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3d. PERTH, THURSDAY, JUNE 19, 1941.
NO. 2,977.
King Leopold's Surrender Vindicated Truth Revealed in Libel Case It was of some concern to Catholics when Leopold III., Bing
of the Belgians and an exemplary Catholic ruler, was branded as an
arch -traitor following the Nast invasion of the Low Lands last year. Little heed was paid to the plea to suspend judgment until the facts involving the Belgian surrender were known. The first positive
reassurance
was
contained in the Pastoral of Cardinal van Roey, Primate of Belgium, who said: "For our part, knowing ourselves to be in agreement with the almost unanimous opinion of the Belgium people, we maintain for our King respect, fidelity and confidence." However, no rebuttal of the accusations appeared in the press until Saturday last, when the "West Australian" published the cable report reprinted below. Another Perth daily newspaper, which caused general disgust at the time with its poster, "King Quisling," has not yet given any publicity to Leopold's vindication.
London, June 13. What is believed to be the inside story of the seven tragic days leading to the surrender of King Leopold of the Belgians last year was told for the first time when a settlement was announced in the Law Courts to -day of a libel action brought by Admiral of the Fleet, Sir Roger Keyes, against Daily Mirror Newspapers, Ltd. Sir Patrick Hastings, K C., counsel for Sir Roger, said that within a few hours of ;he German invasion of Belgium, on May 10 last year, Sir Roger, at the request of the British Government, fle49.4o join King Leopold as He remained special liaison officer. until May 27, when the King asked for an armistice. Announcing the surrender of the King on May 28, the Prime Minister (Mr. Churchill) asked that judgment be suspended until the facts were known. Sir Roger, in the lobby of Parliament, describing King Leopold as a gallant On May soldier, echoed this advice. 30, the "Daily Mirror" published an attack on King Leopold and on Sir Roger.
Dilemma. Sir Patrick Hastings proceeded to describe how the British army and the French northern army were ordered on May 20 to prepare to fight their way south-west, to regain contact with the It was clear, he said, French army. that unless the Belgian army could movement, there conform to this would be a breach of contact between Sir the British and Belgian armies. Roger Keyes, informing King Leopold
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count Gort that the Belgian army had neither tanks nor aircraft and existed solely for defence. The King did not feel he had any right to expect
the British Government to jeopardise perhaps the very existence of the British army in order to keep contact with the Belgian army, but he wished to make it clear that if there was a separation between the two armies, the capitulation of the Belgian army would be inevitable. The Belgium army, at the request of the French High Command, was withdrawn on May 23 from a strongly prepared position on the Scheldt to the weaker and longer line of the Lys, to allow the British army to retire behind the defensive frontier line and to prepare for a southward offensive. On the evening of May 26 a break-through of the Belgian line by the Germans King Leopold seemed inevitable. moved the remaining French 60th. Division in Belgian vehicles to a prepared position across the Yser, which was then flooded over a wide area and Fighting on the its bridges mined. Belgian front had been continuous for four days and the Belgian army by May 27 was running short of food and ammunition and was being attacked by at least eight German divisions, including armoured units and waves of dive-bombers. Slaughter.
That morning the King asked Sir Roger to inform the British authorities that he would be obliged to surrender before a debacle occurred. A similar message was sent to the French. The German army by the afternoon had driven a wedge between the Belgian and British armies and every road, village and town in the small part of Belgium left in Belgian hands was thronged with hundreds of thousands of refugees, and men, women and children were being mercilessly bombed and machine-gunned. In these circumstances, at 5 o'clock on the afternoon of Slay 27, King Leopold informed the British and French authorities that he intended at midnight to ask for an armistice, in order to avoid further slaughter of his people. This message, like the earlier one,
British army were cut, and though wireless messages were repeatedly made, it was now known that these did not reach the Allied commander -in -
chief. Sir Patrick Hastings concluded: "Sir Roger, in the light of his knowledge, felt justified in suggesting a suspension of judgment on King Leopold, and he resented the attack on himself:' Misled. The defendants accepted Sir Patrick Hasting's statement and regretted that they had been misled by an unimpeachable source. The Judge ordered the payment of damages, the amount not being stated, also costs. His Honour observed that the action, unlike some other libel suits, appeared to have served a useful purpose, as it had resulted in statements would give the widest satisfaction.
**
Meuse Bridges Were Destroyed Another comforting sign that there can be honour in defeat is the exoneration of General Corap, falsely accused of failing to blow up the bridges across the Meuse. A complete vindication, taken from a neutral source, is published below. In its issue of April 21, American newsmagazine "Time" states: One year ago the Nazi Army on the Western Front broke through at Sedan, crossed the Meuse River, and started the drive that ended in the defeat of France. In command of the Ninth French Army, protecting the Meuse, was General Andre Georges Corap. Six days later the break -through Premier Paul Reynaud took to the air, told the French Senate of the Meuse disaster, which he blamed on "the total disorganisation of the Corap Army." Said he: "As a result of unbelievable faults, which will be punished, bridges on the Meuse were not destroyed." General Corap was relieved of his command. Paris newsmen thougnt that General Corap had been made a scapegoat by the Reynaud Government in an effort to restore its own prestige. His Army might have been full of slackers and saboteurs, but his previous record was superb. A graduate of St. Cyr, French equivalent of West Point, he had served on Marshal Foch's staff in World War 1, was twice cited for bravery. He served in 1926 under Marshal Petain against famed Rebel Abd el -Krim in French Morocco. Staff He was for a while Chief of under General Maxime Weygand, was War the Supreme Vice President of
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The tragic news has been received by Miss E. O'Toole, Blantyre-avenue, Chelsea, Victoria, that her father, seven brothers and four sisters were killed when their home in North Strand, Dublin, yes wrecked by a bomb in the recent air raid. Miss O'Toole's mother and one sister are safe, states the cable message, but it is not known whether they were in the building at the time. Besides the members of the O'Toole family, two others who were in the house were victims of the bomb. Another sister, Mrs. Dent, resides at Atkin -street, Kew. Solemn Requiem Mass for the repose of the souls of the deceased was celebrated at St. Joseph's Church, Chelsea, by Rev. G. Fitzpatrick, P.P., and was largely attended by sympathetic parishioners. Council, a Grand Officer of the Legion of Honor. That the bridges over the Meuse were left standing was denied by Army men. They claimed instead that German columns had found some shallow fords in the river, had driven scores of obsolete tanks, useless for combat, into the water, and sent their big 30-ton monsters crunching over these improvised bridges. But in the magnitude of France's fall their words went unheeded. Last week, from Vichy, capital of Unoccupied France, came the first news of General Corap since the French collapse. One day last month, said a Government spokesman, General Corap turned up unexpectedly in Vichy, paid a surprise call on General Charles Huntziger, Minister of War. To General Huntziger he told his story,. presented proofs.
General Huntziger investigated, learned that Premier Reynaud's accusation was based on an unconfirmed report which he heard just half an hour before he went on the air in May. General Corap had repeatedly complained to General Maurice Gamelin, then in command of the French Army, that he lacked material and men to meet a German advance. The bridges over the Meuse were indeed blown up. To 63 -year-old General Corap, still in retirement, exoneration by the Vichy Government was small consolation last week. But to the French people, smarting under charges of treason and sabotage, it was a comforting sign that there can be honour in defeat.
PERTH CHAPLAIN SAFE. A letter from Rev. Father O'Callaghan, previously reported missing, is printed on Page U.
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