HOME OF FREEDOM STRENGTH OF BRITAIN GROWS IN ADVERSITY

Press, Volume LXXIX, Issue 24051, 13 September 1943, Page 4

HOME OF FREEDOM STRENGTH OF BRITAIN GROWS IN ADVERSITY

I have spent practically the whole of this war in London. When I look back along the vista of years which separate us from that strange day in September, 1939, when Mr Chamberlain' announced that once again we were at war with Germany, I am conscious of many memories. I remember nights when the whole of London seemed to be on fire, and when the crash of anti-aircraft guns was interspersed with the rising shriek of falling bombs. I remember mornings when the streets of the great city smelt of dust and ashes, when the roads were blocked by fallen buildings, when the glass of shattered windows lay deep upon the pavements, when the hoses of the fire brigades were strung from road to road. I remember those anxious days of 1940 when we knew that France was lost, and when we feared that the whole British Army might be forced to surrender. I remember the time when the British Commonwealth stood alone against a triumphant enemy, and when between us and surrender there stood only the faith of a great people personified in the willpower and the courage of a tremendous leader. lean remember loss, anxiety, disaster; I can remember weeks when every day the news seemed to be worse and worse; and I can remember how the people 7 of Britain were never discouraged, never divided, never dismayed. And I can recall how, step by step and month by month, we began to recover and to prepare our strength; how great and powerful nations unassailable in their own countries, eventually irresistible in their might, came one by one to our assistance. And as I remember all these long and anxious years I realise that to-day our victory is certain, and that in the next few months, though many trials and many disappointments may await us, the great power of the United Nations will build itself up until the moment when the last crashing blow will be dealt to the Axis structure and the whole edifice of their schemes, their ambitions, and their power falls in dust and rubble to the ground. Britain a Centre of Strength

As I think back |on all these glorious and tragic events, I am aware that, having witnessed all these things from London itself, it seems to me that Britain has always been the centre of strength, has always been the fortress of resistance around which the might and majesty of the United Nations has slowly gathered. I sometimes wonder whether, had I spent these years elsewhere, I should have seen t the whole terrible picture from a different angle, and 1 therefore in different proportions. Looking up towards the north-west over the vast spaces of Asia, Africa, and Europe, I should have seen this little island anchored off the peninsula of Europe, and I should have said to myself, “But can it really be true that this tiny spot of land upon the world s surface can really have been the core and centre of resistance against the greatest military power that the world has ever known? Can it really be true that the people of Britain, who number only half the population of Germany, who are peaceable people, civilian people, and not trained in the arts of war—can it be really true that these people in the monfent of world danger were able first to take upon themselves this enormous burden, and thereafter to become the centre of so vast an alliance?” Had I asked myself these questions, I should have answered “Yes . . . these things are true.” Why are they true? I do not pretend for one moment that the British people are stronger or cleverer than the other peoples ,of the world. I am well aware that, without the heroic strength of China, without the massive brilliance of Russia’s military achievement, without the, generous aid and overwhelming force 0/ the United States, this little island, even with the wholehearted support of the Dominions and colonies, could not have withstood for many years longer the organised fury of the Axis, and could never have hoped, as we can now hope with certainty, to bring down the twin monsters of German and Japanese militarism to their knees. But although Ido not claim that we as a people have sdch genius for battle that we can conquer all the nations of the world, I do believe that we possess certain great virtues which, in time of danger, fit us to become the champions of world freedom and the centre of resistance against the enemies of mankind. During that dark year between June, 1940, and June. 1941, Britain stood virtually alone; but not entirely alone. For Britain had become as never before a focus and a rallying point for the forces of freedom.

[By HAROLD NICHOLSON.] (Published by Arrangement with the "Sydney Morning Herald.”)

Here the battered but undefeated remnants of the Continental armed forces—French, Polish, Belgian, Dutch, Norwegian, Czech regathered their „ strength. Swollen by the steady stream ? of. brave men who made their wtppsf across the narrow seas, these foren jL became once again disciplined, skilleoHv’v well-equipped armies, navies, and air < t forces

Already these arms of the United Nations have fought side by side with their British and American comrades in Africa and elsewhere. Their navies and air forces have been waging offensive war from British bases; their main armies stand ready for the great advance into to-morrow’s liberated Europe. Britain has supplied the arms, the food,' the barracks and camps, even the uniforms for these Allied soldiers; she and America have handed over hundreds of the latest fighter and bomber aircraft; she has replaced Allied warships .sunk in service with the latest vessels from her own yards.

These Allied forces in Britain fight : under their own officers. Their bar-" '’ racks and camps are regarded as piece* of their own countries. Several main- ; tain their own military cadet and other v 4;< training schools. The men wear their - own national uniforms. But inde- ;; pendence and co-operation go together, \ for all the Allied armed forces are « welded into a single strategic unity by. ■the plans of the Combined Staff Committees in London and Washington.

The seven Allied Fleets operating ■ from British waters—the Fighting - French, Greek, Netherlands, Norwegian, Polish, and Jugoslav—have added , - no fewer than 220 fighting ships and '' 27,000 officers and men to the UnitedNations’ sea strength. A great Allied, merchant navy of no less than 6,750,000 gross tonnage sails in the United - Nations’ convoys, each ship an inde» - pendent entity under its own officers, but each fitted into its place in the ' common effort by the Combined Shipping Adjustment Board.

To-day several Governments operate ■ freely from Britain or British soil—those of Belgium, Czechoslovakia, - Greece, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Jugoslavia, and Poland, while vthe Fighting French National Committee came into being and strength here. These are completely autonomous bodies with their own laws, some with .' their own civil courts, most with their own financial resources. Here are ; autonomy and co-operation combined. Cultural Life Preserved .Y. The cultural life of the United ‘ Nations in Britain is served in many ways—by clubs and social centres, societies, libraries, schools, even uni- ! versities. Each Government has drawn . .yj up plans for the education of its young * people along the traditional lines of national culture, setting up its own ■ ■' schools with the aid and co-operation '■■ : v of the British council. English schools and universities, too, are open to the. ;"L allies of Britain. -Technical schools are preparing the citizens-to-be of liberated Europe for their vital tasks. 'll The Belgian Ministry of Education, ils for instance, has, with the help of the British authorities, established. 17 ele- ij| mentary schools, three secondary M schools, and a technical school, and has.;Jg* arranged some 200 correspondence •, jcourses. National and British teachers 7 V, work side by side in many of these s ! |>‘ schools; i ; „ The Polish Government has several -v elementary and secondary schools, a college for young soldiers, and even a Polish Medical School attached to the Edinburgh University Faculty of Medi- . cine and staffed by Polish and British'professors. A Polish school of architeo- v ture is now operating in Liverpool. So it is that while Russia, the British Commonwealth, and the U.S.A. engage . the main strength of' the enemy,? the . - other Allied nations are fighting; and preparing to fight, working in British war factories and in civil defence, and. preparing for the liberation; of their own countries > ■ , \ They have not lost their nation?! freedom, culture, or laws during-their 1;,.. temporary exile. But they have gained, :p----and Britain too has gained enormously - by new knowledge of, and with, one another. “ ‘ The Axis are faced to-day by an yi , alliance of United Nations whose,pur- £' ; pose is unflinching, whose unity is unassailable, whose might will before ‘ v long be overwhelming. I do not write in terms of national vanity, since our •,.,- sufferings may have rendered us proud but have not rendered us conceited. I V.. write with a conviction that Great Bri- , tain must hold a central place in this great alliance, and that if we hesitate to place our' wisdom, our experience,. and our virtue at the service of all • peoples, we shall fail to fulfil the great possibility which destiny has placed . , upon our shoulders. ■ . ■ » 1 > _nm‘ *