SOUL OF FRANCE WILL NEVER BE DESTROYED

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 165, 15 July 1941, Page 7

SOUL OF FRANCE WILL NEVER BE DESTROYED

WILL RISE AGAIN Mr. Churchill's Message On National Day Uritifh Oljcial Wireless. Rec. 12.30 p.m. RUGBY, July 14. The following message from Mr. Winston Churchill to General de Gaulle, for Juiy 14 (French National Day) was issued from No. 10. Downing Street:— "Two years ago I stood in the Champs Elysees, in Paris, and watched with emotion the splendid parade of the French Army and Empire. Many catastrophes have filled these two terrible years. Many States have been trampled down and cast into Nazi bondage. Millions of Frenchmen have found themselves for the time being in positions of insuperable difficulty. Some have broken under the strain and let themselves slide into the bottomless pit of despair.

"But the soul of France can never be destroyed, and the spirit of the French people will rise again from all the ruin and misery, purified and rejuvenated by what "it has undergone.

"To you and your gallant comrades 1 send tiiis message of greeting and goodwill. 1 send a message to tell all true Frenchmen and Frenchwomen, wherever they may be, however hard their lot, that the British nation and Empire is always on the march along the great road which leads to victory.

"I feel sure mosr ol us will live to see another Juiy 14, when the glories of France will be restored and when, amid the roar of liberated Europe, we shall celebrate the festival of peace and freedom. Hard, stern years lie before us, but the end is certain, and the'end will make amends for all.

"It is a good augury that this July 14 should witness the liberation of Syria from the control of Wiesbaden, cleansed from the intrigues and infiltrations of the Huns. By British and French hands independence and sovereignty can be restored to the Arab peoples and the historic interest of France in Syria can be recognised and preserved. Thus encouraged and thus fortified, we can turn again to ouv toils and our duty."

French people celebrated July 14 in many places in Britain to-day. At the foot of the Foch Monument in Grosvenor Gardens, London. Admiral Musclier placed a wreath. General de Gaulle sent a message to Free Frenchmen, saying: "July 14, 1941, for us is a fete day of 'faith and national hopes; faith because never have we believed more firmly in France's destiny, and hope because we see on the horizon all the gifts of victory."