THE STIRRING OF FREE FRANCE

Dominion, Volume 34, Issue 44, 15 November 1940, Page 6

THE STIRRING OF FREE FRANCE

Little by little that remarkable movement of national renaissance under the banner of Free France appears to be gaining impetus and weight. The news that Gabon, the southern district of French Equatorial Africa, has been gained for the Free French Empire by the surrender of the garrison in its capital (the poit of Libreville) will encourage General de Gaulle’s supporters throughout the world. .And apart from its moral effect, this success has an impottance relating to both the strategy and lhe diplomacy of lhe war. A foulhold has been gained in French colonial territory previously under the suasion of the hostile, enemy-dominated Vichy Government. A new outpost has been set up from which the Free French cause may be advanced. By spreading reports of "murderous fighting'’ on the outskirts of Libreville, the Vichy Government has attempted to offset its reverse by rousing French feeling at home against the Freemen, 'lhe dispatches from' General de Gaulle’s headquarters assert that, actually, the victory was won with a minimum of bloodshed. It will be recalled that at Dakar the Free French forces abandoned their emprise when it became evident that because of orders from Vichy and the machinations of enemy agents on the spot Senegal could not be taken without pitting Frenchman against Frenchman. Ihere has been nothing to show that General de Gaulle has since abandoned his strict policy of avoiding fratricidal warfare. The keynote of his campaign is that of national enlightenment. Mis task today is. to rally the traditional Gallic spirit in outposts ot the French Empire. Il he is destined to play a grimmer crusading part before the end. it will nut have been sought, but forced upon him. Because tin; progress of Free France is slow by comparison with the march of events in the more spectacular theatres of war. the historic qualitv of this gallant movement should not go unrecognized. To recreate, from the outside, cohesive national, .spirit among an empire people so disrupted, so preyed upon by sinister influences, is an undertaking for great and stout hearts. It cannot be expected to show major results—let alone be completed —in a month, or even a year. It may require a generation, or more, to resurrect and unify the France that was. But today from Saigon in the East to the outposts of the west there is persistent evidence of the stirring ot Free French feeling in the face of the powerful resistance of piopaganda and intimidation the Axis Powers are forcing the Petain Government to make. This, together with the African infiltration of Free French pioneers, encourages the belief that, as the. woild struggle proceeds, General de Gaulle and those about him will play no insubstantial part in the victory of the democratic cause.