A former British War Minister voiced sharp protest in the British House of Commons today against the designation of Lieut. General Hans Speidel, Hitler’s wartime chief of staff in France, as commander of the ground forces of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. He objected to having British troops placed under command of an ex-Nazi.
Emanuel Shinwell, War Minister in the Labor Government, told the House that there was no doubt at all that until 1944, when he was assertedly involved in a plot against Hitler, Gen. Speidel had been an ardent supporter of the Nazi creed.
In 1941, when he was associated with the German occupation forces in Paris, Mr. Shinwell charged, Gen. Speidel had some part in an order given for the execution of a thousand alleged Communists and Jewish refugees.
Mr. Shinwell expressed surprise that Her Majesty’s Government had supported the appointment of Gen. Speidel to the NATO post. He said he objected to any German general of any sort or character or quality being in command of British troops. If some members of the House were inclined to forget what the Germans had done, Mr. Shinwell declared, he was not.
Under Secretary of State for War Julian Amery defended the appointment, noting that it was made at French suggestion and that Gen. Speidel would serve directly under a French commander.
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