V CAMPAIGN

Wairarapa Times-Age, 22 July 1941, Page 5

V CAMPAIGN

TAKEN UP EAGERLY IN EUROPE ENTHUSIASM IN MANY COUNTRIES. | ABORTIVE NAZI EFFORTS. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) LONDON, July 20. Reports from Europe emphasise the success of the victory campaign. In Paris posters on which words begin with enormous V’s were ordered to be taken down. A curfew was imposed in Niort because a large number of Ws were displayed. A V outlined in tar appeared prominently in Nimes, and others appeared on the door of Nazi headquarters near Rouen. V inscriptions and the slogan, “We won't give in!" were written on walls -ind fences throughout Czechoslovakia, according to the Moscow radio. German officials leaving Rotterdam for Germany yesterday wore V insignias as part of Dr. Goebbels’s efforts to convert the V campaign to the advantage of Germany. Goebbels has ordered V symbols to be posted on buildings and public vehicles and to be dropped from aeroplanes. A Bulgarian radio announcer solemnly proclaimed the V sign as one that is recognised in Europe as the sign of united struggle against Bolshevism and plutocracy. He added that the sign, several yards high, is painted on the streets of Prague, Brussels and Oslo. DRAMATIC DRUMMING. Immediately after Big Ben sounded midnight last night listeners heard the new "V sign" interval signal of the British Broadcasting Corporation’s European service tapped out on a drum. Many English listeners telephoned to the 8.8. C. emphasising the dramatic effect. Mr Churchill’s message was repeated in 60 foreign language broadcasts to Europe throughout the day. The 8.8. C. tonight broadcast a victory chant as a background to Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, beginning. "Do not give way! Never despair! We will get them yet! Hitler, beware!” It was followed by the announcement, "Every means in France and oppressed Europe must be used to proclaim will to resistance and faith in victory for the Allies." The victory campaign has been enthusiastically adopted throughout Britain. Early morning travellers cheered a train which whistled the V sign. A motorman’s cab was decorated with the V symbol, and V stickers with the word “Victory” on them appeared on walls of houses and public buildings in London. July 20. as the organised beginning of the V sign of warfare, will go down 1 in history as the start of one of the most amazing campaigns against tyranny ever carried out in Europe. Tonight it was revealed that one day towards the end of January Berlin listeners picked up from London a suggestion that the chalk-mark V could be quickly scribbled and stood for victory. The idea spread like wildfire throughout Europe, and the Gestapo did its best to suppress it. In Paris alone there have been 6200 police prosecutions. Now, presumably. Dr. Goebbels is congratulating himself on his somewhat belated “inspiration” of telling the world that wherever the V sign can be seen it indicates belief in German victory. GOEBBELS BAFFLED. A Zeesen broadcast after announcing that the sign would be seen everywhere, on buildings and vehicles and in cinemas and shops, claims triumphantly that "in Paris a gigantic V appeared on the Eiffel Tower” —the same V for which people were ruthlessly prosecuted. The Nazi uneasiness over the sign must be intense for them to imagine that the world will be deceived by such a manoeuvre or that the peoples of the occupied countries will refrain from using it if they are told that it is now regarded as a Nazi symbol. It is more likely that they will redouble their energy in making the V sign, as it is impossible for the Nazis now to take any action against them. Such a spontaneous expression of contempt for the Nazi new order is evidence of the underlying feeling regarding Hitler and his gang throughout the countries they fondly hoped to reorganise. History records that the popular tune known as “Lilliburlero” helped to deprive James II of his throne. The V sign is even easier to repeat than the tune, and the full flood of its effect is a long way from being reached.