Evening star., 1940-06-02

ticle. in the tranquility of the heather
clad moorlands of Surrey I can hear
the thudding of guns fired in what has
been justly described as the greatest
rear-guard action ever fought in any
war.
The government wisely has decided
to reveal gradually to the public some
OF the truth about the real character
Of this battle. 1t was a fight to enable
the Allied troops in northern France
and Flanders to withdraw from that
area without suffering the enormous
losses inseparable from disordered re-
treat. The inconceivable and unex-
pected treachery of the Belgian King.
rendered what was necessarily a diffi-s
cult and dangerous operation still more
precarious.
His government, true to their sense
OF honor, promptly repudiated his deed
OF shame. The army he commanded
was defending its native land against
raiders who had invaded it without the
shadow of pretext and who mercilessly
shot down its defenders The French
and British soldiers whom he betrayed
were there at his personal suppication
to help him and his country in their
hour of distress.
Turned on Protectors.
They came from two countries that
Just over 20 years ago had sacrificed the
lives of millions of their bravest sons to
save the liberties and independence of
Belgium And yet when hundreds of
thousands of valiant young men from
the same countries came at his call once
more to fight the same battle against
the same foe without warning he sold
them to captivity or death. He CAL
lousy arranged with the aggressor to
clear the road and open the door that
would facilitate the butchery of his pro-
tectors
What will be the effect of the Leo
poldian treachery? AS far as the fate
of the encompassed and trapped British
and French forces in northern France
is concerned, it was wholly ruinous At
the moment of its occurrence they were
of1erlng to the overwhelming masses of
the German Armies-in tanks. airplanes
and men-fierce resistance That the
Germans themselves acknowledged.
There was just a chance that they
would delay the German advance long
enough to enable the French offensive
In the south first to close the gap and
then break through to the aid of the
hard-pressed British and French forces
In the north jc rfo
sre no entertainments to be stormed. 1
cannot conjecture how high were the
chances of such an eventuality if the
Belgians had not surrendered. But the
bare chance of its succeeding cannot be
ruled out.
The break-through at Sedan was so
unexpected that the French were utterly
unprepared for it. There were no re-
serves to throw in to drive the enemy
back before he widened the breach It
was a question of giving time for a
sufficient number of French divisions
to be brought up from other fronts to
arrest the flow of German armored divi-
sions through the gap. The bombing of
the important railway junction at Lyons,
simultaneously with the Belgian inva-
sion, delayed seriously the bringing up
Of reserves from the south of France
Evacuation Only Hope of Allies.
The Leopoldian betrayal made evacua-
tion our only hope of saving the Allied
Armies of the north for future fighting
In other areas. The Germans knew 1t
Nj L. 49,
saying so now. There is no semblance
of rout. The withdrawing divisions of
the British and French fought one of the
most superb rear guard actions in history.
I met young soldier who had just
escaped from one of the battlefelds of
French Flanders. He was only 10 years
of age and belonged to territorial bat
talon. He gave me vivid account of
the methods employed by the mechanical
columns constituting the German van
guard which tore through the vitals of
the French, captured Laon, Amiens and
Abbeville, and swept along the coast to
the Channel ports. There has been
nothing like it since Attilla rushed
through the cities and plains of Italy
with his swift horsemen.
The British battalion-a few hundred
strong-to which this young territorial
belonged was in occupation of a small
unfortified French town. There they
were attacked by mass of huge tanks,
90 in all. They were working in con-
junction with a large number of bomb
ing airplanes. They had no infantry
support.
When the German tanks reached the