FIGHTING FRANCE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 12 October 1942, Page 4

FIGHTING FRANCE

MOVEMENT OF NATIONAL REVIVAL

MAKING GOOD HEADWAY.

GENERAL DE GAULLE AS TRUSTEE.

St. Nazazire and Bir Hakeim, the first with its immediate though disastrous attempt on the part of the inhabitants to. help the British, and the second with its glorious defensive and delaying action, gave conclusive proof both of the spirit of the French within France and the French beyond the seas fighting by our side, the spirit of determination to fight on for freedom, Professor Rene Cassin, French National Commissioner for Justice and Public Education, told members of the Foreign Press Association when received by them recently. The purpose of the meeting was to enable an account to be given of the progress of the movement since General de Gaulle, on the morrow of the betrayal of Bordeaux, launched his stirring appeal to his countrymen to continue the fight. , The progress of the movement, said Professor Cassin, might be summed up thus: Free French, Free France, Fighting France and victorious France. The Churchill-de Gaulle agreement, signed August 7, 1940, definitely registered that the French flag was still in the war, just as it condemned the capitulation. That was the first step. , The second step was the declaration of vast and important territories of the French Empire, not only in Africa, but in Oceania and, later, in the Middle East and the Americas, that they threw in their lot unreservedly with General de Gaulle and his movement. These territories have millions of inhabitants. and it has not perhaps been sufficiently realised what the possession of a vast belt across Central Africa by the French opposed to Vichy has meant and may mean for the Allied cause. At this stage, General de Gaulle created the Committee of Defence of the French Empire, to be followed later, after the liberation of Syria by the French National Committee. This committee was recognised abroad and by the governments of the Allied countries of Europe, Great Britain, U.S.S.R., etc. The committee was represented at the Inter-Allied Conferences of Saint James in June and September, 1941, and January, 1942 When Japan entered the war, the French National Committee immediately declared itself on the side of the Allies. . The situation, however, was not without its ambiguities, for while helping the military effort by extension of the Lease-Lend Bill to the French National Committee, the United States did not recognise the movement omcially. The return of Laval to power, the exploit of Bir Hakeim, the attitude of the French people and the agreement between the leaders of resistance within France and the French. National Committee brought about recognition of the French National Committee by the United States as the “Symbol of resistance of France. The third step, said Professor Cassin, was July 14, 1942 with the change of title from Free France to Fighting France. France was definitely back in the war, and the third step was the preliminary to th e f o u rth step of - torious France actively shauhg iq the 1 answering Professor Cassin emphasised that th Gaulle acted m accordance with we laws of the Republic, considering himself only a trustee of French national interests. -