PREMEDITATED!

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 162, 10 July 1940, Page 5

PREMEDITATED!

BELGIUM'S TRAITOR. BEHAVIOUR OF LEOPOLD. CONDEMNED BY FACTS. (By WILLIAJI BIRD.) PARIS, June 0. Proofs are expected 'co be forthcoming shortly that the capitulation of King Leopold 111. of Belgium was a premeditated act of treachery to the Allies and that it may in fact have been planned. As yet,' this is only a presumption drawn from the King's behaviour in the last few days as pictured by French officers and Belgium Cabinet Ministers, who have been in contact with him. But if the King's act was premeditated, it fits perfectly with his behaviour; whereas, if it was not, it remains inexplicable in view of the fact that the Belgian armies were subject to the unified Allied command. So decision to capitulate could properly be taken without consulting Georges Maurice Jean Blanchard, the French general, who gave orders in Belgium, The facts on which the presumption or premeditation is based are: 1, That the appeal for Allied help was not made by Leopold until many hours after the German invasion had begun. 2, That i\fter the Allied armies had gone to his aid, Leopold for many days refused to allow his armies to be placed under the unified Allied command. 3, That throughout the campaign Leopold submitted to General Blanchard's orders only with reluctance and often with considerable delay. 4, That for several days before capitulation Leopold was fretful and irritable, a mental condition which, in retrospect, appears suspiciously like the sign of an uneasy conscience. The belief is growing here that Leopold was acquainted with the German offensive plan and deliberately drew the Allied armies into Belgium and Holland for the purpose of delivering them to Germany. Certain it is that the Belgians now in France by the millions have disavowed their sovereign.—X.A.XJL