HEROISM OF BRITISH PEOPLE

Southland Times, Issue 24357, 11 February 1941, Page 5

HEROISM OF BRITISH PEOPLE

Mr Churchill emphasized that he had never under-estimated the danger ol 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 enemy air raids during the last few months, Mr Churchill said it reminded him of tfye 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 chilren 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. POLICE PRAISED “More honour to the civil defence services; to the 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 Hentiemen they are.” Mr Churchill said he had left the greatest issue to the end. General Sir John Dill, chief of the Imperial General Staff, 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 none could disregard. Britain was actually stronger now than ever before, and incomparably stronger than in July, August and September last. The Navy was more powerful and the flotillas more numerous. In the air also Britain was far stronger, actually and relatively, than when the British fighter planes beat off and beat down the Nazi attacks last August. The British Army was more numerous, and more mobile, and 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 and the men of proved ability who were under him, but most of all he put 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.