VITAL MEETINGS

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 169, 17 June 1940, Page 7

VITAL MEETINGS

CABINET CONSIDERATIONS. BRITISH IN ATTENDANCE. Received June 17, 10.10 a.m. t LONDON, June 10. The French radio, mentioning the reassembly of Cabinet this morning with President Lebrun and Marshal Petain (Vice-Premier) among those present, says the Ministers took cognisance of President Roosevelt’s reply to M. Reynaud. The Ministers will again meet tonight to decide the bearing of the reply upon the decisions of the Government. British officials will probably be in attendance for consultation when Cabinet resumes. A Bordeaux communique issued between the morning and later meetings of Cabinet declared that after President. Lebrun told the Ministers of the American Government’s response to M Reynaud’s last .appeal to the United States, the French Government was specifically examining “to what extent that American reply permits France to continue the struggle in her own territory under conditions which can usefully serve the common cause of the Democracies.” The British War Office stated tonight that the operations in which the B.E.F are engaged in conjunction with' the French Armies continue in Normandv. Details of the fighting which is in progress are not at present available:

A general described the way in which I the Germans'* effected a break-through nn tbc Seine near Fprges-des-Aux. Soldiers guarding the bridge saw two French tanks roll up with tricolour pennants flying and men waving from the onen turrets. He said, “The men waved hack and cheered. When the tanks had nassed- them thev suddenly turned and opened point-blank fire. Then a number of German tanks followed them, and the breach was made.” The German News Agencv claims that the Allied forces west of Paris are completely exhausted, hut admits that, stern resistance is being encountered in a certain section of the Maginot INCREASING HELP. MR ROOSEVELT’S PROMISE. REPLY To~m7 REYNAUD. WASHINGTON, June 15. President Roosevelt has sent the following message to the Premier of France (M. Reynaud): “I am sending you this reply to your message of yesterday, which I am sure you will realise has received the most earnest, as well as the most friendly study on our part. “First of all, let me reiterate the ever-increasing admiration with which the American people and their Government are viewing the resplendent courage with which the French armies are resisting the invaders of the French soil. “I wish also to reiterate in the most emphatic terms that, making every possible effort under the present conditions, the Government of the United States has made it possible for the Allied Armies to obtain during the weeks just passed aeroplanes, artillery and munitions of many kinds, and this Government, ..as long as the Allied Governments continue to resist, will redouble its efforts in this direction. ADDITIONAL SUPPLIES. “I believe it is possible to say that every week which goes by will see additional material on the way to the Allied nations: In accordance with its policy not to recognise the results ot conquest of territory acquired by military aggression, the Unitea tyvtiics will not consider valid any attempt to infringe by force the independence and territorial integrity of France, “In these hours which are so heartrending for the French people and tor vourseff, I send you assurances of my utmost ’sympathy, and I can further assure you that so'long as the! r , e , ll( £ people continue the defence of their liberty ' which constitutes the cause of the popular' institutions throughout the world, so long; will they rest assured that material and Wil be sent to them from the United S ate in ever-increasing quantities and km Is “I know you will understand that these statements carry with them ' 0 implication of military ?• Only Congress can make such commit “president Roosevelt’s generous response to M. Reynaud’s appeal is received with sincere bvythe British people (states a Bnbsh Official Wireless message from Rngb>). _P - ally welcome is his assurance that, as lone as the Allied . Governments continue to resist the forces threatemnth° free institutions of the woild t United States Government for its part Si redouble its efforts *° send.aerm planes and munitions to assist m the struggle. J