My son, it’s unbelievable 

• 1940 
• Walker, J.C. 
• Drawing 
• Historical item 

6880325

Drawings / paintings

My son, it’s unbelievable

46 x 37 cm

1940

Original political cartoon in pen and ink and crayon on ‘Fineline’ drawing board for the Western Mail, 1940, shows the king of Belgium, Leopold III, waving the white flag while the giant ghost of his father, Albert I, looks on incredulously. This refers to the surrender of the Belgian armed forces following the German invasion in May 1940. In the late 1930s, like many of the smaller European states, Belgium had clung to neutrality and resisted calls for an alliance with Britain and France. Despite military assistance from these countries, the Belgian forces were no match for the German army and on 27 August 1940 Leopold surrendered his army when it became encircled. He did this without consulting his government and also refused to leave the country together with his ministers, spending the rest of the war in German captivity. The British press denounced him as "Traitor King" and "King Rat"; the Daily Mirror published a picture of Leopold with the headline "The Face That Every Woman Now Despises". French prime minister Paul Reynaud accused Leopold of treason. His decision to stay with the troops rather than go with the government in exile to Paris left him open to accusations of collaboration with the enemy, although this does not appear to have been the case. His reputation never recovered however, and he was forced into exile in Switzerland between 1944 and 1950, and a brief return to Belgium in 1950 resulted in protest and disorder, leading to his abdication shortly afterward. Board size 46 x 37 cm (18 x 14.5 inch), image size 45 x 34 cm, signed lower right, caption in pencil in upper border, which is rather ragged, otherwise in very good condition.