THE POSITION OF BELGIUM

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 86, Issue 229, 29 September 1942, Page 4

THE POSITION OF BELGIUM

'JTIE heroic resistance made by the garrisons of Liege and Namur in 1914 gave to the Belgian people an aura which continued until the conclusion of the war in 1918. The people of this little country, whieh so often has been the cockpit of Europe, were held up before the world as worthy of approbation and support. Financial aid was forthcoming to bring them succour. Those who were engaged in fighting on the Western Front, however, found it sometimes difficult to appreciate the viewpoint of many of the Belgian people, some at least of whom appeared to be friendly toward the Germans and lacking in cordiality to the British troops. As a result of these misunderstandings the Belgians became involved in this present war without the same measure of goodwill toward them that marked the British attitude in 1914. Further, the persistence in a policy of neutrality prior to the outbreak of war to the point that precluded co-operation with the British and the French in case of an invasion of Belgium by German forces, appeared to be an impracticable course to adopt in the face of growing danger. When war came British sentiment was not ’warm toward the Belgians, and the invasion seemed to have been almost invited by the neutrality policy.

The fact remains that the German invasion of Belgium in 1940 was no less a crime than it was in 1914, and no world which re-

spects international law can in any way condone it. If anything, the crime was greater in 1940 than on the previous occasion, and the invasion was certainly conducted with more ruthlessness. To-day the Belgian people are doing wVat they can to resist the invader; they have shown that they are looking to the British peoples to bring them release from bondage, and there appears to be every reason for believing that when the American and British forces re-enter the Continent, they will be received as deliverers by the people of Belgium.