BATTLE OF BRITAIN

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24410, 23 September 1940, Page 7

BATTLE OF BRITAIN

TURNING POINT OF WAR CAUSE FOR CONFIDENCE FORCES IN GOOD HEART LONDON, Sept. 21. (Received Sept. 22, at 9 p.m.) The "Battle of Britain ' was the subject of a broadcast address by Mr C. A. Attlee, which he said all the world was watching. The hopes and fears of millions were involved in the result, and all were asking: " How goes the fight? " Stating that he was one of those charged with the duty of working at the centre, and thus able to survey the whole field with a full knowledge of what was happening, Mr Attlee said: ." I speak with a deep sense of confidence in the success of our cause." After a tribute to the work of the R.A.F., the I ord Privy Seal continued: " Our forces on land are in good heart. I include in these forces not only the Navy, the Army, the Air Force, and the Home Guard, but also the civil defence services, police, workers in . industries, and, indeed, all the men. women, and children of our nation. We are all in this war. Those who have been killed in air raids have died for their country no less than the soldiers killed in battle, for this present air attack is not directed primarily on our factories, docks, and public services, but on the spirit of our pepole. It is here that Hitler is suffering his heaviest defea' " I have just been visiting some great works whose output is vital to our war effort. If Hitler, by his attacks, could cut that output by half he would have an important success, but he will not succeed. The workers refuse to be intimidated. I have been visiting, whenever possible, our people whose relatives are being killed, whose homes are being destroyed, and whose lives are being subjected to constant danger. Their answer- is always the same: ' Hitler has not got us down.' " I believe the Battle of Britain is the turning point of the war. Defeat in this attack marks the turning of the tide. We may have to endure worse things yet, and there 's no room for easy optimism, but there is every cause for confidence." The unexpected problems, Mr Attlee continued, which had arisen from the attack on London were being tackled with vigour. He concluded: "While Nazism stands for the destruction not only of the old and beautiful things which w. have inherited from the past, but also of the homes and lives of kindly men and women, we here in Britain are standing for the future of mankind. When Hitler is defeated .we will join together with all men and women of goodwill, and build up a new world and a new Britain on better and closer foundations than the old world which is passing away for ever."