The Facts in the Case

Since Leopold, King of the Belgians, surrendered to the German Army on May 27, 1940, thousands of words have been written to prove that he was: 1) a traitor, 2) a defeatist, 3) a humanitarian, 4) a patriot. The man who knew most of the facts in the case was Admiral of the Fleet Sir Roger Keyes, who was with King Leopold the day he surrendered. Sir Roger wrote nothing, merely asked the British public to suspend its judgment until all the facts were known. For this he was attacked by the Daily Mirror and he sued the paper for libel. Last week, in getting an apology in court, he made the facts public at last. His story:

Fighting on the Belgian front had been continuous for ten days. On May 20 the Belgian King sent word to the Allies through Sir Roger that should his troops lose contact with the French and British, "capitulation would be inevitable." By May 27 the Belgians were running short of food and ammunition, and they were being attacked by at least eight German divisions, including armored units and wave after wave of dive-bombers.

That morning King Leopold asked Admiral Keyes, who was serving as a special British Government liaison officer to Belgium, to inform the British authorities that he would be obliged to surrender before a debacle took place. A similar message was given the French.

By afternoon of that day the Germans had driven a wedge between the Belgians and the British. Every town and the small part of the country left in Belgian hands were thronged with hundreds of thousands of refugees, and men, women and children were being mercilessly machine-gunned and bombed by low-flying aircraft.

In these circumstances King Leopold at 5 p.m., May 27, informed the British and French that he intended at midnight that day to ask an armistice to avoid further slaughter of his people. Reports at the time that he quit the Allies without warning were groundless. The King's 5 p.m. message reached London and Paris quickly, but after that the lines were cut. King Leopold carried out his decision.

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