 THE FEW This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Speech given by Winston Churchill to the House of Commons, 20th August, 1940. Almost a year has passed since the war began, and it is natural for us, I think, to pause on our journey at this milestone and survey the dark wide field. It is also useful to compare the first year of this second war against German aggression with its forerunner a quarter of a century ago. Although this war is, in fact, only a continuation of the last, very great differences in its character are apparent. In the last war, millions of men fought by hurling enormous masses of steel at one another. Men and shells was the cry, and prodigious slaughter was the consequence. In this war nothing of this kind has yet appeared. It is a conflict of strategy, of organization, of technical apparatus, of science, mechanics, and morale. The British casualties in the first twelve months of the Great War amounted to three hundred sixty-five thousand. In this war I am thankful to say, British killed, wounded, prisoners, and missing, including civilians, do not exceed ninety-two thousand, and of these a large proportion are alive as prisoners of war. Looking more widely around, one may say that throughout all Europe, for one man killed or wounded in the first year, perhaps five were killed or wounded in 1914 to 1915. This slaughter is only a small fraction, but the consequences to the belligerence have been even more deadly. We have seen great countries with powerful armies dashed out of coherent existence in a few weeks. We have seen the French Republic and the renowned French army beaten into complete and total submission with less than the casualties which they suffered in any one of half a dozen of the battles of 1914 to 1918. The entire body, it might almost seem at times the soul of France, has succumbed to physical effects incomparably less terrible than those which were sustained with fortitude and undaunted willpower twenty-five years ago. Although up to the present the loss of life has been mercifully diminished, the decisions reached in the course of the struggle are even more profound upon the fate of nations than anything that has ever happened since barbaric times. Moves are made upon the scientific and strategic boards. Advantages are gained by mechanical means, as a result of which scores of millions of men become incapable of further resistance, and a fearful game of chess proceeds from check to mate by which the unhappy player seemed to be inexorably bound. There is another, more obvious difference from 1914. The whole of the warring nations are engaged, not only soldiers, but the entire population, men, women, and children. The fronts are everywhere. The trenches are dug in the towns and streets. Every village is fortified. Every road is barred. The front line runs through the factories. The workmen are soldiers with different weapons, but the same courage. These are great and distinctive changes from what many of us saw in the struggle of a quarter of a century ago. There seems to be every reason to believe that this new kind of war is well suited to the genius and the resources of the British nation and the British Empire, and that once we get properly equipped and properly started, a war of this kind will be more favorable to us than the somber mass slaughters of the Somme and Paschendaal. If it is a case of the whole nation fighting and suffering together, that ought to suit us because we are the most united of all nations, because we entered the war upon the national will and with our eyes open, and because we have been nurtured in freedom and individual responsibility, and are the products, not of totalitarian uniformity, but of tolerance and variety. If all these qualities are turned, as they are being turned, to the arts of war, we may be able to show the enemy quite a lot of things that they have not thought of yet. Since the Germans drove the Jews out and lowered their technical standards, our science is definitely ahead of theirs. Our geographical position, the command of the sea, and the friendship of the United States enables us to draw resources from the whole world and to manufacture weapons of war of every kind, but especially of the superfine kinds, on a scale hitherto practiced only by Nazi Germany. Hitler is now sprawled over Europe. Our offensive springs are being slowly compressed, and we must resolutely and methodically prepare ourselves for the campaigns of 1941 and 1942. Two or three years are not a long time, even in our short precarious lives. They are nothing in the history of a nation, and then we are doing the finest thing in the world. And when we are doing the finest thing in the world and have the honor to be the sole champion of the liberties of all Europe, we must not grudge these years or weary as we toil and struggle through them. It does not follow that our energies in future years will be exclusively confined to defending ourselves and our possessions. Many opportunities may lie open to amphibious power, and we must be ready to take advantage of them. One of the ways to bring this war to a speedy end is to convince the enemy, not by words but by deeds, that we have both the will and the means, not only to go on indefinitely, but to strike heavy and unexpected blows. The road to victory may not be so long as we expect, but we have no right to count upon this, be it long or short, rough or smooth, we mean to reach our journey's end. It is our intention to maintain and enforce a strict blockade, not only of Germany, but of Italy, France, and all the other countries that have fallen into the German power. I read in the papers that Herr Hitler has also proclaimed a strict blockade of the British islands. No one can complain of that. I remember the Kaiser doing it in the last war. What indeed would be a matter of general complaint would be if we were to prolong the agony of all Europe by allowing food to come in to nourish the Nazis and aid their war effort, or to allow food to go into the subjugated peoples, which would certainly be pillaged off them by their Nazi conquerors. There have been many proposals founded on the highest motives that food should be allowed to pass the blockade for the relief of these populations. I regret that we must refuse these requests. The Nazis declare that they have created the new unified economy in Europe. They have repeatedly stated that they possess ample reserves of food and that they can feed their captive peoples. In a German broadcast on the 27th of June it was said that while Mr. Hoover's plan for relieving troops went in, there were food supplies to last for a year. We know that Poland, though not a rich country, usually produces sufficient food for her people. Moreover, the other countries which Herr Hitler has invaded all held considerable stocks when the Germans entered and are themselves, in many cases, very substantial food producers. If all this food is not available now, it can only be because it has been removed to feed the people of Germany and to give them increased rations for a change during the last few months. At the season of the year and for some months to come, there is the least chance of scarcity as the harvest has just been gathered in. The only agencies which can create famine in any part of Europe, now and during the coming winter, will be German exactions or German failure to distribute the supplies which they command. There is another aspect. Many of the most valuable foods are essential to the manufacture of vital war material. Fats are used to make explosives. Potatoes make the alcohol for motor spirit. The plastic materials now so largely used in the construction of aircraft are made of milk. If the Germans use these commodities to help them or to bomb our women and children rather than to feed the populations who produce them, we may be sure that imported foods would go the same way, directly or indirectly, or be employed to relieve the enemy of the responsibilities he has so wantonly assumed. Let Hitler bear his responsibilities to the full, and let the peoples of Europe who groan beneath his yoke aid in every way the coming of the day when that yoke will be broken. Meanwhile we can and will arrange in advance for the speedy entry of food into any port of the enslaved area when this port has been wholly cleared of German forces, and has genuinely regained its freedom. We shall do our best to encourage the building up of reserves of food all over the world so that there will always be held up before the eyes of the peoples of Europe, including, I say deliberately, the German and Austrian peoples, the certainty that the shattering of the Nazi power will bring to them all immediate food, freedom, and peace. Rather more than a quarter of a year has passed since the new government came into power in this country, what a cataract of disaster has poured out upon us since then. The trustful Dutch overwhelmed, their beloved and respected sovereign driven into exile. The peaceful city of Rotterdam, the scene of a massacre as hideous and brutal as anything in the Thirty Years' War. Belgium invaded and beaten down. Our own fine expeditionary force, which King Leopold called to his rescue, cut off and almost captured, escaping as it seemed only by a miracle and with the loss of all its equipment. Our ally, France out, Italy in against us, all France in the power of the enemy, all its arsenals and vast masses of military material converted or convertible to the enemy's use, a puppet government set up of Vichy which may at any moment be forced to become our foe. The whole western seaboard of Europe from the North Cape to the Spanish frontier in German hands, all the ports, all the airfields on this immense front employed against us as potential springboards of invasion. Moreover, the German air power, numerically so far outstripping ours, has been brought so close to our island that what we used to dread greatly has come to pass, and the hostile bombers not only reach our shores in a few minutes and from many directions but can be escorted by their fighting aircraft. Why, sir, if we had been confronted at the beginning of May with such a prospect, it would have seemed incredible that at the end of a period of horror and disaster, or at this point in a period of horror and disaster, we should stand erect, sure of ourselves, masters of our fate and with the conviction of final victory burning unquenchable in our hearts. Few would have believed we could survive. None would have believed that we should today not only feel stronger but should actually be stronger than we ever have been before. Let us see what happened on the other side of the scales. The British nation and the British Empire, finding themselves alone, stood undismayed against disaster. No one flinched or wavered. Nay, some who formerly thought of peace now think only of war. Our people are united and resolved as they have never been before. Death and ruin have become small things compared with the shame of defeat or failure in duty. We cannot tell what lies ahead. It may be that even greater ordeals lie before us. We shall face whatever is coming to us. We are sure of ourselves and of our cause, and that is the supreme fact which has emerged in these months of trial. Meanwhile, we have not only fortified our hearts but our island. We have re-armed and rebuilt our armies in a degree which would have been deemed impossible a few months ago. We have ferried across the Atlantic in the month of July, thanks to our friends over there, and immense mass of munitions of all kinds, cannon, rifles, machine guns, cartridges, and shell, all safely landed without the loss of a gun or a round. The output of our own factories, working as they have never worked before, has poured forth to the troops. The whole British army is at home. More than two million determined men have rifles and bayonets in their hands tonight, and three-quarters of them are in regular military formations. We have never had armies like this in our island in time of war. The whole island bristles against invaders, from the sea or from the air. As I explained to the house in the middle of June, the stronger our army at home, the larger must the invading expedition be, and the larger the invading expedition, the less difficult will be the task of the navy in detecting its assembly and in intercepting and destroying it in passage, and the greater also would be the difficulty of feeding and supplying the invaders if they ever landed, in the teeth of continuous naval and air attack on their communications. All this is classical and venerable doctrine. As in Nelson's day the maxim holds. Our first line of defense is the enemy's ports. Now air reconnaissance and photography have brought to an old principle a new and potent aid. Our navy is far stronger than it was at the beginning of the war. The great flow of new construction set on foot at the outbreak is now beginning to come in. We hope our friends across the ocean will send us a timely reinforcement to bridge the gap between the peace flotillas of 1939 and the war flotillas of 1941. There is no difficulty in sending such aid. The seas and oceans are open. The U-boats are contained. The magnetic mine is, up to the present time, effectively mastered. The merchant tonnage, under the British flag, after a year of unlimited U-boat war, after eight months of intensive mining attack, is larger than when we began. We have, in addition, under our control at least four million tons of shipping from the captive countries which has taken refuge here, or in the harbors of the empire. Our stocks of food of all kinds are more abundant than in the days of peace, and a large and growing program of food production is on foot. Why do I say all this? Not assuredly to boast. Not assuredly to give the slightest countenance of complacency. The dangers we face are still enormous, but so are our advantages and resources. I recount them because the people have a right to know that there are solid grounds for the confidence which we feel, and that we have good reason to believe ourselves capable, as I said in a very dark hour two months ago, of continuing the war, if necessary alone, if necessary for years. I say it also because the fact that the British Empire stands invincible and that Nazi dumb is still being resisted will kindle again the spark of hope in the breasts of hundreds of millions of downtrodden or despairing men and women throughout Europe, and far beyond its bounds, and that from these sparks there will presently come cleansing and devouring flame. The great air battle which has been in progress over this island for the last few weeks has recently attained a high intensity. It is too soon to attempt to assign limits either to its scale or to its duration. We must certainly expect that greater efforts will be made by the enemy than any he has so far put forth. Hostile air fields are still being developed in France and the low countries, and the movement of squadrons and material for attacking us is still proceeding. It is quite plain that Hare Hitler could not admit defeat in his air attack on Great Britain without sustaining most serious injury. If after all his boastings and blood-curdling threats and lurid accounts trumpeted round the world of the damage he has inflicted, of the vast numbers of our air force he has shot down, so he says with so little loss to himself. If after tales of the panic-stricken British crushed in their holes, cursing the plutocratic parliament which has led them to such a plight, if after all this his whole air on slot were forced after a while tamely to peter out, the furor's reputation for veracity of statement might be seriously impugned, we may be sure, therefore, that he will continue as long as he has the strength to do so, and as long as any preoccupations he may have in respect of the Russian air force allow him to do so. On the other hand the conditions and course of the fighting have so far been favourable to us. I told the house two months ago, whereas in France our fighter aircraft were wont to inflict a loss of two or three to one upon the Germans, and in the fighting at Dunkirk which was the kind of no man's land, a loss of about three or four to one, we expected that in an attack on this island we should achieve a larger ratio. This has certainly come true. It must also be remembered that all the enemy machines and pilots which are shot down over our island, or over the seas which surround it, are either destroyed or captured, whereas a considerable proportion of our machines and also of our pilots are saved, and soon again in many cases come into action. A vast and admirable system of salvage directed by the ministry of aircraft production ensures the speediest return to the fighting line of damaged machines and the most provident and speedy use of all the spare parts and materials. At the same time the splendid, nay astounding increase in the output and repair of British aircraft and engines which Lord Beaverbrook has achieved by a genius of organisation and drive, which looks like magic, has given us overflowing reserves of every type of aircraft and an ever-mounting stream of production both in quantity and quality. The enemy is, of course, far numerous than we are. But our new production already, as I am advised, largely exceeds his, and the American production is only just beginning to flow in. It is a fact, as I see from my daily returns, that our bomber and fighter strength now, after all this fighting, are larger than they have ever been. We believe that we shall be able to continue the air-struggle indefinitely and as long as the enemy pleases, and the longer it continues the more rapid will be our approach, first towards that parody and then into that superiority, in the air upon which in a large measure the decision of the war depends. The gratitude of every home in our island, in our empire, and indeed throughout the world, except in the abodes of the guilty, goes out to the British airmen who, undaunted by odds, unwearyed in their constant challenge and mortal danger, are turning the tide of the world war by their prowess and by their devotion. Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few. All hearts go out to the fighter pilots, whose brilliant actions we see with our own eyes day after day. But we must never forget that all the time, night after night, month after month, our bomber squadrons travel far into Germany, find their targets in the darkness by the highest navigational skill, aim their attacks, often under the heaviest fire, often with serious loss, with deliberate careful discrimination, and inflict shattering blows upon the whole of the technical and war-making structure of the Nazi power. On no part of the Royal Air Force does the weight of the war fall more heavily than on the daylight bombers, who will play an invaluable part in the case of invasion and whose unflinching zeal it has been necessary in the meanwhile on numerous occasions to restrain. We are able to verify the results of bombing military targets in Germany, not only by reports which reach us through many sources, but also, of course, by photography. I have no hesitation in saying that this process of bombing the military industries and communications of Germany and the air bases and storage depots from which we are attacked, which process will continue upon an ever-increasing scale until the end of the war, and may in another year attain dimensions hitherto undreamed of, affords one at least of a most certain, if not the shortest, of all the roads to victory. Even if the Nazi legions stood triumphant on the Black Sea, or indeed upon the Caspian, even if Hitler was at the gates of India it would profit him nothing if at the same time the entire economic and scientific apparatus of German war power lay shattered and pulverized at home. The fact that the invasion of this island upon a large scale has become a far more difficult operation with every week that has passed since we saved our army at Dunkirk, and our very great preponderance of sea power enable us to turn our eyes and to turn our strength increasingly toward the Mediterranean and against that other enemy who, without the slightest provocation, coldly and deliberately, for greed and gain stabbed France in the back in the moment of her agony and is now marching against us in Africa. The defection of France has, of course, been deeply damaging to our position in what is called somewhat oddly the Middle East. In the defence of Somaliland, for instance, we had counted upon strong French forces attacking the Italians from Djibouti. We had counted also upon the use of the French naval and air bases in the Mediterranean, and particularly upon the North African shore. We had counted upon the French fleet. Even though Metropolitan France was temporarily overrun, there was no reason why the French navy, substantial parts of the French army, the French air force, and the French empire overseas should not have continued the struggle at our side. Shielded by overwhelming sea power, possessed of invaluable strategic bases and of ample funds, France might have remained one of the great combatants in their struggle. By doing so, France would have preserved the continuity of her life, and the French empire might have advanced with the British empire to the rescue of the independence and integrity of the French motherland. In our own case, if we had been put in the terrible position of France, a contingency now happily impossible, although, of course, it would have been the duty of all war leaders to fight on here to the end. It would also have been their duty, as I indicated in my speech on the Fourth of June, to provide as far as possible for the naval security of Canada and our dominions, and to make sure they had the means to carry on the struggle from behind the oceans. Most of the other countries that have been overrun by Germany for the time being have preserved valiantly and faithfully. The Czechs, the Poles, the Norwegians, the Dutch, the Belgians are still in the field, sword in hand, recognized by Great Britain and the United States as the sole representative authorities and lawful governments of their respective states. That France alone should lie prostrate at this moment is the crime, not of a great and noble nation, but of what are called the men of Vichy. We have profound sympathy with the French people. Our old comradeship with France is not dead. In General de Gaulle and his gallant band, that comradeship takes an effective form. These free Frenchmen have been condemned to death by Vichy, but the day will come as surely as the sun will rise tomorrow when their names will be held in honour, and their names will be graven in stone in the streets and villages of a France restored and liberated Europe to its full freedom and its ancient fame. But this conviction which I feel of the future cannot affect the immediate problems which confront us in the Mediterranean and in Africa. It had been decided some time before the beginning of the war not to defend the protectorate of Somaliland. That policy was changed in the early months of the war. When the French gave in and when our small forces there, a few battalions, a few guns, were attacked by all the Italian troops, nearly two divisions which had formally faced the French at Djibouti, it was right to withdraw our detachments virtually intact for action elsewhere. Far larger operations no doubt impend in the Middle East theatre, and I shall certainly not attempt to discuss or prophecy about their probable course. We have large armies and many means of reinforcing them. We have the complete sea command of the Eastern Mediterranean. We intend to do our best to give a good account of ourselves and to discharge faithfully and resolutely all our obligations and duties in that quarter of the world. More than that I do not think the House would wish me to say at the present time. A good many people have written to me to ask me to make on this occasion a fuller statement of our war aims and of the kind of peace we wish to make after the war, then is contained in the very considerable declaration which was made early in autumn. Since then we have made common cause with Norway, Holland, and Belgium. We have recognized the Czech government of Dr. Benes, and we have told General de Gaulle that our success will carry with it the restoration of France. I do not think it would be wise at this moment while the battle rages in the war is still perhaps only in its earlier stage to embark upon elaborate speculations about the future shape which should be given to Europe or the new securities which must be arranged to spare mankind the miseries of a third world war. The ground is not new, it has been frequently traversed and explored, and many ideas are held about it in common by all good men and all free men. But before we can undertake the task of rebuilding we have not only to be convinced ourselves, but we have to convince all other countries that the Nazi tyranny is going to be finally broken. The right to guide the course of world history is the noblest prize of victory. We are still tolling up the hill. We have not yet reached the crestline of it. We cannot survey the landscape or even imagine what its condition will be when that longed-for morning comes. The task which lies before us immediately is at once more practical, more simple, and more stern. I hope, indeed I pray, that we shall not be found unworthy of our victory if after toil and tribulation it is granted to us. For the rest we have to gain the victory. That is our task. There is, however, one direction in which we can see a little more clearly ahead. We have to think not only for ourselves, but for the lasting security of the cause and principles for which we are fighting and of the long future of the British Commonwealth of Nations. Some months ago we came to the conclusion that the interests of the United States and of the British Empire both required that the United States should have facilities for the naval and air defence of the Western Hemisphere against the attack of a Nazi power which might have acquired temporary but lengthy control of a large part of Western Europe and its formidable resources. We had, therefore, decided spontaneously, and without being asked or offered any inducement, to inform the government of the United States that we would be glad to place such defence facilities at their disposal by leasing suitable sites in our transatlantic possessions for their greater security against the unmeasured dangers of the future. The principle of association of interests for common purposes between Great Britain and the United States had developed even before the war. Various agreements had been reached about certain small islands in the Pacific Ocean which had become important as air-fueling points. In all this line of thought we found ourselves in close harmony with the government of Canada. Presently we learned that anxiety was also felt in the United States about the air and naval defence of their Atlantic seaboard, and President Roosevelt has recently made it clear that he would like to discuss with us and with the Dominion of Canada and with Newfoundland the development of American naval and air facilities in Newfoundland and in the West Indies. There is, of course, no question of any transference of sovereignty that has never been suggested, or of any action being taken without the consent or against the wishes of the various colonies concerned, but for our part his Majesty's government are entirely willing to accord defence facilities to the United States on a 99 years leasehold basis, and we feel sure that our interests, no less than theirs, and the interests of the colonies themselves and of Canada and Newfoundland will be served thereby. These are important steps. Undoubtedly this process means that these two great organizations of the English speaking democracies, the British Empire and the United States, will have to be somewhat mixed up together in some of their affairs for mutual and general one can stop it. Like the Mississippi, it just keeps rolling along. Let it roll. Let it roll on full flood, inexorable, irresistible, benignant, to broader lands and better days. End of speech. Recording by Sarah Williams, Germantown, Maryland, July 2008. Upon the death of Neville Chamberlain. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Speech given by Winston Churchill to the House of Commons, 12th November, 1940. Since we last met, the House has suffered a very grievous loss in the death of one of its most distinguished members, and of a statesman and public servant who, during the best part of three memorable years, was First Minister of the Crown. The fierce and bitter controversies which hung around him in recent times were hushed by the news of his illness and are silenced by his death. Impaying a tribute of respect and of regard to an eminent man who has been taken from us, no one is obliged to alter the opinions which he has formed or expressed upon issues which have become a part of history. But at the Lich Gate we may all pass our own conduct and our own judgments under a searching review. It is not given to human beings, happily for them, for otherwise life would be intolerable, to foresee or to predict to any large extent the unfolding course of events. In one phase men seem to have been right, in another they seem to have been wrong. Then again, a few years later, when the perspective of time has lengthened, all stands in a different setting. There is a new proportion, there is another scale of values. History, with its flickering lamp, stumbles along the trail of the past, trying to reconstruct its scenes, to revive its echoes, and kindle with pale gleams the passion of former days. What is the worth of all this? The only guide to a man is his conscience. The only shield to his memory is the rectitude and sincerity of his actions. It is very imprudent to walk through life without this shield, because we are so often mocked by the failure of our hopes and the upsetting of our calculations. But with this shield, however the fates may play, we march always in the ranks of honour. It fell to Neville Chamberlain, in one of the supreme crises of the world, to be contradicted by events, to be disappointed in his hopes, and to be deceived and cheated by a wicked man. But what were these hopes in which he was disappointed? What were these wishes in which he was frustrated? What was that faith that was abused? They were surely amongst the most noble and benevolent instincts of the human heart, the love of peace, the toil for peace, the strife for peace, the pursuit of peace, even at great peril, and certainly to the utter disdain of popularity or clamour. Whatever else history may or may not say about these terrible, tremendous years, we can be sure that Neville Chamberlain acted with perfect sincerity according to his lights, and strove to the utmost of his capacity and authority, which were powerful, to save the world from the awful, devastating struggle in which we are now engaged. This alone will stand him in good stead, as far as what is called the verdict of history is concerned. But it is also a help to our country, and to our whole empire, and to our decent, faithful way of living, that however long the struggle may last, or however dark may be the clouds which overhang our path, no future generation of English-speaking folks, for that is the tribunal to which we appeal, we'll doubt that even at a great cost to ourselves in technical preparation we were guiltless of the bloodshed, terror, and misery which having gulfed so many lands and peoples, and yet seek new victims still. Herr Hitler protests with frantic words and gestures that he has only desired peace. What do these ravings and outpourings count before the silence of Neville Chamberlain's tomb? Long, hard, and hazardous years lie before us, but at least we entered upon them, united, and with clean hearts. I do not propose to give an appreciation of Neville Chamberlain's life and character, but there were certain qualities always admired in these islands which he possessed in an altogether exceptional degree. He had a physical and moral toughness of fibre which enabled him all through his varied career to endure misfortune and disappointment without being unduly discouraged or wearied. He had a precision of mind and an aptitude for business which raised him far above the ordinary levels of our generation. He had a firmness of spirit which was not often elated by success, seldom downcast by failure, and never swayed by panic. When, contrary to all his hopes, beliefs, and exertions, the war came upon him, and when, as he himself said, all that he had worked for was shattered, there was no man more resolved to pursue the unsought quarrel to the death. The same qualities which made him one of the last to enter the war, made him one of the last who would quit it before the full victory of a righteous cause was won. I had the singular experience of passing in a day from being one of his most prominent opponents and critics to being one of his principal lieutenants, and on another day of passing from serving under him to become the head of a government of which, with perfect loyalty, he was content to be a member. Such relationships are unusual in our public life. I have before told the house how on the morrow of the debate which in the early days of May changed his position, he declared to me and a few other friends that only a national government could face the storm about to break upon us, and that if he were an obstacle to the formation of such a government, he would instantly retire. Thereafter he acted with that singleness of purpose and simplicity of conduct which at all times, and especially in great times, ought to be the ideal of us all. When he returned to duty a few weeks after a most severe operation the bombardment of London and of the seat of government had begun. I was a witness during that fortnight of his fortitude under the most grievous and painful bodily afflictions, and I can testify that, although physically only the wreck of a man, his nerve was unshaken, and his remarkable mental faculties unimpaired. After he left the government he refused all honors. He would die like his father, plain Mr. Chamberlain. I sought permission of the king, however, to have him supplied with the cabinet papers, and until a few days of his death he followed our affairs with keenness, interest, and tenacity. He met the approach of death with a steady eye. If he grieved at all it was that he could not be a spectator of our victory, but I think he died with the comfort of knowing that his country had, at least, turned the corner. At this time our thoughts must pass to the gracious and charming lady who shared his days of triumph and adversity with the courage and quality the equal of his own. He was, like his father and his brother Austin before him, a famous member of the House of Commons, and we here assembled this morning, members of all parties, without a single exception, feel that we do ourselves and our country honor in saluting the memory of one whom Disraeli would have called an English worthy. End of speech. The impressive and inspiring spectacle we have witnessed displays the vigor and efficiency of the civil defense forces. They have grown up in the stress of emergency. They have been shaped and tempered by the fire of the enemy, and we saw them all in their many grades and classes, the wardens, the rescue and first aid parties, the casualty services, the decontamination squads, the fire services, the report and control center staffs, the highway and public utility services, the messengers, the police. No one could but feel how great a people, how great a nation we have the honor to belong to, how complex, sensitive and resilient is the society we have evolved over the centuries and how capable of withstanding the most unexpected strain. I must, however, admit that when the storm broke in September, I was for several weeks very anxious about the result. Sometimes the gas failed, sometimes the electricity. There were grievous complaints about the shelters and about conditions in them. Water was cut off, railways were cut or broken, large districts were destroyed, thousands were killed and many more thousands were wounded. But there was only one thing about which there was never any doubt. The courage, the unconquerable grit and stamina of our people showed itself from the very outset. Without that, all would have failed. Upon that rock, all stood unshakable. All the public services were carried on and all the intricate arrangements, far-reaching details, involving the daily lives of so many millions were carried out, improvised, elaborated and perfected in the very teeth of the cruel and devastating storm. We have to ask ourselves this question. Will the bombing attacks come back again? We have proceeded on the assumption that they will. Many new arrangements are being contrived as a result of the hard experience through which we have passed and the many mistakes which no doubt we have made, for success is the result of making many mistakes and learning from experience. If the lull is to end, if the storm is to renew itself, we will be ready. We will not flinch, we can take it again. We ask no favors of the enemy. We seek from them no compunction. On the contrary, if tonight our people were asked to cast their vote whether a convention should be entered into to stop the bombing of cities, the overwhelming majority would cry no, we will meet out to them the measure and more than the measure than they have meted out to us. The people with one voice would say, you have committed every crime under the sun, where you have been the least resisted, there you have been the most brutal. It was you who began the indiscriminate bombing. We will have no truce or parley with you, or the grisly gang who work your wicked will. You do your worst, and we will do our best. Perhaps it may be our turn soon. Perhaps it may be our turn now. We live in a terrible epoch of the human story, but we believe there is a broad and sure justice running through its theme. It is time that the enemy should be made to suffer in their own homelands something of the torment they have let loose upon their neighbors and upon the world. We believe it to be in our power to keep this process going on a steadily rising tide, month after month, year after year, until they are either extirpated by us, or better still, torn to pieces by their own people. It is for this reason that I must ask you to be prepared for vehement counteraction by the enemy. Our methods of dealing with them have steadily improved. They no longer relish their trips to our shores. I do not know why they do not come, but it is certainly not because they have begun to love us more. It may be because they are saving up, but even if that be so, the very fact that they have to save up should give us confidence by revealing the truth of our steady advance from an almost unarmed position to superiority. But all engaged in our defense forces must prepare themselves for further heavy assaults. Your organization, your vigilance, your devotion to duty, your zeal for the cause must be raised to the highest intensity. We do not expect to hit without being hit back, and we intend with every week that passes to hit harder. Prepare yourselves, then, my friends and comrades, for this renewal of your exertions. We shall never turn from our purpose, however somber the road, however grievous the cost, because we know that out of this time of trial and tribulation will be born a new freedom and glory for all mankind. Late in July I learned that the President of the United States would welcome a meeting with me in order to survey the entire world position. I obtained his Majesty's permission to leave the country. I crossed the Atlantic in one of our latest battleships to meet the President at a convenient place. Important conclusions were reached on four main topics. First of all, an eight-point declaration of the broad principles and aims which guide and govern the actions of the British and United States governments and peoples. Secondly, on measures to be taken to help Russia to resist the hideous onslaught which Hitler has made upon her. Thirdly, the policy to be pursued toward Japan. Fourthly, there was a large number of purely technical matters which were dealt with, and close personal relations were established between high naval, military, and air authorities of both countries. I have, as the House knows, hitherto consistently deprecated the formulation of peace aims or war aims, however you put it, by His Majesty's government at this stage. I deprecated at this time when the end of the war is not in sight. But a joint declaration by Great Britain and the United States is a process of a totally different nature. Although the principles in the declaration and much of the language have long been familiar to the British and American democracies, the fact that it is a United Declaration sets up a milestone or monument which needs only the stroke of victory to become a permanent part of the history of human progress. Thus far, then, have we traveled along the terrible road we chose at the call of duty. The mood of Britain is wisely and rightly averse from every form of shallow or premature exultation. This is no time for boasts or glowing prophecies, but there is this. A year ago our position looked forlorn and well nigh desperate to all eyes but our own. Today we may say aloud before an awestruck world, we are still masters of our fate. We are still captain of our souls. End of speech. I offer no excuses. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Speech given by Winston Churchill to the House of Commons, 29th January, 1942. No one can say that this has not been a full and free debate. No one can say that criticism has been hampered or stifled. No one can say that it has not been a necessary debate. Many will think it has been a valuable debate. But I think there will be a few who upon reflection will doubt that a debate of this far-reaching character and memorable importance in times of hard and anxious war with the state of the world what it is, our relationships to other countries being what they are and our own safety so deeply involved, very few people will doubt that it should not close without a solemn and formal expression of the opinion of the House in relation to both the government and to the prosecution of the war. In no country in the world at the present time could a government conducting a war be exposed to such a stress. No dictator country fighting for its life would dare allow such a discussion. They do not even allow the free transmission of news to their peoples or even the reception of foreign broadcasts to which we are all now so heartily inured. Even in the great democracy of the United States the executive does not stand in the same direct immediate day-to-day relation to the legislative body as we do. The president in many vital respects independent of the legislature, commander in chief of all the forces of the republic has a fixed term of office during which its authority can scarcely be impugned. But here in this country the House of Commons is a master all the time of the life of the administration. Against its decisions there is only one appeal, the appeal to the nation, an appeal it is very difficult to make under the conditions of a war like this, with a register like this, with air raids and invasion always hanging over us. Therefore I say that the House of Commons has a great responsibility. It owes to itself and it owes to the people and the whole empire and the whole cause either to produce an effective alternative administration by which the king's government can be carried on or to sustain that government in the enormous tasks and trials which it has to endure. I feel myself very much in need of that help at the present time and I am sure I shall be accorded it in a manner to give encouragement and comfort as well as guidance and suggestion. I am sorry that I have not been able to be here throughout the whole debate but I have read every word of the debate except what has been spoken and has not yet been printed and I can assure the House that I shall be ready to profit to the full from many constructive and helpful lines of thought which have been advanced even when they come from the most hostile quarters. I shall not be like that saint to whom I have before referred in this House but whose name I have unhappily forgotten who refused to do right because the devil prompted him. Neither shall I be deterred from doing what I am convinced is right by the fact that I have thought differently about it in some distant or even in some recent past. When events are moving at hurricane speed and when scenes change with baffling frequency it would be disastrous to lose that flexibility of mind in dealing with new situations on which I have often been complimented which is the essential part of a consistent and unswerving purpose. Let me take an instance. During my visit to America events occurred which altered in a decisive way the question of creating a minister of production. President Roosevelt has appointed Mr. Donald Nelson to supervise the whole field of American production. All the resources of our two countries are now pooled in shipping, in munitions and in raw materials and some similar office. I will not say with exactly the same scope but of similar scope must be created here if harmonious working between Great Britain and the United States is to be maintained upon this very high level. I have been for some weeks carefully considering this and the strong opinions which have been expressed in the House even though I do not share their reasoning in all respects have reinforced the conclusions with which I returned from the United States. I will not of course anticipate any advice that it may be my duty to tender to the Crown. I was forced to inflict upon the House two days ago a very lengthy statement which cost me a great deal of time and trouble in the intervals of busy days and nights to prepare. I do not desire to add to it to any important extent. It would not be possible for me to answer all the criticisms and inquiries which have been made during this debate. I have several times pointed out to the House the disadvantage I live under compared with the leaders of other countries who are charged with general war direction in having to make so many public statements and the danger that in explaining fully our position to our friends we may also be stating it rather too fully to our enemies. Moreover the Lord Privy Seal in his excellent speech yesterday has already replied to a number of the controversial issues which were raised. There are therefore only a few points with which I wish to deal today but they are important points. The first is the advantage not only to Britain but to the empire of the arrival of powerful American army and air forces in the United Kingdom. First of all this meets the desire of the American people and of the leaders of the Republic that the large mass of trained and equipped troops which they have under arms in the United States shall come into contact with the enemy as close and as soon as possible. Secondly the presence of these forces in these islands imparts a greater freedom of movement overseas to theaters where we are already engaged of the mature and seasoned divisions of the British home army. It avoids the difficulty of reinforcing theaters where we are engaged with troops of another nation and all the complications of armament and command which arise there from. Therefore we must consider this arrival of the American army as giving us a latitude of maneuver which we have not hitherto possessed. Thirdly the presence in our islands of a force of heavy but unknown strength and the establishment of a broader bridgehead between us and the new world constituted an additional deterrent to invasion at a time when the successful invasion of these islands is Hitler's last remaining hope of total victory. Fourthly and here I address myself to what has been said about aiding and suckering Australia and New Zealand the fact that well equipped American divisions can be sent into these islands so easily and rapidly will enable substantial supplies of weapons and munitions now being made in the United States for our account to be sent direct on the other side of the world to Australia and New Zealand to meet the new dangers of home defense which are cast upon them by the Japanese war. Lastly this whole business cannot do Mr. de Valera any harm and it may even do him some good. It certainly offers a measure of protection to southern Ireland and to Ireland as a whole which she could not otherwise enjoy. I feel sure that the house will find these reasons or most of them solid and satisfactory. The course of this debate has mainly turned upon the admitted inadequacy of our preparations to meet the full onslaught the course of this debate has mainly turned upon the admitted inadequacy of our preparations to meet the full onslaught of the new and mighty military opponent who has launched against us his whole force his whole energies and fury in Malaysia and in the Far East. There is not very much I wish to add and that only by way of illustration to the connected argument which I deployed to the house on Tuesday. The speeches of the honourable members for Kitterminster and Siam dwelt from different angles upon this all important issue. I do not of course pretend that there may not have been avoidable shortcomings or mistakes or that some oversight may not have been shown in making use of our resources limited though those resources were. While I take full responsibility for the broad strategic dispositions that does not mean that scandals or inefficiency or misbehavior of functionaries at any particular moments in particular places occurring on the spot will not be probed or will be covered by the general support I gave to our commanders in the field. I am by no means claiming that faults have not been committed in the minor sphere and faults for which the government are blame worthy. But when all is said and done the house must not be led into supposing that even if everything on the spot had gone perfectly which is rare in war they must not be led into supposing that this would have made any decisive difference to the heavy British and American forfeits which followed inexorably from the temporary loss of seapower in the Pacific combined with the fact of our being so fully extended elsewhere. Even that is not exhaustive because before the defeat of Pearl Harbor I am speaking of eight or nine months ago our ability to defend the Malay Peninsula was seriously prejudiced by the incursion of the Japanese into French Indochina and the steady building up of very powerful forces and bases there. Even at the time when I went to meet the president in Newfoundland the invasion of Siam seemed imminent and probably it was due to the measures which the president took as the result of our conversations that this attack was staved off for so long and might well have been staved off indefinitely. In ordinary circumstances if we had not been engaged to the very last ounce in Europe and the Nile Valley we should ourselves of course have confronted the Japanese aggression into Indochina with the strongest possible resistance from the moment when they began to build up a large military and air power. We were not in a position to do this. If we had gone to war with Japan to stop the Japanese coming across the long ocean stretches from their own country and establishing themselves within close striking distance of the Malay Peninsula and Singapore we should have had to fight alone perhaps for a long time the whole of the Japanese attacks upon our loosely knit establishments and possessions in this fast oriental region. As I said on Tuesday we have never had the power and we never could have had the power to fight Germany, Italy and Japan single-handed at the same time. We therefore had to watch the march of events with an anxiety which increased with the growth of the Japanese concentrations but at the same time was offset by the continuous approach of the United States ever nearer to the confines of the war. It must not be supposed that endless repeated consultations and discussions were not held by the staffs, by the defense committees, by ministers and that staff conferences were not held at Singapore. Contact was maintained with Australia and New Zealand and with the United States to a lesser degree. All this went on but when all was said and done there was the danger and the means of meeting it had yet to be found. Aught we not in that interval to have considered the question which the House must ask itself. I want to answer the case quite fairly whether in view of that menace, apart from minor precautions, many of which were taken and some of which were not, we ought not to have reduced our aid in munitions to Russia. A part of what we sent to Russia would have made us, I will not say safe because I do not think that that was possible in view of what happened at sea but far better prepared in Burma and Malaya than we were. Figures were mentioned by the Honourable Member for SIEM yesterday. He will not expect me to confirm or deny those figures but take them as a basis, half of that would have made us far better off and would have dazzled the eyes of Sir Robert Brooke Popham who so repeatedly asked for more supplies of all those commodities of which we were most short. We did not make such a reduction in Russian supplies and I believe that the vast majority of opinion in all parts of the House and in the country endorses our decision now, even after the event. If they had to go back they would take it again, even although they see now what consequences have arisen. I entirely agree about the vital importance of the Burma Road and of fighting with every means in our power to keep a strong hand grasp with the Chinese armies and the closest contact with their splendid leader, Chiang Kai-shek. Nothing has prevented the employment of Indian troops in that area except the use of them in other theatres and the immense difficulties of transport in those regions. So much for the Russian policy which for good or for ill has played a very great part in the thoughts and actions of the people of this country in the struggle and I believe has played a very important part, not by any means a decisive part but a very important part in the crushing defeats which have been inflicted on the German army and the possibility moralization of the wicked regime which uses that army. But apart from Russia what about the campaign in Libya, what were the reasons which made that a necessary operation? First, we had to remove and probably we have removed the menace to the Nile Valley from the west for a considerable time, thus liberating important forces and still more important transport to meet what seemed to be an impending attack through the Caucasus from the north. Secondly, this was the only place where we could open a second front against the enemy. Everyone will remember, conveniently short as memories may be, the natural and passionate impatience which our prolonged inactivity aroused in all our hearts while Russia seemed to be being battered to pieces by the fearful machinery of the German army. There is no doubt whatever that, although our offensive in Libya was on a small scale compared with the mighty struggle on the Russian front, it nevertheless drew important German air forces from that front. They were moved at a most critical moment in that battle and transferred to the Mediterranean theatre. Thirdly, the second front in the western desert afforded us the opportunity of fighting a campaign against Germany and Italy on terms most costly to them. If there be any place where we can fight them with marked advantage it is in the western desert and Libya, because not only, as I have explained, have we managed to destroy two-thirds of their African army and a great amount of its equipment and air power, but also to take a formidable toll of all their reinforcements of men and materials, and above all of their limited shipping across the Mediterranean by which they were forced to maintain themselves. The longer they go on fighting in this theatre, the longer that process will go on, and there is no part of the world where you have a chance of getting better results for the blood and valor of your soldiers. For these reasons I am sure that it was a sound decision and one with which all our professional advisors agreed to take the offensive in the western desert and to do our utmost to make it a success. We have been over this ground in Saraneica already. The first time we took a quarter of a million Italian prisoners without serious loss to ourselves. The second time we have accounted for sixty thousand men, including many Germans, for the loss of only one-third to ourselves. Even if we have to do part of it a third time, as seems possible, in view of the tactical successes of the enemy attacks upon our armored brigade last week, there seems no reason why the campaign should not retain its profitable character in the war in northeast Africa and become a festering sore, a dangerous drain upon the German and Italian resources. This is the question. Should we have been right to sacrifice all this, to stand idly on the defensive in the western desert and send all our available forces to Garrison Malaya and guard it against a war against Japan which nevertheless might not have taken place, and which I believe did take place only through the civil government being overwhelmed by a military coup d'etat? That is a matter of opinion, and it is quite easy for those who clamored eagerly for opening an offensive in Libya to dilate upon our want of foresight and preparedness in the Far East. That is a matter on which anyone can form an opinion, and those are lucky who do not have to form one before the course of events is known. I come now to this battle which is raising in Jehoir. I cannot tell how it will go or how the attack upon the island of Singapore will go, but a steady stream of reinforcements, both air and troops, has flowed into the island for several weeks past. The forces which have been sent were, of course, set in motion within a few days, and some within a few hours, of the Japanese declaration of war. To sum up, I submit to the House that the main strategic and political decision to aid Russia to deliver an offensive in Libya and to accept a consequential state of weakness in the then peaceful theater of the Far East was sound and will be found to have played a useful part in the general course of the war, and that this is in no wise invalidated by the unexpected naval misfortunes and the heavy forfeits which we have paid, and shall have to pay in the Far East. For this vote of confidence on that I rest. There is, however, one episode of a tactical rather than a strategic character about which many questions have been asked, both here and in another place, and to which it is not easy to refer. I mean, of course, the dispatch from this country of the Prince of Wales during November last, and secondly, the operation which led to the sinking of the Prince of Wales and of the repulse which had started earlier. This sinking took place on 9th December. It was the policy of the War Cabinet and the Defense Committee initiated by the naval staff to build up in the Indian Ocean and base mainly on Singapore a battle squadron to act. It was hoped in cooperation with the United States fleet in general protective work in far eastern waters. I am not at liberty to state how these plans stand at the present time, but the House may be assured that nothing has been left undone, which was in our power to repair the heavy losses which have been sustained. My right honorable friend, the member for East Edinburgh, has asked very properly why the Prince of Wales and the repulse were sent to eastern waters if they could not be properly protected by aircraft. The answer to this question is that the decision to send those ships in advance to the Far East was taken in the hope, primarily, of deterring the Japanese from going to war at all, or failing that of deterring her from sending convoys into the Gulf of Siam, having regard to the then position of the strong American fleet at Hawaii. After long and careful consideration it was decided, in view of the importance of having in far eastern waters at least one ship which could catch or kill any individual vessel of the enemy, the Americans, then not having a new battleship available, to send the Prince of Wales. Moreover, she was the only ship available at the moment which could reach the spot in time for any deterrent effect to be produced. The intention was that these two fast ships, whose arrival at Cape Town was deliberately not concealed, should not only act as a deterrent upon Japan coming into the war, but a deterrent upon the activities of individual heavy ships of the enemy, our ships being able to choose their moment to fight. The suggestion of the honorable and gallant member for Epsom that the naval staff desired to send an aircraft carrier and were overruled by me is as mischievous as it is untrue. It was always the intention that any fast ships proceeding to the Far East should be accompanied by an aircraft carrier. Unfortunately at the time, with the exception of an aircraft carrier in home waters, not a single ship of this type was available. Through a secession of accidents, some of very slight consequence, all of them, except the one with the home fleet, were under repair. Accordingly, the Prince of Wales and the Repulse arrived at Singapore, and it was hoped they would shortly leave again for secret bases and the broad waters which would enable them to put a continuous, restraining preoccupation on all the movements of the enemy. That is the first phase of the story. I now come to the further question of why the presence of the two ships having failed to achieve the deterrent object, Pearl Harbor having occurred, and the Japanese having begun war, they were sent north from Singapore to oppose the Japanese landings from the Gulf of Siam on the Krap Peninsula. Admiral Tom Phillips, as vice chief of the naval staff, was fully acquainted with the whole policy I have described, and had sailed in the Prince of Wales to carry it out. On 8th December he decided, after conferring with his captain and staff officers that in the circumstances, and in view of the movement of Japanese transports with a weak fighting escort towards the Krap Peninsula, drastic and urgent naval action was required. This action, if successful, would have presented the army with a good prospect of defeating the landings and possibly of paralyzing the invasion of Malaya at its birth. The stakes on both sides were very high. The prize was great if gained, if lost, our danger most grievous. Admiral Phillips was fully aware of the risk, and he took steps for air reconnaissance to see whether there was an enemy aircraft carrier about, and for fighter protection up to the limit of the short range fighters available. Only after he left Harbor was he informed that fighter protection could not be provided in the area in which he intended to operate, but in view of the low visibility he decided to stand on. Later, in accordance with his predetermined plans he turned back, because the weather began to clear, and he knew he had been sited. However, later still, during his retirement, a further landing more to the south of the peninsula was reported, presenting an even more serious threat to Malaya, and he decided to investigate this. It was on returning from this investigation, which proved to be negative, that his force was attacked, not as has been supposed by torpedo or bomber aircraft flown off a carrier, but by very long range shore-based heavy two-engine torpedo bombers from the main Japanese aeroderms 400 miles away. In the opinion of the Board of Admiralty, which it is my duty to pronounce, the risks which Admiral Phillips took were fair and reasonable, in the light of the knowledge which he had of the enemy, when compared with the very urgent and vital issues at stake on which the whole safety of Malaya might have depended. I have given an account of this episode. No doubt the Admiralty will have its own inquiry for the purpose of informing itself and of studying the lessons, but I could not bring myself on the first day that this matter was mentioned, when the information I had was most scanty to pronounce condemnations on the audacious, staring action of Admiral Tom Phillips in going forward, although he knew of the risks he ran, when the prize might have been twenty thousand of the enemy drowned in the sea, and a relief from the whole catalogue of misfortunes which have since come upon us and have still to come. I have finished, and it only remains for us to act. I have tried to lay the whole position before the House as far as public interest will allow, and very fully have we gone into matters. On behalf of His Majesty's Government, I make no complaint of the debate. I offer no apologies. I offer no excuses. I make no promises. In no way have I mitigated the sense of danger and impeding misfortunes of a minor character and of a severe character which still hang over us. But at the same time I avow my confidence, never stronger than at this moment, that we shall bring this conflict to an end in a manner agreeable to the interests of our country, and in a manner agreeable to the future welfare of the world. I have finished. Let every man act now in accordance with what he thinks is his duty in harmony with his heart and conscience. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. On June 4th, British and American troops entered Rome. On June 6th, the long-awaited Allied invasion of Europe began, the principal landings being in Normandy. The House should, I think, take formal cognizance of the liberation of Rome by the Allied armies under the command of General Alexander, with General Clark of the United States Service and General Oliver Lease in command of the Fifth and Eighth Armies respectively. This is a memorable and glorious event which rewards the intense fighting of the last five months in Italy. The original landing, made on January 22nd at Anzio, has in the end borne good fruit. In the first place, Hitler was induced to send to the south of Rome eight or nine divisions which he may well have need of elsewhere. Secondly, these divisions were repulsed and their teeth broken by the successful resistance of the Anzio bridgehead forces in the important battle which took place in the middle of February. The losses on both sides were heavy, the Allies losing about twenty thousand men, and the Germans about twenty five thousand men. Thereafter, the Anzio bridgehead was considered by the enemy to be impregnable. Meanwhile, the great regrouping of the main army had to take place before the attacks could be renewed. These attacks were at first unsuccessful, and Casino still blocked the advance. On May 11th, General Alexander began his present operation, and after unceasing and intense fighting by the whole of the armies, broke into the enemy's lines and entered the Leary Valley. It is noteworthy that, counting from right to left, the whole of the Polish, British Empire, French, and United States forces broke the German lines in front of them by frontal attack. That has an important bearing on other matters, which I shall come to before I sit down. At what was judged the right moment, the bridgehead force, which by this time had reached a total of nearly one hundred and fifty thousand men, fell upon the retiring enemy's flank and threatened his retreat. The junction of the main armies with the bridgehead forces drove the enemy off his principal lines of retreat to the north, forcing a great part of his army to retire in considerable disorder with heavy losses, especially in materiel through mountainous country. The allied forces with great rapidity were regrouped, with special emphasis on their left flank, which soon deployed against Rome after cutting the important highway. The American and the other forces of the Fifth Army broke through the enemy's last line and entered Rome, where the allied troops have been received with joy by the population. This entry in liberation of Rome mean that we shall have the power to defend it from hostile air attack and to deliver it from the famine with which it was threatened. However, General Alexander's prime object has never been the liberation of Rome, great as are the moral, political, and psychological advantages of that episode. The allied forces with the Americans in the van are driving ahead, northwards in relentless pursuit of the enemy. The destruction of the enemy army has been throughout the single aim, and they are now being engaged at the same time along the whole length of the line as they attempt to escape to the north. It is hoped that the twenty thousand prisoners already taken will be followed by further captures in future, and that the condition of the enemy's army, which he has crowded into southern Italy, will be decisively affected. It would be futile to attempt to estimate our final gains at the present time. It is our duty, however, to pay the warmest tribute of gratitude and admiration to General Alexander for the skill with which he has handled this army of so many different states and nations, and for the tenacity and fortitude with which he has sustained the long periods when success was denied. In General Clark, the United States Army has found a fighting leader of the highest order, and the qualities of all allied troops have shown in noble and unjealous rivalry. The great strength of the air force is at our disposal, as well as the preponderance in armor has undoubtedly contributed in a notable and distinctive manner to the successes which have been achieved. We must await further developments in the Italian theater before it is possible to estimate the magnitude and quality of our gains, great and timely though they certainly are. I have also to announce to the House that during the night and the early hours of this morning the first of the series of landings in force upon the European continent has taken place. In this case the liberating assault fell upon the coast of France, an immense armada of upwards of four thousand ships, together with several thousand smaller craft, crossed the channel. Massed airborne landings have been successfully affected behind the enemy lines, and landings on the beaches are proceeding at various points at the present time. The fire of the shore batteries has been largely quelled. The obstacles that were constructed in the sea have not proved so difficult as was apprehended. The Anglo-American allies are sustained by about eleven thousand first line aircraft which can be drawn upon as may be needed for the purposes of the battle. I cannot of course commit myself to any particular details. Reports are coming in in rapid succession. So far the commanders who are engaged report that everything is proceeding according to plan. And what a plan! This vast operation is undoubtedly the most complicated and difficult that has ever taken place. It involves tides, wind, waves, visibility, both from the air and the sea standpoint, and the combined employment of land, air, and sea forces in the highest degree of intimacy and in contact with conditions which could not and cannot be fully foreseen. There are already hopes that actual tactical surprise has been attained, and we hope to furnish the enemy with the succession of surprises during the course of the fighting. The battle that has now begun will grow constantly in scale and intensity for many weeks to come, and I shall not attempt to speculate upon its course. This I may say, however, complete unity prevails throughout the Allied armies. There is a brotherhood in arms between us and our friends of the United States. There is complete confidence in the Supreme Commander, General Eisenhower, and his lieutenants, and also in the Commander of the Expeditionary Force, General Montgomery. The ardor and spirit of the troops, as I saw myself embarking in these last few days, was splendid to witness. Nothing that equipment, science, or forethought could do has been neglected, and the whole process of opening this great new front will be pursued with the utmost resolution by both the commanders and by the United States and British governments whom they serve. My friendship with the great man whose work and fame we pay our tribute, today, began and ripened during this war. I had met him but only for a few minutes after the close of the last war, and as soon as I went to the Admiralty in September 1939 he telegraphed, inviting me to correspond with him direct on naval or other matters at any time I felt inclined. Having obtained the permission of the Prime Minister, I did so. Knowing President Roosevelt's keen interest in sea warfare, I furnished him with a stream of information about our naval affairs, and about the various actions, including especially the action of the Plate River, which lightened the first gloomy winter of the war. When I became Prime Minister, and the war broke out in all its hideous fury, when our own life and survival hung in the balance, I was already in a position to telegraph to the President on terms of an association which had become most intimate and to me most agreeable. This continued through all the ups and downs of the world's struggle until Thursday last when I received my last messages from him. These messages showed no falling off in his accustomed clear vision and vigor upon perplexing and complicated matters. I may mention that this correspondence which, of course, was greatly increased after the United States' entry into the war, comprises two and fro between us over 1700 messages. Many of these were lengthy messages, and the majority dealt with those difficult points which come to be discussed upon the level of heads of governments only after official solutions have not been reached at other stages. To this correspondence there must be added our nine meetings at Argentina, three in Washington, at Casablanca, at Tehran, two at Quebec, and last of all at Yalta, comprising in all about 120 days of close personal contact during a great part of which I stayed with him at the White House or at his home at Hyde Park or in his retreat in the Blue Mountains which he called Shangri-La. I received an admiration for him as a statesman, a man of affairs, and a war leader. I felt the utmost confidence in his upright, inspiring character and outlook and a personal regard and affection I must say for him beyond my power to express today. His love of his own country, his respect for its constitution, his power of gauging the tides and currents of its mobile public opinion were always evident, but added to these were the beatings of that generous heart which was always stirred to anger and to action by spectacles of aggression and oppression by the strong against the weak. It is indeed a loss, a bitter loss to humanity, that those heartbeats are stilled forever. President Roosevelt's physical affliction lay heavily upon him. It was a marvel that he bore up against it through all the many years of tumult and storm. Not one man in ten millions, stricken and crippled as he was, would have attempted to plunge into a life of physical and mental exertion and of hard, ceaseless political controversy. Not one in ten millions would have tried. Not one in a generation would have succeeded. Not only in entering this sphere, not only in acting vehemently in it, but in becoming indisputable master of the scene. In this extraordinary effort of the spirit over the flesh, of willpower over physical infirmity, he was inspired and sustained by that noble woman, his devoted wife, whose high ideals marched with his own, and to whom the deep and respectful sympathy of the House of Commons flows out today in all fullness. There is no doubt that the President foresaw the great dangers closing in upon the pre-war world with far more prescience than most well informed people on either side of the Atlantic, and that he urged forward with all his power such precautionary military preparations as peacetime opinion in the United States could be brought to accept. There never was a moment's doubt as the quarrel opened upon which side his sympathies lay. The fall of France and what seemed to most people outside this island the impending destruction of Great Britain were to him an agony, although he never lost faith in us. They were an agony to him not only on account of Europe, but because of the serious perils to which the United States herself would have been exposed had we been overwhelmed or the survivors cast down under the German yoke. The bearing of the British nation at that time of stress when we were all alone filled him and vast numbers of his countrymen with the warmest sentiments towards our people. He and they felt the blitz of the stern winter of 1940 to 1941 when Hitler set himself to rub out the cities of our country as much as any of us did and perhaps more indeed for imagination is often more torturing than reality. There is no doubt that the bearing of the British and above all of the Londoners kindled fires in American bosoms far harder to quench than the conflagrations from which we were suffering. There was also at that time, in spite of General Wavell's victories, all the more indeed because of the reinforcements which were sent from this country to him, the apprehension widespread in the United States that we should be invaded by Germany after the fullest preparation in the spring of 1941. It was in February that the President sent to England the late Mr. Wendell Wilkie, who although a political rival and an opposing candidate felt as he did on many important points. Mr. Wilkie brought a letter for Mr. Roosevelt, which the President had written in his own hand, and this letter contained the famous lines of Longfellow, Sail on, O ship of State, Sail on, O Union, strong and great. Humanity, with all its fears, with all the hopes of future years, is hanging breathless on thy fate. At about that same time he devised the extraordinary measure of assistance called Len Lease, which will stand forth as the most unselfish and unsorted financial act of any country in all history. The effect of this was greatly to increase British fighting power and for all the purposes of the war effort to make us, as it were, a much more numerous community. In that autumn I met the President for the first time during the war at Argentina in Newfoundland, and together we drew up the declaration which has since been called the Atlantic Charter, and which will, I trust, long remain a guide for both our peoples and for other peoples of the world. All this time, in deep and dark and deadly secrecy, the Japanese were preparing their act of treachery and greed. When next we met in Washington, Japan, Germany and Italy had declared war upon the United States, and both our countries were in arms, shoulder to shoulder. Since then we have advanced over the land and over the sea through many difficulties and disappointments, but always with a broadening measure of success. I need not dwell upon the series of great operations which have taken place in the Western Hemisphere to say nothing of that other immense war proceeding on the other side of the world, nor need I speak of the plans which we made with our great ally, Russia, at Tehran, for these have now been carried out for all the world to see. But at Yalta I noticed that the President was ailing. His captivating smile, his gay and charming manner, had not deserted him, but his face had a transparency, an air of purification, and often there was a faraway look in his eyes. When I took my leave of him in Alexandria Harbour I must confess that I had an indefinable sense of fear that his health and his strength were on the ebb. But nothing altered in his inflexible sense of duty. To the end he faced his innumerable tasks unflinchingly. One of the tasks of the President is to sign maybe a hundred or two state papers with his own hand every day, commissions, and so forth. All this he continued to carry out with the utmost strictness. When death came suddenly upon him he had finished his mail. That portion of his day's work was done. As the saying goes he died in harness, and we may well say in battle harness, like his soldiers, sailors, and airmen, who side by side with ours are carrying on their task to the end all over the world. What an enviable death his was. He had brought his country through the worst of its perils and the heaviest of its toils. Victory had cast its sure and steady beam upon him. In the days of peace he had broadened and stabilised the foundations of American life and union. In war he had raised the strength, might, and glory of the Great Republic to a height never attained by any nation in history. With her left hand she was leading the advance of the conquering Allied armies into the heart of Germany, and with her right on the other side of the globe she was irresistibly and swiftly breaking up the power of Japan. And all the time ships, munitions, supplies, and food of every kind were aiding on a gigantic scale her allies, great and small in the course of the long struggle. But all this was no more than worldly power and grandeur, had it not been that the causes of human freedom and of social justice, to which so much of his life had been given, added a luster to this power and pomp and warlike might, a luster which will long be discernible among men. He has left behind him a band of resolute and able men handling the numerous interrelated parts of the vast American war machine. He has left a successor who comes forward with firm step and sure conviction to carry on the task to its appointed end. For us it remains only to say that in Franklin Roosevelt there died the greatest American friend we have ever known and the greatest champion of freedom who has ever brought help and comfort from the new world to the old. German armed forces surrendered unconditionally on May the 7th. Hostilities in Europe ended officially at midnight May the 8th 1945. Yesterday morning at 2.41 a.m. at headquarters, General Jodl, the representative of the German High Command and Grand Admiral Dönitz, the designated head of the German state, signed the act of unconditional surrender of all German land, sea and air forces in Europe to the Allied Expeditionary Force and simultaneously to the Soviet High Command. General Bedel Smith, Chief of Staff of the Allied Expeditionary Force and General François Seve signed the document on behalf of the Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force and General Susloparov signed on behalf of the Russian High Command. Today this agreement will be ratified and confirmed at Berlin where Air Chief Marshal Teder, Deputy Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force and General Delatre de Tassigny will sign on behalf of General Eisenhower. Marshal Zhukov will sign on behalf of the Soviet High Command. The German representatives will be Field Marshal Kytel, Chief of the High Command and the Commanders-in-Chief of the German Army, Navy and Air Forces. Hostilities will end officially at one minute after midnight tonight, but in the interests of saving lives the ceasefire began yesterday to be sounded all along the front and our dear Channel Islands are to be freed today. The Germans are still in places resisting the Russian troops but should they continue to do so after midnight they will of course deprive themselves of the protection of the laws of war and will be attacked from all quarters by the Allied troops. It is not surprising that on such long fronts and in the existing disorder of the enemy the orders of the German High Command should not in every case be obeyed immediately. This does not in our opinion with the best military advice at our disposal constitute any reason for withholding from the nation the facts communicated to us by General Eisenhower of the unconditional surrender already signed at Reims nor should it prevent us from celebrating today and tomorrow as victory in Europe days. Today perhaps we shall think mostly of ourselves. Tomorrow we shall pay a particular tribute to our Russian comrades whose prowess in the field has been one of the grand contributions to the general victory. The German War is therefore at an end. After years of intense preparation Germany hurled herself on Poland at the beginning of September 1939 and in pursuance of our guarantee to Poland and in agreement with the French Republic, Great Britain, the British Empire and Commonwealth of Nations declared war upon this foul aggression. After gallant France had been struck down we from this island and from our United Empire maintained the struggle single-handed for a whole year until we were joined by the military might of Soviet Russia and later by the overwhelming power and resources of the United States of America. Finally almost the whole world was combined against the evil doers who are now prostrate before us. Our gratitude to our splendid allies goes forth from all our hearts in this island and throughout the British Empire. We may allow ourselves a brief period of rejoicing, but let us not forget for a moment the toil and efforts that lie ahead. Japan with all her treachery and greed remains unsubdued. The injury she has inflicted on Great Britain, the United States and other countries and her detestable cruelties call for justice and retribution. We must now devote all our strength and resources to the completion of our task both at home and abroad. Advance Britannia, long live the cause of freedom. God save the king. End of speech.