On October 22, 1941, a French newspaper Le Phare published the following notice: Cowardly criminals in the pay of England and Moscow killed the Feldkommandant of Nantes on the morning of October 20. Up to now the assassins have not been arrested. As expiation for this crime I have ordered that 50 hostages be shot, to begin with… Fifty more hostages will be shot in case the guilty should not be arrested between now and October 23 by midnight.
