CZECH ARMY

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21248, 19 October 1940, Page 10

CZECH ARMY

VISITED BY PRESIDENT GRATEFUL TO BRITAIN For the first time since Munich Dr. Eduard Benes, President of the Czecho-Slovak Republic, reviewed a Czech army recently, states a report from the Manchester Guardian. It is, as he said, a little army, only a few thousand strong, but it serves as a symbol “to give the Czech people the moral strength to continue their resistance and to prepare for what it will be necessary to do at the proper moment.” It is encamped on a large estate in a North-western county, where it is to be reorganised and re-equipped. Dr. Benes had been prevented ffom i visiting the Czech troops while they were in France, and after their arrival here he had waited till Great Britain granted formal recognition to | his provisional Government in order ; that this inspection should be his | first official act as President. | Dr. Benes and Major-General Ser--1 gei Ingr, Commander-in-Chief of the I Czech forces, drove up to the ornamental gateway of the camp in a blue saloon car bearing a miniature replica of the standard that used to fly over Prague Castle when the President was in residence. They were greeted by the general commanding the troops in the camp. Dr. Benes received the report of the captain of the guard and exchanged with the men the shouted salutation of the Czecho-Slovak “Sokol” movement, “Nazdari” President’s Address The President in his address said: “I have come to this camp for the first but not for the last time. I am coming often from now on to keep jin touch with you. This war is only , just beginning; it is a great ideological struggle for the freedom of Euroj pean men and of the small European nations, which Nazism and Fascism have attempted to destroy. These conceptions are so antagonistic that ; one of them—and it is the Fascist. ; and Nazi one—will have to disapi pear. The freedom of the Czecho- ! Slovak nation is inconceivable with- | out the fall of Nazism. “As in the last war, we are fighti ing on the side of those who are de- , fending human rights and a better ! order in Europe. It is an honour { to fight alongside Great Britain: it 1 is a great country—the most powerful in the world and one of the most civilised. We are grateful because Britain is fighting not only for her own freedom but also for ours. She | shows great will-power and resolu - tion by doing so even after the fall of France. Before history she will always have the unforgettable merit iof having taken upon herself the 1 burden of this struggle for the freej dom of small oppressed nations. For all that and for the fine and generj ous hospitality which Britain has i extended to us we are grateful to j her, and we will help her with all I our power till final victory. Czech I Army, Nazdar! Czech Republic, j Nazdar! English nation, Nazdar!”

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