If the teaching of history in schools is to be downgraded as suggested, not only could the events of these April days of eighty years ago be unknown to our young people, but also the happenings in France during World War Two referred to in the following. It is a diary entry for October 1943 by an Irishman who spent those war years in Switzerland.
"Nearly every day when I read of events in Haute Savoie under headings such as `Lesgens du maquis', I am struck by the resemblance between this kind of guerrilla war and the similar experiences we had in Ireland 25 years ago. The patriot forces descend from time to time into the valleys attacking a post of Vichy national police (like the old RIC) or a military post of the occupying power, formerly Italians, now Germans or an attack on a convoy in order to get arms and munitions. Then there are the round ups when a village or a district is surrounded and a `battue' takes place."
"On other occasions one reads of a French traitor who has been giving information about the guerrilla bands or about loyal neighbours, receiving the attention of gunmen either in their home or in the streets of towns or villages. As in the old days in Ireland `hostages' are also seized. The most striking difference is that in France aeroplanes arrive pretty regularly with supplies, arms or food or clothing, and maintain regular contact with the Free French authorities outside."
"`Les gens du maquis' go further back to the Whiteboys, perhaps in sending a small black coffin by post to the informers on their black list."