FRENCH NATIONAL DAY

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24969, 16 July 1942, Page 5

FRENCH NATIONAL DAY

MESSAGE FROM BRITAIN

LEAFLETS DROPPED BY PLANES (Rec. 7 p.m.) RUGBY, July 14. In the early hours of this morning, French National Day, nearly 5,000,000 leaflets were dropped by aircraft of the Bomber Command on Paris, Vichy and the industrial north of France. All the aircraft returned safely, and the crews reported that their mission had been completed in a satisfactory manner. The leaflets contained a message to the people of France from the Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Mr Anthony Eden, on behalf of the whole of the British people. “ Not only disarmed by the enemy, but deliberately misled by your leaders, you have maintained unfaltering hostility towards the invader and refused to place any confidence in the politicians whom the Germans have imposed upon you.” said Mr Eden. He referred to the courage of the members of Fighting France in Britain, the Middle East and elsewhere, but the heroism of the people who continued the struggle inside France in spite of Hitler’s terror was no less great. He gave an assurance that the war would go on till Germany was beaten and European liberty restored. “ For us the full restoration of France as a great Power,” Mr Eden added, “ is not only a declared war aim and the fulfilment of a pledge made, but it is also a practical necessity if post-war reconstruction is to be undertaken within the framework of that traditional civilisation which is our common heritage.”