LEADER TAKES STOCK

Dominion, Volume 34, Issue 117, 11 February 1941, Page 7

LEADER TAKES STOCK

Mr. Churchill Speaks Of Triumphs And Perils “WE SHALL NOT FAIL OR FALTER” (British Official Wireless.) r- 1 n RUGBY, February v. The Prime Minister, Mr. Churchill, in a speech broadcast to the world tonight, reviewed the progress of the war since last August and considered the prospects for the fUtUl<i He expressed complete confidence in the spirit of Britain and the Empire and the material power to withstand all attacks and to carry the fight through to victory with the aid of American industry. He discussed the implications of the great Imperial successes in Africa and the Mediterranean and referred to the possible imminence of a German move through Bulgaria. • Mr. Churchill issued a strong warning of the possibility of a German invasion attempt against Britain, mentioning that such a venture before this winter would have been a more or less improvised affair but now would be more fully planned. He also stressed the increasing might for defence and counter-offensive of the Royal Air Force, Navy and Army.

"’Five months have passed since I spoke to the British nation and Empire on a broadcast,” Mr. Churchill said. “In wartime there is a lot to be said for the motto ‘deeds, not words." All the same, it is a good thing to look round from time to time and take stock, and certainly our affairs have prospered in several directions during the last four or five months far better than most of us would have ventured to hope. We stood our ground and faced the two dictators in the hour of what seemed their overwhelming triumph, and we have shown ourselves capable so far of standing up against them alone.

“After the heavy defeats of the German air force by our fighters in August and September, Hitler did not dare to attempt an invasion of this island, though he had need to do so and had made vast preparations,” Mr. Churchill continued. “Baffled in this grandiose project, he thought to break the spirit of the nation by bombing first London and afterward our great cities. “It has now .been proved, to the admiration of the world and of our friends in the United States, that this form of blackmail and murder and terrorism, far from weakening the spirit of the British nation, has only roused it to a more intense and universal effort than was ever seen before in any modern community. The whole British Empire has been proud of the Mother Country, and they long to be with us here in ever larger I have been deeply conscious of the love for us which has flowed from the Dominions of the Crown across the broad ocean spaces. This is the first of our war aims—to be worthy of that love, and to preserve it. “All through these dark winter months the enemy has had the power to drop three or four tons of bombs upon us for each ton we could send to Germany in return. We are arranging so that presently this will be rather the other way round, but meanwhile London and our big cities have had to stand their ground. “More than two-thirds of the winter has now gone, and so far we have had no serious epidemics. Indeed, there is no increase of illness in spite of the improvised conditions of the shelters. This is most creditable to our local medical and sanitary authorities, to our devoted nursing staff, and to the Ministry of Health, whose head, Mr. Malcolm MacDonald, is now going, to Canada in the important office of High Commissioner. There is another thing which surprised me when I asked about it. In spite of all these new wartime offences and prosecutions of all kinds, in spite of all the opportunities for looting and disorder, there has been less crime this winter and there are fewer prisoners in our gaols than in the years of peace. “We have broken the back of the winter. The daylight grows. The Royal Air Force grows and is already certainly master of the daylight air. The attacks will be sharper, but they will be shorter. There will be more opportunities for work and service of all kinds—more opportunities for life. Great Counter-stroke

“So far,” Mr. Churchill continued, “our first victory was the repulse of the invaders, and the second was the frustration of his attacks of terror and of torture against our people at home.

“Meanwhile, abroad, in October, a wonderful thing happened. One of the two dictators—the crafty, cold-blooded, black-hearted Italian who had thought to gain an empire on the cheap by stabbing fallen France in the back — got into trouble. Without the slightest provocation, stirred on by lust of power and booty and by greed, Mussolini attacked and invaded Greece, only to be hurled back ignominiously by the heroic Greek army. While Signor Mussolini was writhing under the Greek lash in Albania, General Wavell and General Wilson, who were charged with the-defence of Egypt and of the Suez Canal in accordance with our treaty obligations, and whose task seemed at one time so difficult—had received very powerful reinforcements —reinforcements of men, cannon, equipment, and, above all, tanks, which we bad sent from this island in spite of the invasion threat —and large numbers of troops from India, Australia and New Zealand had also reached them. Forthwith began that series of victories in Libya which has broken irretrievably Italian military power on the African continent.

“Here, then, in Libya, is the third considerable event on which we may dwell with some satisfaction. It is exactly two months ago to a day that I was waiting anxiously, but also eagerly, for the news of the great counter-stroke which had been planned against the invaders of Egypt. “The secret had been well kept, the preparations had been well made, but the leap across over 70 miles of desert to attack an army of ten or eleven divisions equipped with all the appliances of modern war and which had been fortifying itself for three months —that, was a most hazardous adventure. The brilliant and decisive victory at Sidi Barrani, with its lens of thousands of prisoners, proved that we had quality, manoeuvring power, and weapons superior lo the enemy, who bad boasted so much of his virility and his military virtues. 11 was certain that all the other Italian forces in Libya were in great danger. They could not easily beat a retreat along the coastal road without running the risk of being cut off in the open by our armoured divisions and brigades, ranging far out into the desert in tremendous swoops and scoops. They had to expose themselves to being attacked □ieeemeal.

“General Wavell —nay, all the leaders and all. the live, active, ardent men, British, Australian, and Indian, in the

Imperial Army—saw their opportunity. At this time I ventured to draw General Wavell’s attention to the seventh chapter of the Gospel of St. Matthew, in the seventh verse, where you all know, or ought to know, it is written: ‘Ask, and it shall be given; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.’ The Army of the Nile asked, and it was given; it sought, and it found; it knocked, and it was opened unto them. “In barely eight weeks, by a campaign which will long be studied as a model of the military art, an advance of over 400 miles has been made. The whole Italian army in eastern Libya, which was reputed to exceed 150,000 men, has been captured or destroyed. The entire province of Cyrenaica, nearly as big as England and Wales, has been conquered. Unhappy Arab tribes who have for 30 years suffered from the cruelty of Italian rule, carried in some cases to the point of methodical extermination —these Bedouin survivors have at last seen their oppressors in disorderly flight or in endless troops’as prisoners of war. Egypt and the Suez Canal are safe, and the port, the base, and the airfield at Benghazi constitute a strategic point of high consequence to the whole war in the eastern Mediterranean. - Credit to Leaders.

“This is the time to speak of the leader who, at the head of the brave troops, has rendered this distinguished service. First and foremost, General Wavell, Commander-in-Chief of all the armies of the Middle East, has proved himself a master of war—sage, painstaking, and daring; but General Wavell has repeatedly asked that others should share his fame. General Wilson, who actually commands the Army of the Nile, was reported to be one of our famous tacticians, and few will now deny that quality. General O’Connor, commanding the 13th Corps, with General Mac Kay, commanding the splendid Australians, and General Craig, commander of the famous armoured divisions which were employed — these three men executed the complicated and astoundingly rapid movements which were made, and fought the actions which occurred.

“I have just seen a telegram from General Wavell in which he says the success at Benghazi was due to the outstanding leadership and resolution of O’Connor and Craig, ably backed by Wilson. “I must not forget, either, to point out the mechanical feats of the British tanks, whose design and workmanship have beaten all records and stood up to all trials and show us how closely and directly the working of factories at home 'is linked with victories abroad.

“Of course, none of our plans would have succeeded had not our pilots under Air Chief Marshal Longmore wrested the control of the air from a far more numerous enemy. Nor would the campaign itself have been possible if the British Mediterranean Fleet under Admiral Cunningham had not chased the Italian navy into its harbours and sustained every forward surge of the Army with all the flexible resources of sfea-power.” East African Onslaught.

"The events in Libya are only part of the story. They are only part of the story of the decline and fall of the Italian empire that will not take a future Gibbon so long to write as the original one. Fifteen hundred miles away to the southwards a strong British and Indian Army have driven the invaders out of the Sudan and -are marching steadily forward to the Italian colony of Eritrea. They are seeking to complete the isolation of all the Italian troops in Libya. Another British force is entering Abyssinia from the west, while the army gathered in Kenya, in the advance of which we may depend on powerful forces of the Union of South Africa organized by General Smuts, is striking northwards along the whole enemy front. Lastly, Ethiopian patriots, whose independence was stolen five years ago, have risen in arms, and their Emperor, recently an exile in England, is in their midst to light for their freedom apd his throne. "Here, then, we see the beginning of the process of reparation of the chastisement of wrong-doing which reminds us that though the mills of God grind slowly, they grind exceedingly small.” Referring to the "flexible resources” of British sea power, Mr. Churchill added: "How far-reaching these resources are we can see from what happened at dawn this morning when our western Mediterranean Fleet, under Admiral Somerville, entered the Gulf of Genoa and bombarded in a shattering manner the naval base from which, perhaps, a Nazi German expedition might soon have sailed to attack General Weygand in Algeria or Tunis.

“It is right that the Italian people should be made to feel the sorry plight into which they hive been dragged by Dictator Mussolini, and if the cannonade of Genoa, rolling along

the coast and reverberating in the mountains, has reached the ears of our French comrades in their grief and misery it might cheer them with the feeling that friends —active friends —are near, and that Britannia rules the waves.

“Deep Thankfulness” “While these events have been carrying us stride by stride from what many people thought a forlorn position, and what certainly was a very grave position in May and June, to one which permits us to speak with sober confidence of our power to discharge our duty, heavy though it be iu the future —while this has been happening a mighty tide of sympathy, goodwill and effective aid has begun to flow across the Atlantic in support of the world cause at stake. “Distinguished Americans have come over to see things here at the front and to find out how the United States can help us best and soonest. In Mr. Hopkins, who has been my frequent companion during the last three weeks, we have the envoy of the President who has been newly re-elected to his august office. In Mr. Willkie we have welcomed the champion of the great Republican Party. We may be sure that they will both tell the truth about what they have seen over here, and, more than that we do not ask. The'rest we leave with good confidence to the judgment of the President, the Congress, and the people of the United States. “I have been so very careful since 1 have been Prime Minister not to encourage false hopes or prophesy smooth and easy things, and yet the tale that I have to tell today is one which must justly and rightly give us cause for deep thankfulness, and also, I think, for strong comfort and even rejoicing. But now I must dwell upon the more serious, darker and more dangerous aspects of the vast scheme of war. “We must all have been asking ourselves what Hitler has been preparing during the winter months, what new devilry he has planned, what new country he will strike down or overrun, what fresh form of assault he will make on Britain, which, let there be no mistake about it, is all that stands between him and domination of the world. More Violent Phase. “We may be sure that the war is still going to enter upon a phase of greater violence. “Hitler’s confederate, Mussolini, has reeled back in Albania, but the Nazis, having absorbed Hungary and driven Rumania into a frightful internal convulsion, are now already upon the Black Sea. Many preparations have been made for a movement of German troops into or through Bulgaria, and perhaps this southward move has already begun. We saw what happened last May in the Low Countries—how they hoped for the best, how they clung to their hopes and how wholly they were deceived, overwhelmed, plundered, enslaved and, since, starved.

‘Much will certainly happen as American aid becomes effective, as our air power grows, as we become a wellarmed nation and as our armies in the East increase in strength. But nothing is more certain than that if the countries of south-eastern Europe allow themselves to be pulled to pieces one by one they will share the fate of Holland, Denmark and Belgium, and no one can tell how long it will be before the hour of their deliverance strikes.” One difficulty, Mr. Churchill said, was to convince some of the neutral countries that Britain was going to Win. lit was astonishing that they should be so dense as not to see that as clearly as the Allies did.

He recalled that in the last war, in July, 1915, they began to think that Bulgaria was going wrong. Accordingly they asked the Bulgarian Minister to dinner to explain to him what a fool King Ferdinand would make of himself if lie were to go in on the losing side. The poor man simply could not believe it, or could not make his Government believe it, so Bulgaria, against the wishes "of her peasant population and against the Allies’ interests, fell in with the Kaiser’s plans and was sadly carved up and punished when the victory was won.

Mr. Churchill said lie trusted that Bulgaria was not going to make tiie same mistake again. If she did, the Bulgarians, who were in much regard both in Great Britain and the United States, would for the third time in 30 years have embarked on a needless and disastrous war.

“In the central Mediterranean the Italian Quisling who is called Mussolini and the French Quisling, commonly called Laval, are both in their different ways trying to make their countries into doormats for Hitler and his new order in the hope of being able to keep or get the Nazi Gestapo and Russian bayonets Io enforce their rule upon their fellow countrymen. I cannot tell how the matter will go, but al any rale we shall do our best to light for the central Mediterranean. "I daresay you will have noticed the very significant air action fought over Malta a fortnight ago. The Germans sent an entire Geschwader (squadron) of dive-bombers to Sicily. They seriously injured our new aircraft-carrier Illustrious and then, as this wounded ship was sheltering in Malta harbour, they concentrated upon her al their force so as to beat her to pieces. But they were met by the batteries of Malta, which is one of the strongest

defended fortresses in tiie world against air attack.

“They were met by the Fleet Air Arm and by the Royal Air Force, and in two or three days they had lost. out. of luO dive-bombers upward of 90, 50 of which were destroyed in the air and 40 on the ground. Though the Illustrious in her damaged condition was one of the greatest prizes of the air and naval war, the German Geschwader accepted defeat. They would not come any more. All the necessary repairs were made to the Illustrious in Malta harbour. and she steamed safely off to Alexandria under her own power at 23 knots. Supplies, Men, Morale “1 dwell upon this incident not at all because I think it disposes of the danger in the central Mediterranean, but to show that there and elsewhere we intend to give a good account of ourselves,” said Mr. Churchill. But after all, the fate of the war was going to be settled by what happened on the ocean, in the air, and, above all, in Britain. It seemed now to be certain that the Government and people of the United States intended to supply Britain with all that was necessary for victory. In the last war the United States sent a great number of men across the Atlantic, but this was not a war of vast armies. “We do not need the gallant armies now forming throughout the American Union,” Mr. Churchill said. “We do not need them this year nor next year, nor any year that I can foresee, but we .do need most urgently an immense and continuous supply of war materials and technical apparatus of all kinds. We need them here and we need to bring them here. “We shall need a great mass of shipping in 1942, far more than we can build ourselves, if we are to maintain and augment our war effort in the East.” They must expect that Hitler would do his utmost to destroy shipping and reduce the volume of American supplies to Britain.” Will Meet Every Phase. Mr. Churchill emphasized that he had never underestimated the danger of Hitler doing his utmost in the war upon British shipping and also to reduce the volume of American supplies which entered Britain, and he added, “Therefore I hope you will believe me when I say I have complete confidence in the Royal Navy, aided by the air force of the Coastal Command, and that in one way or another I am sure they will be able to meet every changing phase of this truly mortal struggle and that, sustained by the courage of our merchant seamen and of the dockers and workmen of all our ports, we shall outwit, outmanoeuvre, outfight and outlast the worst that the enemy’s malice and ingenuity can contrive.” Referring to the heroic endurance of the British people in the face of the enemy air raids during the last few months, Mr. Churchill said it reminded him of the British squares at Waterloo. “They are not squares of soldiers; they do not wear scarlet coats,” he said. “They are just ordinary English, Scottish and Welsh folk, men and women and children standing steadfastly together. But their spirit is the same, their glory is the same, and in the end their victory will be greater than far-famed Waterloo. “More honour to the civil defence services for all time—emergency and regular, volunteer and professional—who have helped our people through a formidable ordeal the like of which no civilized community has ever been called on to undergo. If I mention only one of these services tonight—the police—it is because many tributes have been paid to the others; but the police have been in it everywhere and all the time. As a working woman wrote to me in a letter, ‘What gentlemen they are.’ ” Invasion Task Mr. Churchill said lie had left tiie greatest issue to the end. The Chief of the Imperial General Staff, General Sir John Dill, had given a warning that Hitler might be driven by economic and other conditions in Europe to try to invade Britain in the near future. This was a warning which no one could disregard. Actually, Britain was working night and day to have everything ready. She was far stronger than in July. August and September. The Navy was more powerful and tiie flotillas more numerous. In the air also Britain was far stronger, actually, and relatively, than when the British tighter planes beat off and bear down the Nazi attacks last August. The British Army was more numerous and more mobile, far better equipped and trained than in September, and still more so than in July. Mr. Churchill said he had the greatest confidence in the Commander-in-Chief ami the men of proved ability who were under him, but most of all he pul his faith in the simple, unaffected resolve to conquer or die which would animate and inspire nearly 4,000,000 Britons with serviceable weapons in their hands. It was not an easy military operation to invade an island like Great Britain without command of the seas and without command of the air, and then to face what would be waiting on the shore for the invader.

Nazi Preparation

Mr. Churchill stressed the risk of over-confidence or slothfulness and said that a Nazi invasion of Britain last autumn would have been a more

or less improvized affair. Hitler had taken it for granted that when France gave in Britain would give in; but she did not, and Hitler had to think again. An invasion now would be much more carefully prepared, with landing craft and other apparatus all of which would have been planned and manufactured during the winter months. They must be prepared to meet gas attacks, parachute attacks and glider attacks with constant forethought and practised skill.

Mr. Churchill emphasized what. Sir John Dill said and what he himself had pointed out last year—that in order to win the war Hitler must destroy Great Britain, lie might carry havoc to the Balkans, he might tear great provinces out of Russia, he might march to the Caspian Sea and to the gates of India, but all that would avail him nothing. Mr. Willxie. the Premier said, had lu-ought with him a letter of introduction from Mr. Roosevelt, in which the President had included a quotation from Longfellow which, the President had said, applied to the British as well as the Americans: Thou. too. sail on, 0 ship of Slate! Sail on. O union, strong and great Humanity, with all its fears. With all the hopes of future years. Is hanging breathless on thy fate. What was the answer that should be sent in tin- name of rhe people of Britain. Mr. Churchill asked. That answer would be: — “Put your confidence in us, give us your faith and your blessing, and under Providence all will be well. We shall not fail or falter. We shall not weaken or tire. Neither the sudden shock of battle nor long-drawn trials will wear us down. Give us the tools, and we shall finish the job.”