“A REAL PLEASURE”

Wairarapa Times-Age, 13 November 1943, Page 4

“A REAL PLEASURE”

FRENCH PEOPLE CHEER R.A.F. ON ITS WAY. The following extracts are taken from two letters sent from France to the 8.8. C. in London: — (1) “Yesterday evening there Was a happy event. A large formation of the R.A.F. went over our town. Several hundred big bombers, with the red, white and blue circles on their wings, just cleared the house-tops with terrific fracas! The townspeople made friendly signs to them —the pilots replied with a ‘roll’. You should have seen the looks of our occupation authorities! You should'have seen their faces fall! Many of them trembled like aspen leaves, while others shook their first —but your bomb-laiden aircraft went on quickly and noisily towards Le Creusot to drop their cargo. ‘As though by chance, while your planes went over, the head of the Fifth Column in the town came in. ‘Whatever is all this?’ I asked him. ‘Oh, nothing at all,’ he replied, with a rather hollow laugh. ‘A good thing it’s nothing,’ I said ‘I shouldn’t like to be bombed here!’

‘Every Frenchman in the town is talking about the RA.F. now with great admiration — some who were away are sorry to have missed seeing them. The morale of the patriots is higher and more steadfast than ever.” (2) ‘lt's a real pleasure for me to hear the R.A.F. go over and especially to learn the results of the flight. I have had some news from Mainz, and you can send my sincere congratulations to these grand R.A.F. boys. But there are a lot of other places to bomb, so please get on with it. Our slogan is: ‘Let Petain go to rest; and Laval to he stake; and let de Gaulle get to work.’ ”