COMMON CAUSE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24606, 14 May 1941, Page 9

COMMON CAUSE

BRITONS AND BELGIANS EXCHANGE OF MESSAGES (PA.) WELLINGTON, May 13. The Belgian Consul in Wellington, M. Armand Nihotte, has received cabled advice of the following exchange of messages between Mi} Winston Churchill and the Belgian Prime Minister, M. Pierlot, on the anniversary of the German invasion of the Low Countries. Mr Churchill sent the following message to M. Pierlot:— " On the anniversary of the day when in violation of its most solemn undertakings the German Government, without cause or provocation, launched its armed forces against the territory of Belgium, I wish to acknowledge in the name of his Majesty's Government the effective help which the Belgian Government, the Belgian Empire and the Belgian armed forces and merchant marine have given to the Allied cause throughout the past year. We remember also your soldiers who resisted the invader in the battle of Belgium and who now in their homes oppose the will of the invader. The sympathy and admiration of his Majesty's Government and of the British people go out in a special measure to the Belgian people now under, the hateful Nazi tyranny, who by their courage and endurance daily contribute to the defence of freedom."

M. Pierlot replied as follows.— "I thank you most sincerely for the kind thought which prompted your message to me to-day. On this sad anniversary I wish to reaffirm the unshakeable resolution of the Belgian people to contribute their utmost to the victory of our common cause. In union with the Belgians who in the occupied territory are resisting German oppression, the Belgians in all free countries will continue to devote all their .strength to the splendid war effort of Great Britain and the Empire. My countrymen are firmly convinced that under your energetic and brilliant leadership the world.will witness the triumph of the forces of freedom."