Faith In Final Victory

Timaru Herald, Volume CLI, Issue 22183, 29 January 1942, Page 5

Faith In Final Victory

Mr Churchill Speaks To The Nation Confidence Vote Demanded By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright LONDON January 27. it AFTER TWO and a half years of fighting we have ** only just managed to keep our heads above water. In spite of all the painful infirmities, complacency and lack of organising power which are largely attributed to us, we are beginning to see our way through. It looks as if we are in for a very bad time, but, provided we all stand together and use our utmost strength, it looks also, more than it ever did before, as if we are going to win. ’ So said the Prime Minister, Mr Winston Churchill, in the course of his eagerly awaited statement in the House of Commons. Mr Churchill also said: “It is because things have gone badly that I demand a vote of confidence.” From time to time in the life of any government, he said, there came occasions which had to be clarified. Few would not recognise that such an occasion was at hand. His request followed a thoroughly, normal, constitutional and democratic procedure. “After I returned from America,” said Mr Churchill, “I had anxious inquiries from dozens of Governments based on enemy propaganda turning on the point as to whether the Government is to be dismissed. I am sure that the House now wishes me to make the position clear. We should not allow ourselves to be rattled at this or that place being captured, because once the ultimate power of the united nations has been brought to bear, the opposite process will come into plan and move forward remorselessly to final victory, provided we persevere, provided we fight with the utmost vigour and tenacity, and, above all, provided we remain united.”

“A debate on the war has been asked for and I have arranged it in the fullest and freest manner for three whole days,” continued the Prime Minister. “Any member will be free to say anything he thinks about or against the Administration or against the composition or personalities of the Government to his heart’s content, subject only to the reservation which the House always so carefully observes about military secrets. Could you have anything freer than that, or any higher expression of democracy than that? Very few other countries have institutions strong enough to sustain a thing like that while fighting for their lives. I leave it to the House to explain what has led me to ask for its exceptional support at this time. "It has been suggested that we should have a day’s debate of this kind in which the Government would no doubt be lustily belaboured oy some of those who have lighter burdens to carry and that at the end we should separate without a division. In this case, such sections of the press which are hostile, and there are some whose hostility is pronounced, could declare that the Government credit has broken, and it might even ne hinted, after all that has passed and the discussions that there have been, that it had been privately intimated to me that I should be very reckless If I asked for a vote of confidence from Parliament. “The matter does not cease there. It must be remembered that these reports can then be flashed all over the world and repeated in enemy broadcasts, night after night, in order to show that the Prime Minister has no right to speak for the nation and that the Government in Britain is about to collapse. Anyone who listens to the fulmlnations that come from sources across the water knows that that is not an exaggeration. There is another aspect. Oath of Confidence Essential “We in this Island, for a long time, were alone in holding up the torch. We are no longer alone now. We are now at the centre and among twentyeight united nations comprising more than three-fourths of the population of the globe. Whoever speaks for Britain at this moment must be speaking not only in the name of the people—and of that I am pretty sure I am—but in the name of Parliament, and above all, of the House of Commons. It is genuine public interest that requires that these facts should be made manifest in a formal way. “We have had a great deal of bad news lately from the Far East and I think it possible, for reasons which I shall presently explain, that we shall have a great deal more. In this bad news there will be many delays, blunders and shortcomings, both in the Far East and elsewhere. I see all this rolling toward us like waves in a storm and that is another reason why I require a formal, solemn oath of confidence from the House of Commons, which, hitherto in this struggle, has never flinched. “The House would fail in its duty if it did not insist on two things, freedom of debate and a clear, honest, blunt vote thereafter. Then we shall know where we are and those with whom we have to deal at home or abroad. Friends or foes will know where we are and where they are. It is because we have a free debate, in which 20 or 30 members may take part, that I demand an expression of opinion from the 300 or 400 members who have to sit silent. It is because many things have gone badly and worse is to come that I demand a vote of confidence.” Invasion of Russia Mr Churchill then went on to survey the war situation. “Three or four months ago we had to cope with the following situation,” he said. “The German invaders were advancing and blasting their way through Russia. The Russians were resisting with the utmost heroism, but no one could tell what would happen. No one could tell whether Leningrad, Moscow or Rostov would fall, or where the German winter line would be established. No one can tell where the German winter line will be established now. But now the boot is on the other leg. “We were all agreed that we muse, aid the valiant Russian armies to the utmost limit of our powers. His Majesty's Government though, and Parliament, upon reflection agreed, that the best aid we could give Russia was in supplies of many kinds of war materials and munitions, particularly tanks and aircraft. Our forces at home and abroad had, for a long time, been waiting thirstily for these weapons. At last they are coming to hand in large numbers. At home we had always the danger of invasion to consider and prepare against. We sent Premier Stalin—for that is how I understand he wishes to be addressed, and that is the form in which he telegraphed to me—we sent him exactly what he asked for. The whole quantity promised was ■ sent, but there is, I am sorry to say, a small lag due to bad weather, but it will be made up in the early days of February, and thereafter deliveries ‘

will be strictly maintained. This was a decision of major strategy and policy. “No one can say but that it was right to put it first when they watched the powerful achievement, unhoped for and undreamed of by us. We little knew the Russian strength, but that made it all the more glorious. Our munitions were, of course, only a contribution to the Russian victories, but they were an encouragement in Russia’s darkest hour. "Moreover, if we had not shown a loyal effort to help our ally, albeit at heavy sacrifice to ourselves, I do not think that our relations with Premier Stalin and his great country would be as good as they are now. There would haye been a lack of comradeship that might spread to reproaches on all sides. Far from regretting what we did, I can only wish that it had been in our power to have done more. Three or four months ago, at the time when the German advance was rolling onwards, we were particularly concerned with the possibility of the Germans forcing the Don River, the capture of Rostov, the invasion of the Caucasus, and the reaching of the Baku oil wells before the winter by the panzer spearhead of the German army. "Everyone knows the deep anxiety that was in our breasts. Such an advance would have involved the destruction of the Russian Fleet and the loss of the command of the Black Sea. It would have affected the safety of Turkey, and it would, in due course, have exposed to the gravest danger Iran, Iraq, Syria and Palestine and beyond those countries, all of which are under our control, it would have cut the Suez Canal and imperilled Egypt, and the Nile Valley. “For what has happened in the meantime, on the other banks of the Nile Valley, Palestine, Iraq and Persia, we must thank Russia. The valour of the Russian Army has warded off the danger which undoubtedly we ran. I therefore think that the present situation in the Nile Valley, both west and east, is incomparably easier than anything we have ever seen since we were deserted by the French at Bordeaux and the Vichy Government, and we were set upon by Italy. It is only by the smallest margin that we have succeeded so far in beating General von Rommel in Cyrenaica. To beat his tanks and his air force, every tank and every aircraft was needed. Only by victories on the Russian flank on the Black Sea coast have we been spared the over-running of these vast lands from the Levant to the Caspian, which in turn gives access to India, the Persian Gulf, the Nile Valley and the Suez Canal. Resources Strained “I have told the story of the last few month. The House will see from it how much our resources have been strained. By what a small margin and what strokes of fortune for which we claim no credit, we have survived so far. Where should we have been if we had .yielded to the clamour, so loud some months ago, that we should invade France or the Low Countries? "While facing Germany and Italy we never had sufficient arms to provide effectively for the defence of the Far East. My whole argument so far has led up to that point. It has been the policy of the Cabinet, at almost all costs, to avoid disagreement with Japan unless we could be sure that the United States would come in. We had to stoop to the closing of the Burma Road for some months. I remember that some of our critics were very angry about it, but we had to do it. There never has been a time when Britain or the British Empire, singlehanded, could fight Germany and Italy, or could wage the Battle of Britain, the Battle of the Atlantic and the Battle of the Middle East, and at the same time stand prepared to defend Burma, the Malaya Peninsula, and generally the Far East, against the impact of the vast military Empire like Japan, with more than 70 mobile divisions, the third navy in the world, and a great air force, and there are in all 80.000,000 or 90.000,000 of warlike Japanese.” Mr Ruskin Hill (Conservative) said that mistakes were inevitable, but Britain must not go on making mistakes. He indicated, however, that he would vote with the Government. Sir Edward Cadogan (Conservative) said that while every possible assistance must be given to Britain’s friends, the possibility of a German invasion of Britain must not be overlooked. Victory over Japan would not end the war, but victory over Germany might. Sir Herbert Williams (Conservative) criticised Mr Churchill for being satisfied with his Cabinet. Mr Geoffrey Mander (Labour) suggested that the Secretary of State for India (Mr L. C. M. S. Amery) be included in the War Cabinet, together with Sb - Archibald Sinclair. He also suggested that Mr R. G. Menzies, the former Prime Minister of Australia, might be induced to contest a byelection in Britain, with a view to becoming a member of the House. The Parliamentary Labour Party decided by a large majority to support the vote of confidence in Mr Churchill. A few dissentients are likely to'abstain from voting.