STRENGTH OF BRITAIN

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21216, 12 September 1940, Page 7

STRENGTH OF BRITAIN

BROADCAST BY MR CHURCHILL BARBAROUS NAZI ATTACKS ON CIVILIANS ENEMY’S PLANS FOR ONSLAUGHT ON BRITAIN (Official Wireless) (Received Sept. 12, 11 a.m.) RUGBY, Sept. 11 The Prime Minister, Mr Winston Churchill, gave a broadcast to the nation this evening, warning the people of the determination with which the enemy is pursuing plans for an onslaught upon Britain, for which they therefore should prepare themselves with special pride and care to do their duty, and rallying their confidence with an account of Britain’s strength in arms and men and, above all, in the courage of which the citizens in the bombed areas in London had given such a shining example. Mr Churchill said: “When I said in the House of Commons the other day that I thought it improbable that the enemy’s air attack in September could be more than three times as great as that in August I was not, of course, referring to the barbarous attacks on the civil population but to the great air battle which was being fought out between our fighters and the German Air Force. “You will understand that whenever the weather is favourable waves of German bombers, protected by fighters, often 300 or 400 at a time, surge over this island, especially the promontory of Kent, in the hope of attacking military and other objectives in daylight. They are met by our fighter squadrons and nearly always broken up. Their losses average three to one in machines and six to one in pilots. “This effort of the Germans to secure daylight mastery in the air over England is, of course, the crux of the whole war. So far it has failed conspicuously. It has cost them very dear, and we have felt stronger and are actually relatively a good deal stronger than when the hard fighting began in July. “There is no doubt that Hitler is using up his fighter force at a very high rate, and that if he goes on for many more weeks he will wear down and ruin this vital part of his air force. That will give us a very great advantage.”

Hitler’s Preparations For Invasion “On the other hand, for him to try to invade this country without having secured mastery in the air would be a very hazardous undertaking. Nevertheless, all his preparations for invasion on a great scale are steadily going forward. Several hundred self-propelled barges are moving down the coasts of Europe from German and Dutch harbours to ports in Northern France, from Dunkirk to Brest, and beyond Brest to French harbours in the Bay of Biscay. “Besides this convoys of merchant ships in tens and dozens are being moved through the Straits of Dover into the Channel, dodging along from port to port under the protection of the new batteries which the Germans have built on the French coast. There are now considerable gatherings of shipping in German, Dutch, Belgian and French harbours all the way from Hamburg to Brest. “Finally some preparations have been made for ships to carry an invading force, from Norwegian harbours. “Behind these clusters of ships or barges thefe stand very large numbers of German troops awaiting the order to set out on the very dangerous and uncertain voyage across the seas. We cannot tell when they will try to come. We cannot be sure that they will try at all. “But no one should blind himself to the fact that a heavy, full-scale invasion of this island is being prepared with all the usual German thoroughness and method, and it may be launched at any time now upon England, upon Scotland, upon Ireland, or upon all three. “If this invasion is going to be tried at all it does not seem that it can be long delayed. The weather may break at any time. Besides this it is difficult for the enemy to keep these gatherings of ships waiting about indefinitely while they are bombed every night by our bombers and very often shelled by our warships, which are waiting for them outside. Vital Weeks In History “Therefore we must regard the next week or so as very important weeks in our history. They rank with the days when the Spanish Armada was approaching the Channel and Sir Francis Drake was finishing his game of bowls, or when Nelson stood between us and Napoleon's grande armee at Boulogne. We read about all this in the history books, but what is happening now is on a far greater scale and of far more consequence to the life and future cf the world and its civilisation than those brave old days. “Every man and woman will therefore prepare himself to do his his or her duty, whatever it may be, with special pride and* care. “Our fleets and flotillas are very powerful and numerous. Our Air Force is at the highest strength it has ever reached, and it is conscious of its proved superiority, not indeed in numbers but in men and machines. Britain Ready “Our shores are well fortified and strovi/ly manned, and behind them, ready to attack the invaders, we have z far larger and better equipped mobile army than we have ever had before. Besides this we have more than 1,500,000 men of the Home Guard, \\\o are just as much soldiers of the Regular Army in status as the Grenadier Guards, and

who are determined to fight for every inch of ground in every village, in every street. “It is with devout but sure confidence that I say, ‘Let God defend the right.’ These cruel, wanton and indiscriminate bombings of London are, of course, part of Hitler’s invasion plans. He hopes, by killing a large number of civilians, women and children, that he will terrorise and cow the people qf this mighty imperial city and make them a burden of anxiety to the Government and thus distract our attention unduly from the ferocious onslaught he is preparing. “Little does he know the spirit of the British Nation or the tough fibre of Londoners, whose forebears played a leading part in establishing parliamentary institutions, and who have been bred to value freedom far above their lives. Wickedness of Hitler “This wicked man, the repository and embodiment of many forms of soul-destroying hatred, this monstrous product of former wrongs and shame, has now resolved to try to break our famous island race by a process of indiscriminate slaughter and destruction. What he has done is to kindle a fire in British hearts, here and all over the world, which will glow long after all traces of the conflagration he has caused in London have been removed. He lighted a fire which will burn with a steady consuming flame until the last vestiges of Nazi tyranny have been burned out of Europe and until the old world and the new can join hands to rebuild the temples of man’s freedom and man’s honour upon foundations which will not soon or easily be overthrown. “This is the time for everyone to stand together and hold firm, as they are doing . I express my admiration for the exemplary manner in which all the air raid precaution services of London are being discharged, especially the fire brigade, whose work has been so heavy and also dangerous. “All the world that still is free marvels at the composure and fortitude with which the citizens of London are facing and surmounting the great ordeal to which they are being subjected, the end or' severity of which cannot yet be foreseen. “This is a message of good cheer tn our fighting forces on the seas, in the air and in our waiting armies, in all their posts and stations. We are a people who will not flinch or wf ary of the struggle, hard and protracted though it will be, but we shall rather draw from the heart of suffering itself means of inspiration and survival and of victory, won not c.ily for our own time but for the long and better days that are to come.” WARNING OF DANGER TO PREVENT DISRUPTION MR CHURCHILL APPROVES (limed Press Asn. E!c.~. Tel. Cupylgtif) (Received Sept. 12, 11.0 a.m.) LONDON. Sept. 11 Mr Winston Churchill has applauded a new system which I—tcrics. newspaper offices t.’d otheestablishment are adopting to p nvent disruption during air raids. Watchers a.e being posted cm the roofs to warn when danger is imminent.