BRITAIN PREPARES FOR OFFENSIVE

Southland Times, Issue 24211, 22 August 1940, Page 7

BRITAIN PREPARES FOR OFFENSIVE

Aerial Warfare Will Be Intensified

MR CHURCHILL REVIEWS MILITARY PROGRESS

(United Press Association —Telegraph Copyright) (Received August 21, 6.30 p.m.)

LONDON, August 20.

A comprehensive review of the war was given in the House of Commons by the Prime Minister, Mr Winston Churchill. Mr Churchill, whose speech has excited favourable comment throughout the world, said that Britain would blockade Germany’s Europe, intensify her aerial warfare against Germany, and lease bases in the West Indies to the United States. Britain, stronger than ever, was preparing not only for 1941, but for 1942.

Recounting the “cataract of disaster” which had poured out upon the Allies since the new Government had been formed in the middle of May, Mr Churchill said: “If we had been confronted at the beginning of May with such a prospect it would have seemed incredible that at this point of a period of horror and disaster we should stand erect, sure of ourselves, masters of our fate and with the conviction of final victory burning unquenchable in our hearts. Few would have believed that we could survive. None would have believed that we should today not only feel stronger, but should actually be stronger than we have ever been before. Let us see what has happened. “The British nation and the British Empire, finding themselves alone, stood undismayed against disaster. No one flinched or wavered—nay, some who formerly thought of peace now think only of war. Our people are united and resolved as they have never heen before. Death and ruin become small things compared with the shame of defeat or failure in duty.

“It may be that even greater ordeals lie before us. We will face whatever is coming. We are sure of ourselves and our cause. Here is the supreme fact: Meanwhile we have not only fortified our hearts but our island. We have rearmed and rebuilt our armies in a degree which had been deemed impossible a few months ago. We have ferried across the Atlantic, thanks to our friends over there, an immense mass of munitions of all kinds—cannon, rifles, machine-guns, cartridges and shells. All have been safely landed without the loss of a gun or a round. The output of our own factories, working as they have never worked before, has poured forth. A vast British Army is at home. More than 2,000,000 determined men have rifles and bayonets in their hands tonight and three-quarters of them are in the regular military formations. The whole island bristles against the invaders from

sea or air.”