DE GAULLE’S APPEAL

Greymouth Evening Star, 29 July 1946, Page 5

DE GAULLE’S APPEAL

CLOSE ASSOCIATION WITH BRITAIN • EUROPE SPLIT IN HALVES (Rec. 11.5 a.m.) ' LONDON, July 28. General de Gaulle, in a speech at a Barledsc ceremony honouring French civilians killed by the retreating Germans, appealed for the closest association of Britain and France to restore the balance of power in the world which was tending to split in halves dominated by America and Russia. He also urged other Powers to accept France’s policy on Germany regarding the Ruhr and Saar. He added .that America and Russia, rich in men and resources, compact in territory, and naturally protected, one by immense oceans and the other by her own expanse, were determined on an expansion that, following the eternal custom, cloaked itself under the robes of doctrines. Europe could provide the necessary element of understanding needed at a time when the destiny of each country and individual depended on the future relations of America and Russia. General de Gaulle said that France’s plan for a sincere,, practical, human agreement regarding Germany, visualised nine Federated States with Prussia, Saxony, Bavaria, Wurtemburg, Baden, Hesse, the Palatinate, and Rheinish provinces and the north-western provinces administering themselves with the “arsenal of the Ruhr” under international control.

He added that Germany still constituted a big block of people massively installed in the heart of Europe. War might retempt her if she had a chance of regaining greatness by allying her ambitions with those of another power. “She must be prevented from being tempted or acting as a temptress.”