FREE FRENCH SUCCESS

Dominion, Volume 34, Issue 42, 13 November 1940, Page 7

FREE FRENCH SUCCESS

Libreville Occupied BRITISH DENIAL OF BOMBING (British Official Wireless.) (Received November 12, 7.5 p.m.) RUGBY, November 11. Headquarters of the Free French Forces have issued the following communique: “The garrison of Libreville (Gabon) accepted the conditions of the commanding officer of the Free French Forces for a cessation of hostilities. The officer commanding the garrison surrendered himself at 4.30 a.m. on November 10. Ihe warships Savorgnan de Brazza and Commandant Dokina. of the Free French Navy, entered Libreville harbour. The capital of Gabon becomes henceforth part of the Free French Empire.

An official British Admiralty and Air Ministry communique states, witii reference to a Press report of an announcement by the Minister of Finance in Vichy that there has been intensive British air bombing of Libreville, tliat this is quite untrue. No aircraft under British control have undertaken any bombing operations in that area. Belgian Governor's Speech.

The Governor-General of the Belgian Congo, broadcasting an Armistice Day message from Leopoldville, said that Free France was celebrating the November armistice in a brilliant fashion as a protest against the armistice the Vichy Government: signed with Germany, it was a happy augury that Libreville had been occupied, and lie expressed his conviction that the whole of the French Empire must irresistibly be drawn to support the cause of Free France. He recalled the four years during which his own country had been under German rule, and said that just as on November 11, 1918, German domination vanished overnight, so once again would Belgium rejoice in her deliverance. He urged Belgians to celebrate Armistice Day in their own homes. “Flags are forbidden in Belgium,” he said, “'but they fly in Belgium because they fly to the four winds in the Belgian Congo.”