Gallia Rediviva •
In his broadcast from Paris on Sunday night General de Gaulle called upon Frenchmen to face the New Year with the determination to put France back in her proper place among the Powers of Europe. With the call-up of new classes of men for the Services, and the enrolment in the Army of many members of the Resistance Forces, France is building up reinforcements for the small army which General de Gaulle has long kept in being ; he is able to look forward to the possession of a force great in numbers and also adequately equipped. The French troops have already had outstanding successes in driving she Germans out of Alsace. The signing of the United Nations Declaration by the French Ambassador in Washington on Monday was a symbolic act which ranks France as one of the major Powers ranged against Germany ; but she is rightly bent upon proving herself to be not merely one. of such Powers, but a Great Power which must have a decisive voice in the remaking of Europe. General de Gaulle is fully alive to the fact that the re- making of France itself is the first task on which the success of the wider task depends. She has made an orderly transition to free government. She will be holding municipal elections in the spring. Her man-power is being trained in the Forces. But her transport and industry are in a sad plight, and this mainly through lack of materials. Her great woollen factories in Tourcoing and Roubaix are ready to start working at a moment's notice, but remain idle for lack of raw material. The Allies have promised to send in limited supplies, but it is doubtful if it has been sufficiently appreciated how greatly the Allies' total war potential is increased by the liberation of France, and that it can be given the form of goods needed for the war when supplies on a bigger scale can be got through. France is helping herself so well that it will manifestly be profitable to help her to the limit of our powers.
Previous page
