L’Écho d’Alger
- Our Navy
- The Neustadt Incident
- M. Mussolini as Lecturer
L'Écho d'Alger's front page of 6 October 1926 led with Navy Minister Georges Leygues praising France's newest warships in an interview with Le Journal, arguing that the Great War had shown France needed light, fast units more than big capital ships. Beside it ran the official German version, issued by the Wolff agency, of a night-time scene in a Neustadt restaurant in which a French sergeant said he had been stabbed, although no knife was seen, and a Frenchman later asked that the matter be kept quiet. A short note on German press reaction to the Germersheim affair, read as fresh proof that the occupation should end, led into a report from Perugia, where Mussolini lectured on “Ancient Rome on the Sea” and reviewed some 50,000 Blackshirts and Umbrian union members. Only headings and opening paragraphs are legible.
This edition covers three front-page excerpts of L'Écho d'Alger for 6 October 1926: the Leygues naval interview, the German official version of the Neustadt incident, and the Mussolini lecture report, together with the end of a note on the Germersheim affair. Only headings, decks and opening paragraphs were legible; each excerpt breaks off mid-sentence, and the line “M. René BESNARD” belongs to an adjacent item whose text could not be read. The French account of the Neustadt incident and the content of Mussolini's lecture are not in the legible text, and the sources consulted did not document either, so neither is explained here.
Translation
Our Navy
25 CENTIMES
Our Navy
M. LEYGUES PRAISES IT WARMLY
Paris, October 5. – M. Georges Leygues, Minister of Marine, in the course of an interview with a writer for Le Journal, warmly praised the most recent units of the French navy.
“The experience of the Great War,” M. Leygues declared in particular, “has shown that we have less need of great capital ships than of light, fast units.
“The units coming out of our shipyards,” M. Leygues went on, “whether they be new cruisers of the ty-
The Neustadt Incident
M. René BESNARD
The Neustadt Incident
THE OFFICIAL GERMAN VERSION
Berlin, October 5. – The Wolff agency publishes the official German version of the Neustadt incident. According to this version, during the night of Sunday to Monday, the German Krautor and two Frenchmen, one of them in civilian clothes, went into a restaurant, where they carried on a heated conversation. The German, who was wounded in the head during the war, had been drinking. Suddenly the French sergeant stood up, saying that he had been stabbed in the chest. It is not known how this happened, for no knife was seen. Thereupon the two Frenchmen left the premises; but half an hour later the Frenchman in civilian clothes came back, saying that the affair should not be noised about, and that the victim, for his part, had no intention of pursuing the accident either. However, on Monday evening a French liaison officer came to talk to the Neustadt police about the affair and to look for the culprit. The case has not been cleared up psychologi-
M. Mussolini as Lecturer
noise about the Germersheim affair, confine themselves to publishing an official communiqué. The press in general sees in it fresh proof of the need to put an end to the occupation.
M. Mussolini as Lecturer
HE SPEAKS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF PERUGIA BEFORE AN ENORMOUS AUDIENCE
Perugia, October 5. – This afternoon, at the University for Foreigners of Perugia, M. Mussolini gave a lecture on the theme “Ancient Rome on the Sea.” The event brought to Perugia many notable figures from every city in Italy, and an enormous crowd. The Italian prime minister arrived this morning at ten o'clock and was welcomed with great enthusiasm. After a reception at the prefecture, M. Mussolini went to the Piazza d'Armi, where he reviewed the Blackshirts and the workers' syndicates of Umbria, numbering about 50,000. From the factories of Terni came 5,000 workers in black shirts, who also took part in the
Context
Georges Leygues and the case for the navy
Georges Leygues was a French politician who had held the post of Minister of the Navy and had served as President of the Council, that is prime minister, in 1920–1921. In this report he speaks as Minister of Marine, and the paper has him telling Le Journal that the Great War had shown France needed light, fast units more than great capital ships, before praising the ships leaving French yards. As minister, Leygues tried without success to win priority in government funding for naval rearmament over army rearmament such as the Maginot Line. The Maginot Line belongs to a later period than this interview, and the article itself says nothing about budget disputes. Even so, a minister publicly celebrating the newest ships fits the stance of a man who spent his tenure arguing that the fleet deserved money and attention.
The new light cruisers of the Duguay-Trouin class
The newest large ships France was bringing into service in autumn 1926 were the light cruisers of the Duguay-Trouin class, the first major French warships built after the First World War. The name ship, Duguay-Trouin, was completed on 2 November 1926, roughly a month after this interview. All three ships of the class reached 33 knots on trials and could easily keep up 30 knots in service, which matches the “light, fast units” Leygues held up as the lesson of the war. The quoted sentence breaks off at “new cruisers of the ty-”, so the page as read does not show which type he named; the link to the Duguay-Trouin class is an inference from timing and performance, not something the paper states.
Italy as rival: French cruisers and Mussolini's sea-borne Rome
The French cruiser design that produced the Duguay-Trouin class began in mid-1919 with the Italians as the likely adversaries. On the same page, the paper reported Mussolini lecturing at the University for Foreigners in Perugia on “Ancient Rome on the Sea,” after reviewing what it put at about 50,000 Blackshirts and Umbrian workers' syndicates, joined by 5,000 black-shirted workers from the Terni factories. Those figures are the paper's report of a Fascist parade. The legible part of the article does not give the content of the lecture, and the paper draws no connection between the two items. Read side by side, however, they show a French minister promoting fast cruisers originally planned with Italy in mind, next to the Italian leader publicly claiming Rome's maritime past.
Neustadt, Germersheim and friction under the Rhineland occupation
The Neustadt incident appeared on the page as one more clash between French occupation soldiers and Germans, in the same column as the end of a note on the Germersheim affair. What the paper printed was the official German version distributed by the Wolff agency: a French sergeant claimed to have been stabbed, no knife was seen, and a Frenchman in civilian clothes later asked that the matter not be spread. The French account is not part of the legible text, so the reading cannot set the two versions side by side. Germersheim itself had seen its fortress demolished in 1921–22 as a result of the Treaty of Versailles, and during the post-war occupation of the Rhineland the town was the scene of several conflicts between French troops and German veterans' associations. The paper's note that the press in general saw the Germersheim affair as fresh proof that the occupation must end shows how such incidents fed German demands for evacuation, and the Wolff version's stress on the missing knife and the request for silence fits that line.
Original
Notre marine de guerre
25 CENTIMES Notre marine de guerre M. LEYGUES EN FAIT UN VIF ELOGE Paris, 5 octobre. - M. Georges Leygues, ministre de la Marine, au cours d'une interview avec un rédacteur du Journal, a fait un vif éloge des unités les plus récentes de la marine française. «L'expérience de la grande guerre, a déclaré notamment M. Leygues, a démontré que nous avons moins besoin des vaisseaux de haut bord que des unités légères et rapides. «Les unités qui sortent de nos chantiers, a dit encore M. Leygues, qu'il s'agisse de croiseurs nouveaux du ty -
L'incident de Neustadt
M. René BESNARD L'incident de Neustadt LA VERSION OFFICIELLE ALLEMANDE Berlin, 5 octobre. - L'agence Wolff publie la version officielle allemande de l'incident de Neustadt. D'après cette version, dans la nuit de dimanche à lundi, l'Allemand Krautor et deux Français, dont un en civil, entrèrent dans un restaurant où ils poursuivirent une vive conversation. L'Allemand, qui a été blessé à la tête pendant la guerre, avait bu. Tout à coup, le sergent français se leva en disant qu'il avait été poignardé à la poitrine. On ne sait pas comment cela s'est produit, car on ne vit pas de couteau. Là-dessus, les deux Français quittèrent le local; mais, une demi-heure après, le Français en civil revint, disant qu'il ne fallait pas ébruiter l'affaire, et que la victime n'avait pas non plus l'intention de donner suite à l'accident. Cependant, un officier français de liaison vint, lundi soir, entretenir la police de Neustadt de l'affaire, et rechercher le coupable. Le cas n'est pas éclairci psychologi -
M. Mussolini conférencier
de bruit autour de l'affaire de Germersheim, se bornent à publier un communiqué officiel. La presse en général y trouve une nouvelle preuve de la nécessité de mettre fin à l'occupation. M. Mussolini conférencier IL PARLE A L'UNIVERSITE DE PEROUSE DEVANT UNE ASSISTANCE ENORME Pérouse, 5 octobre. - M. Mussolini a fait cet après-midi, à l'université des étrangers de Pérouse, une conférence sur le thème «Rome ancienne sur la Mer». L'événement a amené à Pérouse de nombreuses personnalités venant de toutes les villes de l'Italie et une foule énorme. Le premier ministre italien est arrivé ce matin à dix heures accueilli avec un grand enthousiasme. Après une réception à la préfecture, M. Mussolini s'est rendu sur la place d'Armes où il a passé en revue les chemises noires et les syndicats ouvriers de l'Ombrie, au nombre d'environ 50. 000. Des usines de Terni sont arrivés 5. 000 ouvriers en chemises noires qui ont participé aussi au