "at the permanent disposition" of the French Chief of State, last week clapped hundreds of suspect Frenchmen in jail, tightened frontier surveillance and ordered confiscation of radio sets. Rundstedt had something new to contend with: partisan warfare.

When Rundstedt's armies occupied Vichyfrance, many small "Robin Hood" bands, composed mostly of workers, began operating in the outskirts of large cities. Their underground newspapers issued instructions, coordinated the activities of the different groups. Short, deadly raids and sabotage increased, French partisans, unlike those in Yugoslavia, are largely made up of Communists--who until World War II comprised the third largest party in France. When the Party was banned in 1939 they hid their guns. Recently they have been joined by veteran officers and soldiers and by men marked by the Gestapo. They recognize General Charles de Gaulle as their leader.

Because of the openness of the French countryside and the strength of the German occupation forces, French partisans have not yet engaged in major operations. But with their slogan, "A bas les Boches," they have been responsible for:

> Dynamiting hundreds of yards of track on the main railroad line from Marseille

to Biarritz, causing two major wrecks and dislocating German military transport.

> An explosion in a chemical plant at Fontaine-sur-Saone.

> The disappearance "without leaving a

trace" of numerous small German patrols.

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