MARTYRED BELGIANS

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 168, 15 June 1940, Page 8

MARTYRED BELGIANS

SUFFERINGS FROM NAZIS. ARMY REORGANISED. Per Press Association. WELLINGTON, June 14. The Belgian Consul advises in answer to calumnies spread by German propaganda that the Belgian Government in France is broadcasting the following declaration on a wavelength put at. its disposal by the French Government; — “The German'radio announces that British soldiers have set fire to Belgian churches and have killed civilians for the sake of pillage. The truth is that the Germans have conducted the present war with ten times more atrocities than in 1914. Every civilian killed (and thousands have been killed since May 10) has met his death through German bombs and German bullets, especially German ’planes, which, with cold-blooded savagery, have committed acts of butchery without number on roads crowded with refugees.

“The truth is that the sons of those who in 1914 assassinated our fathers and mothers have been even more pitiless than their predecessors, but the new Belgian Army will soon be ready and proud to fight at the side of the Allies. They are resolved to fight to the death to put an end to the German methods, which have called forth the condemnation of the whole civilised world. MALES MOBILISED. “Besides important units of the Belgian Army which were rescued from Flanders all’ Belgian boys in France from 17 to 19 years of age who were not serving in the army were ordered to proceed to the army at the outbreak of hostilities. The mobilisation of all males up to 45 years residing in territory not under the enemy is nearly completed, and training camps have been organised in France. The fighting force available for active service will thus reach at least 200,000. “In other fields, in addition to the vast resources of all kinds of Belgian Congo, the Belgian Government lias saved and commandeered the Belgian merchant fleet and put it at the disposal of the Allies. The whole of the fishing fleet is now either in England or France, and many of its units helped to fe-embark the Allied armies at Dunkirk. “As an instance of the work they performed, the Belgian trawler H 75 was mentioned in the Order of the Day of the French armies with the congratulations of our French Allies for having been one of the very last in Dunkirk to pick up 240 French soldiers under terrific fire from the air and shore. “At present employment has been found for 150,000 Belgians in France. Many of them are metal and agricultural workers. In this connection the close co-operation of the French and Belgian services is indicated by the fact that Belgian workers in France benefit from French social legislation and by the creation of the special savings accounts for workers to enable them to build up deposits for the time they re-enter their own country. The Antwerp diamond industry, specialising among other things in the manufacture of diamond tools for the war industries, has been installed at Royan in France. The Belgian Minister of Labour is convinced that it will be possible, with the help of the United States and Spain, to arrange for the relief of Belgians in the occupied territories.”