BRITAIN’S WILL TO WIN
Vigorous Speech By
Mr. Churchill PLAIN TALK TO HESITANT EUROPEAN NEUTRALS Finland’s Superb Example (By Telegraph—Press Association— Copyright.) Received January 21, 9 p.m. LONDON, January 20. “Toybells shall ring again” was the keynote of a broadcast talk by Mr. Winston Churchill, First Lord of the Admiralty, who, nevertheless, warned neutrals to unite with Britain and France in order to win the war speedily. Mr. Churchill emphasized that despite Hitler’s threats to the Allies it was the small neutrals that had thus far borne the brunt of German malice. “Britain and France need not seek a respite, he said. “Half of Germany’s U-boats have been sunk and her construction is far in arrears. Our faithful Asdig detectoi (anti-submarine detection indicator gear), locates the U-boats, whose strength we shall break with the aid of the Air Force. Mines do not present an insoluble problem. “The Deutschland escaped by the skin of her teeth but the Graf Spee sticks up a grisly monument of the fate of any Nazi warship dabbling in piracy upon broad waters. Marine losses he ahead of us but things are not going so badly; indeed, they have never gone so well in any naval war. Nations whose ships accept our guidance will not only live but thrive.’ After referring to the apprehension of the Belgians, Swiss, Rumanians, Scandinavians and Netherlanders, Mr. Churchill resumed : “Only Finland — superb, nay, sublime in the jaws of peril — shows what free men can do. Finland’s service to mankind is magnificent. She has exposed for the world to see the military incapacity of the Red Army and air force. All can see how Communism proves a nation base and abominable in war.
“What is left of civilized mankind could contemplate no more mournful spectacle than the reduction of this splendid race to servitude by the force of overwhelming numbers. “Meanwhile the neutrals bow to German threats, hoping that Britain and France will win, each thinking that if he feeds the crocodile enough the crocodile will eat him last. But the storm will spread southward and northward. Need for Unity. “There is no chance of a speedy end except through unity. Nothing would remain for the smaller States if Britain and France made a shameful peace but division between barbarisms of Nazism and Bolshevism. “The most hopeful influence upon the action of the neutrals is their increasing sense of the Allies’ power. We face numerical odds, but that is no new thing in our history. Will power, sea power, financial and natural resources, and a cause which rouses a human
spirit in millions of hearts have proved the decisive factors in our human story. How otherwise would men have risen above the apes? Undaunted by Numbers.
“Numbers do not daunt us. We need not. doubt the power of the Empire aligned with France. We shall not be found wanting. We see disintegration behind the brazen fronts of Nazidom — shortages of raw materials, the hesitancy of divided counsels, the doubts which undermine those who depend on force alone.
“We shall in the bitter conflict before us keep nothing back, nor be outstripped in any service to the common cause. The liberation of Warsaw, Prague and Vienna is sure. The day will come when the joybells will ring again throughout Europe, when the victorious nations will plan and build in justice, tradition and freedom a house of many mansions where there shall be room for all.”
Permanent link to this item
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/DOM19400122.2.44
Bibliographic details
Dominion, Volume 33, Issue 100, 22 January 1940, Page 7
Word Count
573BRITAIN’S WILL TO WIN Dominion, Volume 33, Issue 100, 22 January 1940, Page 7
Using This Item
Stuff Ltd is the copyright owner for the Dominion. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 3.0 New Zealand licence. This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Stuff Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.