HITLER STRIKES AT LOW COUNTRIES; MR. CHAMBERLAIN RESIGNS HIS POST

Northern Advocate, 11 May 1940, Page 7

HITLER STRIKES AT LOW COUNTRIES; MR. CHAMBERLAIN RESIGNS HIS POST

Allies Rush Forces Into Belgium In Reply To Appeals For Assistance LUXEMBURG, LIMBERG OVER-RUN BY NAZIS (Received 9.30 a.in.) LONDON, May 10.

A FEW HOURS AFTER GERMANY STRUCK AT HOLLAND, BELGIUM AND LUXEMBURG, THE BRITISH PRIME MINISTER (MR. CHAMBERLAIN) ANNOUNCED HIS RESIGNATION TO ENABLE THE FORMATION OF A NATIONAL GOVERNMENT. He is succeeded by Mi*. Winston Churchill, formerly First Lord of the Admiralty. In the meantime, all Ministers are remaining at their posts until arrangements for the formation of a new Ministry have been made. In a broadcast announcing his resignation, Mr. Chamberlain said he would serve in the new Cabinet, and called on everyone to rally behind the new leader. The Labour Party earlier announced that it would join a National Government under a new leader. The French Cabinet has also been reconstructed. The Prime Minister (M. Reynaud) now has representatives of all parties serving under him. M. Reynaud announced that between 7 and 8 o’clock, Allied soldiers, answering the Belgium and Dutch appeals for assistance, crossed the Belgium frontier. A correspondent with the British forces reported that British mechanised forces, consisting of tanks, armoured cars and motor-cycle divisions, were rushing into Belgium in a never-ending stream. The Allied forces are operating to a plan prepared to meet the emergency which has arisen. An announcement from Brussels stated that the German forces had been held up everywhere on the Belgium defence line. The American Ambassador at Brussels reported to Washington that invading troops had over-run Luxemburg and the Dutch province of Limberg. A communique from The Hague stated that German parachutists who had seized the main bridge over the Maas had been dislodged. German planes bombed a number of towns in Belgium, Holland and France, but the damage went far beyond military objectives. This has drawn from the Allies a warning that raids on civilians will be met with reprisals. King Leopold has assumed supreme command of the Belgian forces.