BRITISH OBLIGATION TO AID GREECE

Southland Times, Issue 24421, 29 April 1941, Page 5

BRITISH OBLIGATION TO AID GREECE

MR CHURCHILL DEFENDS ACTION WHOLE COURSE OF WAR REVIEWED (United Press Association —Telegraph Copyright) (Rec. 6.30 p.m.) LONDON, April 27. A statement that it would have been fatal to the honour of the British Empire not to have gone to the aid of Greece in her hour of need was made by the Prime Minister, Mr Winston Churchill, in a broadcast tonight. Mr Churchill, who reviewed the whole course of the war, announced that the American neutrality patrols would be extended and that ships on this duty would warn peaceful vessels of the presence of Axis raiders, thus relieving British ships for duty

nearer home. “I was asked last week whether I was aware that there was some uneasiness which, it was said, existed in the country on account of the gravity—as it was described—of the war situation,” said the Prime Minister in opening his address. “So I thought it would be a good thing to go and see for myself what this uneasiness amounted to.

“I went to some of our great cities and seaports which have been most heavily bombed and to some places where the poorest people have got it worst. I have come back not only reassured, but refreshed. To leave the offices of Whitehall with their ceaseless hum of activity and stress and go to the front—by which I mean the streets and the wharves of London, Liverpool, Manchester, Cardiff, Swansea or Bristol—is like going out of a hothouse on to the bridge of a fighting ship. It is a tonic which I should recoinmend to any who are suffering from fretfulness to take in strong doses when they need it.

“It is quite true that I have seen many painful scenes of havoc and fine buildings and acres of cottage homes blasted into rubble and heaps of ruins. But it is just in those very places where the malice of the savage enemy has done its worst and where the ordeal of men, women and children has been most severe that I found the morale most high and splendid. Indeed, I feel encompassed by an exultation of spirit in the people which seems to lift mankind and its troubles above the level of material facts, to be indeed that joyous serenity which we think belongs to a better world than this.

“Of their kindness to me I cannot speak because I have never sought it or dreamed of it and can never deserve it. I can only assure you that I and my colleagues—or comrades, rather, for that is what they are—will toil with

every scrap of fibre and strength according to the limits that are granted us not to fail these people or be wholly unworthy of their faithful and generous regard. BRITISH NATION STIRRED “The British nation Is stirred and moved as it has never been at any time in its long, eventful and famous history and it is no hackneyed figure of speech to say that they mean to conquer or die. “The triumph of the battered cities over fire and the worst that bombs could do was a vindication of free institutions and of the civilized way of living. Those sublime and terrible emotions of the battlefield are experienced now by men, women and children.

“This, indeed, is a grand and heroic period of cur history and the light of glory shines upon all. You may imagine how deeply I feel my

own responsibility towards all these people, my own responsibility to bear my part in bringing them safely cut of this long, stern scowling - valley through which we are marching and not to demand of them that their sacrifices be in vain.

“It is certain that fresh dangers besides those threatening Egypt rnay come upon us in the Mediterranean. The warmay spread to Spain, to Morocco. It may spread eastwards to Turkey and Russia. The Germans may lay their hands for a time upon the wheat lands of the Ukraine and the oil wells of the Caucasus. They may dominate the Black Sea; they may dominate the Caspian. Who can tell? We shall do our best to meet them and to fight them wherever they go. But there is one thing that is certain. There is one thing which rises out of the vast whirlpool which is very sure and solid and which no one in his senses can mistake. Hitler cannot find safety from avenging justice in the East, the Middle East or the Far East. In order to win this war he must either conquer this island by invasion or he must cut the ocean lifeline which joins us to the United States.” GROWING STRENGTH Discussing the prospect of invasion Mr Churchill said that the British strength grew every week and comparing the position today with what it was last summer, he said that “even after making all allowances for much more elaborate mechanical preparation on the part of the enemy” he felt that there was much to be thankful for. Provided that neither exertions nor vigilance were relaxed even for a moment he expressed belief that “we shall give a very good account of ourselves.”

“We must not become discouraged or alarmed,” said Mr Churchill. “Nothing that is happening now is comparable with the dangers of the past year and nothing that can happen in the Far East can be comparable with what is happening now. “You know that I have never- tried to make out that defeats are victories and

that I have never underrated the German as a warrior, but our strength is growing daily, at home, in the air and on the sea.