GENERAL DE GAULLE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 21 August 1941, Page 5

GENERAL DE GAULLE

ANNIVERSARY OF FREE FRENCH MOVEMENT. HOPE IN THE FUTURE. The de Gaulle movement was a year old on '"June 18. A year ago General de Gaulle was in London, withdrawn from the battlefield by M. Reynaud. the Prime Minister. and sent to this country on a mission. The General was occupying a room in a hotel in Knightsbridge when he learned the terrible news of the collapse, followed by the seizure of power by reactionaries. Immediately, filled with indignation, he penned the famous appeal. "France has lost a battle, but she has not lost the war." which called upon all true Frenchmen who could to join him. Then he waited. The response was instantaneous, and from a few in the first days his supporters grew to hundreds, then thousands. Today de Gaulle troops are fighting everywhere the German is to be fought, and in its hour of sore trial France looks to him. The iron heel of the invader does not prevent frequent manifestations taking place in France. His name is written on the walls under the very nose of the German sentries. On Joan of Arc Day, May 11. the streets of every town and village in France were filled with people who had come out of doors to demonstrate in silent protest. Over Lyons and other towns, allied airplanes swept through the sky, drawing against the azure blue the white cross of Lorraine, the sign of the de Gaullists. The crowds went wild with joy. Starting from nothing. General de Gaulle had to build up an organisation around him, in which he found many devoted helpers among his followers. But he considers his mission as a sacred trust. A soldier, the delivery of his country is his first thought, and he has ever expressed his willingness to stand aside as soon as that aim is attained. Professor Cassin, one of his collaborators, speaking at the meeting to commemorate the first anniversaiy, said: 1 “A strong France is a necessity for, other nations. She must recover the i free choice of her institutions. And she will moreover have to play her parti in the reconstruction of a world deliv-i cred from the threats of aggression wherein men will enjoy economic and social security.” , . I For England, it is obvious that the I ports on the other side of the Channel must be the ports of a friendly nation, I and only those of us who have lived, long in France know the extraordinary : economic possibilities to be developed for commerce between the two countries to the interest of both.