THE BELGIAN PEOPLE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24912, 11 May 1942, Page 5

THE BELGIAN PEOPLE

CONFIDENT OF ALLIED VICTORY (Rec. 8 p.m.) RUGBY, May 9. The Belgian Minister for Foreign Affairs, M. Paul Henri Spaak, in a broadcast address on 'the occasion of the second anniversary of the German invasion of Belgium, said: "My countrymen have lived through a terrible winter. They have suffered from cold and hunger, and schools have had to close through the lack of coal. The poorer classes, whose rations are quite inadequate, have lost what remained of their health and are dying. Patriots are arrested and concentration camps and prisons are full to overflowing, but all of Germany's efforts are without avail. The greater the misery the greater is the people's heroism. The more fierce and cruel the Germans become the more the Belgian shows his hostility and contempt. "Amongst my countrymen," M. Spaak continued, "never has the faith in Great Britain been greater. They are awaiting victory and freedom with unfailing confidence. They approve of us, the Free Belgians, because we have put in the common cause all that is left of our strength. We are proud of our airmen, sailors and soldiers who are fighting and training in the companv of those who to-morrow will expel the Germans from the occupied lands."