Rumours of a Military Nature Intended to Mystify and Mislead the Enemy. Note by Secy.

Serial No. Suggestions. Submitted by Remarks of I.S.S.B. 3. (contd.) FRANCE: -24GERMANY: 5. JAPAN: (c) "Darlan has given instructions to high naval officers to prepare to hand the fleet over to the Germans. when he received these instructions, Captain Lapebie committed suicide in preference to disobeying orders or dishonour." NOTE: Captain Lapebie sank three U-boats when commander of the destroyer Sirocco early in the war. A Vichy report says that he has just died. (d) "A French destroyer, which sank an Italian transport carrying German tanks and soldiers off Cape Bon "by mistake" has taken refuge in Alexandria." (a) "Germany has already lost 250,000 men in the Balkans." (b) "The big new call-up is due to the fact that many German soldiers are dying from dysentery and typhus.