THE BATTLE OF FRANCE
I thereupon gave a brief description in English of
how things were. I was so moved by France's
misfortunes, by the dreadful future that gaped
before us that the words tumbled out. I don't know
what I must have said, but when I had finished all
these boys of the Press, to my great surprise, got up
and applauded whole-heartedly. I believe that up to
then nobody had told them as frankly how terrible
France's position was, how urgently aid was needed,
how impossible it was to hang on if reinforcements
were insufficient. I was touched by the warmth of
their welcome, and inspired to hope again. They
would then have willingly given everything to help
us, but unhappily they had nothing to give.
This impromptu speech led to another. The
B.B.C. asked me to repeat that evening before the
microphone not my exact words of that morning
but the gist of them. I said this:
CI have just arrived from France, and want to tell
you very simply and frankly what the feeling
amongst the French people was yesterday. I spent
my morning in Paris and was deeply touched by the
quiet courage of everybody, men and women. They
had been bombed, they knew they would be bombed
again, they knew the Germans were on the Seine, a
name which means so much to us. Most of them
were without news from a son, a husband or a
father. Many of them had parents and friends in
towns now occupied by the enemy, but all went on
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