The Southland Times TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 1941. Churchill Speaks of Victory

Southland Times, Issue 24357, 11 February 1941, Page 4

The Southland Times TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 1941. Churchill Speaks of Victory

FOR THE first time since he began his famous war-time broadcasts, Mi- Winston Churchill was able to devote a great part of yesterday s speech to a recital of British victories. The story was sufficiently thrilling in its bare outline of facts. Clothed in the rhetoric, and spoken with the expressiveness of an orator, it became a drama of nations, a large fragment of history in the making. Perhaps it is too easy, at such times, to feel the triumph and to forget the suffering. But Mr Churchill speaks like a dramatist who sees life “in the round." With a skilful change of key he passed from the victories of Libya to the winter ordeals of the British people. Yet even here he could not altogether lose the note of sober confidence. For the worst of the winter is over, and although the night raids have caused much damage and have tested the fortitude of the civil population, the tactics of brutality and terrorism have failed completely. Moreover, the physical effects of the raids have been less severe than was expected. The Prime Minister referred to the fortunate state of public health, the freedom from serious epidemics in spite of abnormal conditions, and the surprising diminution of crime. Inevitably, he sounded a note of warning. The Germans have had time to prepare a new offensive. If they attempt an invasion of Britain they will be able to rely upon an organization which could not have been improvised during the critical summer months. They will use all the resources of a great war machine, the ruthlessness of the Prussian system, the tactics of surprise and confusion. Such an attempt would be made with the recklessness of a gambler and yet with a cold and scientific precision. It will fail because Britain has had time to organize her defences, and because her faith in victory now rests on the substantial evidences of the Libyan campaign. A nation which could nerve itself, after the debacle in Flanders, to equip and train a new army, while at the same time sending powerful reinforcements to a distant theatre of war, is strong enough to withstand the fury of a Nazi invasion. Mr Churchill reminded his listeners that he has never hesitated to give them the truth, even when the news was bad. He warned them again that the future contains dark possibilities. But the dominant note of his speech was a steady hopefulness, and the news of the bombardment of Genoa added a sense of power to the background of events. The friends of Britain will see in this speech the pledge of a final victory. They will understand the appeal with which it closed —an appeal which, although addressed primarily to the United States, should also be heard and answered in the Dominions. Mr Churchill was the spokesman of a nation that has proved, in sacrifice and in achievement, its right to be known as the defender of civilization. It is the privilege as well as the duty of all English-speaking peoples to do what they can for a cause so nobly supported.