WE WILL NEVER YIELD

Thames Star, Volume LII, Issue 13847, 6 November 1918, Page 6

WE WILL NEVER YIELD

M. ■QJimiNCEA.U'S ADDRESS

Ou iJQtlh June, the following state tnumt by M. Ulemenceau was issue* VV JUtxu 1 accepted the Preinieirfciu] 1 kiuaw that 1 was called upon w uear vihet burden of tho moist oritioa. yvxwii, of UiO wur. 1 have told yov Irom the outset that w e should pass togathier through ddifioult and exact> ing jtdaßeg iimd , ptruetl. hours. These times ajrei ooaning, and * the only question is wlheiiieir we can stand thorn. Whem the defection of, Russia came about, wiuem men who; believed tihaii it was only necessary to will peace iv) order to imiposie it upon the Germam Emperor had given up their country (unwittingly I prefer to think) to the invasion of the enemy, who could believe ih&n that a million Germain soldiers who had become available/ would not tura against us? This and more, is what happened. For four years our effectives haive been Jwetaffdng' itheon^ellve^ out, our front was becoming thinner and thinner, with our allies who: hiad Buffered eiiormous losses, and now arrives a fresh mass of German divisions in good condition. Is thereany one who; does; not realise that under the weight of this tremendous wave ova* lines had to give, way at some points? The extient of theiir 'recoil beoanaa great and dangerous. I say nothing more, and there is nothingi iiln that to shake the confidence which we should have in our soldier©. To-day these men. arei engia,gsed to the battle. Our men fougiht ome agaimst five, without sleep for tn^ee diays and four nights together. Hheee gireat soldiers have good leaders, greaib leaders wlioi are worthy of them, in ©veay way. I have scan tihetsia leaders atfe work, aai,d some of them struck me with admiration. Is thtat saiyirig that 4 theire are nowhere miistokes? . I cannot maintain tliat. '-. • . My -business is precisely to discover bhose mistaikes and to punish tihifMn, and in this I am supported by two great ■soldiers named Fccih. and Petain. General Focih enjoys to such a degree the confidenoei of thie Allies that they wished that their unanimous confidence iin him sihould be e»xpi"assed inj tho communique. ■ The army is better than anything w«i could have expected from it—and when I speak of the army I speak of those who compose it, of whatever rank aud whatever grade taay may be. We have yielded groundi much moi'e igumtnd than we sihould have wished. There ai-c men wfhoi hay© paid for this retreait with th.ear blood. I know some who have accomplished acts of heroism like those Bretons who were surrounded in a wood all nighit, and who: next daj found means of. sending by carrier pigeon a message to say: "You may come and find us. We shall hold out for Half a day yet." Be calm, confident, and determined to hold on till tb© euid o-f this hard battl'a The victoay is to you, becausei the Germianisi, wiho aire ■not so intelligent a« we are told, have only one method —namely, to throw theliir whole weight into the venture and to push it to the end. You have before you a Government, which, as it told you, did not wiiter into power eivcir 1 to accept surrender. So long *as wo are here tihe fatherland will be defended to the death, and no force will bb spared to. obtain success. We will never yield. That is tihe word of command of mm 4 Government. We; will never yield a,t any moment. The effectives of the belligereinite ni*e being exhausted, those oi tJi.e A Germans as well as* our OAvn, but meanwhile the Americans are caming to play a hai»d in. the deciding game. ' The people of France ha.Ye accomplished their task, and those who have fallen have not fallen in. vadn, since they have made French'history great, ft" remains for the living to complete the magnificent work of the dead.