ACTION WELCOMED

Wairarapa Times-Age, 27 November 1941, Page 5

ACTION WELCOMED

AMERICAN WAR AID FOR FREE FRENCH. IMPORTANT IN THE PACIFIC AND ELSEWHERE. (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, November 25. The spokesman of the Free French National Committee, welcoming the decision of the United States to extend to Free French forces war aid under the Lease-Lend Act, said: “After the visit to Free French Africa of the .American official mission, President Roosevelt’s decision to declare that the defence of all French territories under the control of Free French forces is vital to the defence of the United States is a gesture of considerable moral and material importance. “The French territories which are answering the call of General de Gaulle and have rejected the armistice occupy in the Pacific Ocean as well as in Africa positions of great strategical importance. These territories are now assured of the material and moral support of the United States. This support will enable them, in full agreement with Britain and the other allies of France, to increase French participation in the common war effort. Mr Roosevelt’s decision cannot but encourage all those who, in the territories under Vichy’s authority, want to pass into the camp of French resistance.” f - It is officially stated in Washington that United States military supplies, including tanks and lorries, have been going to the Free French forces in North Africa for about three months past.