Evening star., 1942-03-06
'Groy Book Evidence
Exonerotes Belgium
New Published Book Indicates
Brave Resistance Of Leopold
Until Defect Was Inevitable
BIZ Blair .BolleS.

| By Blair BoILeS.
In the midst OF new battles far, from
Western Europe. the strange trial at
Rion, In the south Of France, is recon-
structing for US the sad events OF May,
1910. when the German armies burst
speedily across the barriers holding them
from the North Sea and the English
| Channel, two bodies of water which could
be roads to England. France fell, the
Netherlands fell, Belgium fell, the demo-
cratic world mourned.
There was time when many people
thought that these defeats of three
strong powers were accomplished largely
through various aspects of what We know
as fifth column" work, through traitors
and through alien enemies present in
the guiSe OF friends. Now the Belgian
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, working in
! London, comes forward with a Gray
Book" denying the strength of the fifth
column in Belgium and attrlbuting de-
feat simply to the overwhelming military
strength Of the invader
The Gray Book" Is a valuable docu-
| ment which sweeps away many of the
| doubts and suspicious about Belgiums
role in the disasters which shook the
globe in the spring of 1910. In brief, terse
eloquence it demonstrates that the Bel
gian government was honorable that the
Belgian armies fought until they could
hight no more and that the Belgian King.
Leopold, acted with dignity and manli-
ness in the unhappy hour of surrender.
The air over Belgian territory was
filled with the man-made thunder OF
bursting bombs from airplanes and Of
shell fire from the guns Of invading Ger
mans at am, May 10, 1910. This was
the announcement that the Nazs had
gone to war with Belgium. For the gov
ernment in Brussels it was no surprise.
The invasion had long been expected.
The German White Book Of 1910 in
In May in order to forestau an Anglo
French plot to use Belgian territory IN
an sttack against Germany.
"A German courier plane made a
forced landing at Mechelen-sur- -Meuse,
in Belgian territory on January 10, 1940,"
the book reports in telling of an ex-
traordinary incident which disproves
thoroughly the German pretensions of
justified invasion
THE two officers on board said that
they had lost their way in the fog above
the Ruhr basin and the valley OF the
Rhine. One Of the two officers had some
confidential papers which he twice tried
TO burn.
He almost succeeded the second time:
he managed to throw them suddenly into
lighted stove while he was being ques-
ton, but a Belgian oficer rushed for
ward. put his hand in. the stove and
pulled them out OF the flames three parts
burned
They consisted Of instructions to the
squadron leader of No. 2 Air Fleet about
the offensive which the German western
army was to carry out across Belgium
from the Moselle to the North Sea- The
9Th German Army was especially In
structed to destroy the Belgian Army,
launching its main attack in the Mas
tricht district: the 7th Air Force Divi-
sion, conveyed by air. was to land be-
tween the Sambre and the Meuse.
Was the document authentic7 Was It
really an accident that 1t had fallen into
the hands Of the Belgian Army? A thor
ough inquiry was made, and the hypo-
thesis of trick was dismissed"
The German visit to Belgium was de-
layed four months, and then the defeat
Of Belgium took only II days. The Ger
mans cut through the Allied defense at
Sedan within three days and divided
the forces in Belgium from the main
strength of the French Army south of
Sedan. But the Belgians gave no thought
to surrender until the soldiers In the
advance line we're near the place where
they could hear the beat of the North
Seas waves. At 1890 PM. on May ~
King Leopold telegraphed to Gen. Gort,
commander in chief Of the British Ex-
peditionary Force:
The Belgian Army Is losing heart. 1t
has been fighting without q break for
the past four days under q heavy bonn
bardment which the r. A. F. has been
unable to prevent. Having heard that
the Allied group Is surrounded and
aware Of the great superiority OF the
enemy, the troops have concluded that
the situation is desperate. The time is
rapidly approaching when they will be
forced to capitulate to avoid collapse"
The time came soon. At pm. King
Leopold decided to send an envoy to the
German command to ask for an armi-
stice between the Belgian and the Ger
man Armies. Now the book throws some
light on a question which long has been
delicate. Did the Belgian authorities
keep their Allies fully acquainted with
the Belgian actions In the moment Of
desperation? They did. Says the Gray
Book:
This decision (to seek an armistice)
was at once communicated to the French
and British missions. The head of the
French mission, while fully appreciating
the justice Of the decision, expressed the
view that the negotiations should be
conducted by the three armies in con-
junction with one another : A little
later a reply was given to the effect that
the mission would confine itself to in
quiring into the terms Of the armistce"
The war was ended for Belgium II
hours later Could Belgium have made a
better fight? The Belgian Foreign once
is sure 1t could not.
THE army had resisted the German
aggression with all the means in its
power" the Gray Book says. Its inabil-
ftv tn check IL was die tn military events