FRENCH ANNIVERSARY

Greymouth Evening Star, 15 July 1941, Page 5

FRENCH ANNIVERSARY

DE GAULLE MESSAGES RESTORATION PREDICTIONS LONDON, July 13. To-morrow will be July 14, the anniversary of the storming of the Bastille. Free Frenchmen all over rne world will observe the day as an omen of coming victory. General de Gaulle, leader of the Free French, has sent a message to “France,” the independent French newspaper in London, saying that Frenchmen could not rejoice over the painful struggle in Syria, but they could mourn both those who had fallen in the'ranks of Free France and of the enemy. The true enemy, he.declared, was Germany, and France would continue to recognise only one foe, fighting him with every weapon available. The Foreign Secretary (Mr Eden) has sent a message, stating that the anniversary is a sign that the uniforms of German troops and the Gestano will soon disappear. from France. The Champs Elysde. he said, would soon echo to ths marching feet of the gallant. Frenchmen who would help France rise. From Brazzaville, General- de Gaulle broadcasted, to- the United States. He remarked: “As President Roosevelt has said, it has only been through divisions - that the tyrants nave succeeded. It is enough for free men to rise and march forward together to cast Hitler and his entire system into the bottomless pit.'You may be sure that this hope, in which you people of America place your trust, fills the souls of Frenchmen, also the souls of those who - still are fighting in the valley of the shadow af death. The greatest deeds of the greatest neople in the history of the world have been their struggle for freedom. This is as true of my country as of- your own.” MR CHURCHILL’S MESSAGE.

RUGBY, July 14.

The following message from Mr Churchill to General de Gaulle tor July 14, was issued from 10 Downing Street: — “Two years ago I stood m the Champs d’Elysees 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 found Themselves for the time being n positions of insuperable difficulty. Some have broken down under the strain and let themselves slide into he bottomless nit of despair. But. the soul of France can never be de.troyed and the spirit of the French jeoole will rise again from all the ’.uni, misery and horror, rejuvenated by what it has undergone. To you md your gallant comrades I send fliis message of greeting and goodwill. I send a message to tejl all true Frenchmen and Frenchwomen, wherever they may be, however hard fireir lot, that the British nation and Umpire are always on the march ’long the great road which leads to ■zictory. I feel sure most of us will five to see another fourteenth of July, 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 fourteenth of July should witness the liberation of Syria from the control by Wiesbaden, to cleanse it from 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 our toils and our duty.”

LONDON CELEBRATIONS. RUGBY, July 14. French people celebrated July 14 at many places in Britain, to-day. At the foot of the Foch monument in Grosvenor Gardens, London, Admiral Muselier placed a wreath. General de Gaulle sent the following message to Free Frenchmen:— “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.”—B.O.W.