HEROIC FRENCH

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 162, 8 June 1940, Page 8

HEROIC FRENCH

SOUL UNAFRAID. - PREMIER’S FAITH. PARIS, June 6. “The heroism of the rearguard fight before Dunkirk has already gone down m history,” declared the Premier.; (M. Reynaud), in his review of the war. “Tno valour of our military leaders during these days has magnificently shown that France believes _in these men, who have won the admiration of the entire world. “After the surprises of the first combat our soldiers of 1940 have proved tile equal of those of 1914, who never .doubted victory, even when the Germans were winning. “Hitler aimed at breaking the morale of Paris by a spectacular air raid. What were the precise objects? Hitler knows —all the world knows — that women, children and the aged were hit, but this ha 6 not disturbed Paris for a second. Minutes after the raid I saw, on the spot, the proud faces of working men and women who don’t know how to tremble.

“What appeared to be a colossal raid was nothing to the soul of Paris. It has not remained without reply by the British and French bombers. CRITICAL BATTLE. “Germany’s most decisive enterprise is to-day’s battle for France. All the means we know of have been put into this operation. German aircraft and armoured divisions are again attempting to break our front. On the ground, on which we have been forced to improvise resistance, the Army is showing how it is adapting itself to the new conditions of warfare. “The whole world watches breathlessly the development of this battle. The realisation of Hitler’s dream of a hegemony would mean the return of the Middle Ages, but the French and British opposing Hitler are different from twenty years ago,” addeci M. Reynaud. M. Reynaud added : There is no nation with which France cannot settle peacefully interests seemingly in opposition. . i