June 18, 1940
Winston Churchill "Their Finest Hour"
House
of Commons
MP3 - 1.8
Megs
I spoke the other day of the colossal military disaster which
occurred when the French High Command failed to withdraw the northern Armies
from Belgium at the moment when they knew that the French front was decisively
broken at Sedan and on the Meuse. This delay entailed the loss of fifteen or
sixteen French divisions and threw out of action for the critical period the
whole of the British Expeditionary Force. Our Army and 120,000 French troops
were indeed rescued by the British Navy from Dunkirk but only with the loss of
their cannon, vehicles and modern equipment. This loss inevitably took some
weeks to repair, and in the first two of those weeks the battle in France has
been lost. When we consider the heroic resistance made by the French Army
against heavy odds in this battle, the enormous losses inflicted upon the enemy
and the evident exhaustion of the enemy, it may well be the thought that these
25 divisions of the best-trained and best-equipped troops might have turned the
scale. However, General Weygand had to fight without them. Only three British
divisions or their equivalent were able to stand in the line with their French
comrades. They have suffered severely, but they have fought well. We sent every
man we could to France as fast as we could re-equip and transport their
formations.
I am not reciting these facts for the purpose of
recrimination. That I judge to be utterly futile and even harmful. We cannot
afford it. I recite them in order to explain why it was we did not have, as we
could have had, between twelve and fourteen British divisions fighting in the
line in this great battle instead of only three. Now I put all this aside. I
put it on the shelf, from which the historians, when they have time, will
select their documents to tell their stories. We have to think of the future
and not of the past. This also applies in a small way to our own affairs at
home. There are many who would hold an inquest in the House of Commons on the
conduct of the Governments-and of Parliaments, for they are in it, too-during
the years which led up to this catastrophe. They seek to indict those who were
responsible for the guidance of our affairs. This also would be a foolish and
pernicious process. There are too many in it. Let each man search his
conscience and search his speeches. I frequently search mine.
Of this I
am quite sure, that if we open a quarrel between the past and the present, we
shall find that we have lost the future. Therefore, I cannot accept the drawing
of any distinctions between Members of the present Government. It was formed at
a moment of crisis in order to unite all the Parties and all sections of
opinion. It has received the almost unanimous support of both Houses of
Parliament. Its Members are going to stand together, and, subject to the
authority of the House of Commons, we are going to govern the country and fight
the war. It is absolutely necessary at a time like this that every Minister who
tries each day to do his duty shall be respected; and their subordinates must
know that their chiefs are not threatened men, men who are here today and gone
tomorrow, but that their directions must be punctually and faithfully obeyed.
Without this concentrated power we cannot face what lies before us. I should
not think it would be very advantageous for the House to prolong this Debate
this afternoon under conditions of public stress. Many facts are not clear that
will be clear in a short time. We are to have a secret Session on Thursday, and
I should think that would be a better opportunity for the many earnest
expressions of opinion which Members will desire to make and for the House to
discuss vital matters without having everything read the next morning by our
dangerous foes.
The disastrous military events which have happened
during the past fortnight have not come to me with any sense of surprise.
Indeed, I indicated a fortnight ago as clearly as I could to the House that the
worst possibilities were open; and I made it perfectly clear then that whatever
happened in France would make no difference to the resolve of Britain and the
British Empire to fight on, '~f necessary for years, if necessary alone."
During the last few days we have successfully brought off the great majority of
the troops we had on the line of communication in France; and seven-eighths of
the troops we have sent to France since the beginning of the war-that is to
say, about 350,000 out of 400,000 men-are safely back in this country. Others
are still fighting with the French, and fighting with considerable success in
their local encounters against the enemy. We have also brought back a great
mass of stores, rifles and munitions of all kinds which had been accumulated in
France during the last nine months.
We have, therefore, in this Island
today a very large and powerful military force. This force comprises all our
best-trained and our finest troops, including scores of thousands of those who
have already measured their quality against the Germans and found themselves at
no disadvantage. We have under arms at the present time in this Island over a
million and a quarter men. Behind these we have the Local Defense Volunteers,
numbering half a million, only a portion of whom, however, are yet armed with
rifles or other firearms. We have incorporated into our Defense Forces every
man for whom we have a weapon. We expect very large additions to our weapons in
the near future, and in preparation for this we intend forthwith to call up,
drill and train further large numbers. Those who are not called up, or else are
employed during the vast business of munitions production in all its
branches-and their ramifications are innumerable-will serve their country best
by remaining at their ordinary work until they receive their summons. We have
also over here Dominions armies. The Canadians had actually landed in France,
but have now been safely withdrawn, much disappointed, but in perfect order,
with all their artillery and equipment. And these very high-class forces from
the Dominions will now take part in the defense of the Mother Country.
Lest the account which I have given of these large forces should raise
the question: Why did they not take part in the great battle in France? I must
make it clear that, apart from the divisions training and organizing at home,
only 12 divisions were equipped to fight upon a scale which justified their
being sent abroad. And this was fully up to the number which the French had
been led to expect would be available in France at the ninth month of the war.
The rest of our forces at home have a fighting value for home defense which
will, of course, steadily increase every week that passes. Thus, the invasion
of Great Britain would at this time require the transportation across the sea
of hostile armies on a very large scale, and after they had been so transported
they would have to be continually maintained with all the masses of munitions
and supplies which are required for continuous battle-as continuous battle it
will surely be.
Here is where we come to the Navy-and after all, we
have a Navy. Some people seem to forget that we have a Navy. We must remind
them. For the last thirty years I have been concerned in discussions about the
possibilities of oversea invasion, and I took the responsibility on behalf of
the Admiralty, at the beginning of the last war, of allowing all regular troops
to be sent out of the country. That was a very serious step to take, because
our Territorials had only just been called up and were quite untrained.
Therefore, this Island was for several months particularly denuded of fighting
troops. The Admiralty had confidence at that time in their ability to prevent a
mass invasion even though at that time the Germans had a magnificent battle
fleet in the proportion of 10 to 16, even though they were capable of fighting
a general engagement every day and any day, whereas now they have only a couple
of heavy ships worth speaking of-the Scharnhorst and the Gneisenau. We are also
told that the Italian Navy is to come out and gain sea superiority in these
waters. If they seriously intend it, I shall only say that we shall be
delighted to offer Signor Mussolini a free and safeguarded passage through the
Strait of Gibraltar in order that he may play the part to which he aspires.
There is a general curiosity in the British Fleet to find out whether the
Italians are up to the level they were at in the last war or whether they have
fallen off at all.
Therefore, it seems to me that as far as sea-borne
invasion on a great scale is concerned, we are far more capable of meeting it
today than we were at many periods in the last war and during the early months
of this war, before our other troops were trained, and while the B.E.F. had
proceeded abroad. Now, the Navy have never pretended to be able to prevent
raids by bodies of 5,000 or 10,000 men flung suddenly across and thrown ashore
at several points on the coast some dark night or foggy morning. The efficacy
of sea power, especially under modern conditions, depends upon the invading
force being of large size; It has to be of large size, in view of our military
strength, to be of any use. If it is of large size, then the Navy have
something they can find and meet and, as it were, bite on. Now, we must
remember that even five divisions, however lightly equipped, would require 200
to 250 ships, and with modern air reconnaissance and photography it would not
be easy to collect such an armada, marshal it, and conduct it across the sea
without any powerful naval forces to escort it; and there would be very great
possibilities, to put it mildly, that this armada would be intercepted long
before it reached the coast, and all the men drowned in the sea or, at the
worst blown to pieces with their equipment while they were trying to land. We
also have a great system of minefields, recently strongly reinforced, through
which we alone know the channels. If the enemy tries to sweep passages through
these minefields, it will be the task of the Navy to destroy the mine-sweepers
and any other forces employed to protect them. There should be no difficulty in
this, owing to our great superiority at sea.
Those are the regular,
well-tested, well-proved arguments on which we have relied during many years in
peace and war. But the question is whether there are any new methods by which
those solid assurances can be circumvented. Odd as it may seem, some attention
has been given to this by the Admiralty, whose prime duty and responsibility is
to destroy any large sea-borne expedition before it reaches, or at the moment
when it reaches, these shores. It would not be a good thing for me to go into
details of this. It might suggest ideas to other people which they have not
thought of, and they would not be likely to give us any of their ideas in
exchange. All I will say is that untiring vigilance and mind-searching must be
devoted to the subject, because the enemy is crafty and cunning and full of
novel treacheries and stratagems. The House may be assured that the utmost
ingenuity is being displayed and imagination is being evoked from large numbers
of competent officers, well-trained in tactics and thoroughly up to date, to
measure and counterwork novel possibilities. Untiring vigilance and untiring
searching of the mind is being, and must be, devoted to the subject, because,
remember, the enemy is crafty and there is no dirty trick he will not do.
Some people will ask why, then, was it that the British Navy was not
able to prevent the movement of a large army from Germany into Norway across
the Skagerrak? But the conditions in the Channel and in the North Sea are in no
way like those which prevail in the Skagerrak. In the Skagerrak, because of the
distance, we could give no air support to our surface ships, and consequently,
lying as we did close to the enemy's main air power, we were compelled to use
only our submarines. We could not enforce the decisive blockade or interruption
which is possible from surface vessels. Our submarines took a heavy toll but
could not, by themselves, prevent the invasion of Norway. In the Channel and in
the North Sea, on the other hand, our superior naval surface forces, aided by
our submarines, will operate with close and effective air
assistance
This brings me, naturally, to the great question of invasion
from the air, and of the impending struggle between the British and German Air
Forces. It seems quite clear that no invasion on a scale beyond the capacity of
our land forces to crush speedily is likely to take place from the air until
our Air Force has been definitely overpowered. In the meantime, there may be
raids by parachute troops and attempted descents of airborne soldiers. We
should be able to give those gentry a warm reception both in the air and on the
ground, if they reach it in any condition to continue the dispute. But the
great question is: Can we break Hitler's air weapon? Now, of course, it is a
very great pity that we have not got an Air Force at least equal to that of the
most powerful enemy within striking distance of these shores. But we have a
very powerful Air Force which has proved itself far superior in quality, both
in men and in many types of machine, to what we have met so far in the numerous
and fierce air battles which have been fought with the Germans. In France,
where we were at a considerable disadvantage and lost many machines on the
ground when they were standing round the aerodromes, we were accustomed to
inflict in the air losses of as much as two and two-and-a-half to one. In the
fighting over Dunkirk, which was a sort of no-man's-land, we undoubtedly beat
the German Air Force, and gained the mastery of the local air, inflicting here
a loss of three or four to one day after day. Anyone who looks at the
photographs which were published a week or so ago of the re-embarkation,
showing the masses of troops assembled on the beach and forming an ideal target
for hours at a time, must realize that this re-embarkation would not have been
possible unless the enemy had resigned all hope of recovering air superiority
at that time and at that place.
In the defense of this Island the
advantages to the defenders will be much greater than they were in the fighting
around Dunkirk. We hope to improve on the rate of three or four to one which
was realized at Dunkirk; and in addition all our injured machines and their
crews which get down safely-and, surprisingly, a very great many injured
machines and men do get down safely in modern air fighting-all of these will
fall, in an attack upon these Islands, on friendly. soil and live to fight
another day; whereas all the injured enemy machines and their complements will
be total losses as far as the war is concerned.
During the great battle
in France, we gave very powerful and continuous aid to. the French Army, both
by fighters and bombers; but in spite of every kind of pressure we never would
allow the entire metropolitan fighter strength of the Air Force to be consumed.
This decision was painful, but it was also right, because the fortunes of the
battle in France could not have been decisively affected even if we had thrown
in our entire fighter force. That battle was lost by the unfortunate
strategical opening, by the extraordinary and unforseen power of the armored
columns, and by the great preponderance of the German Army in numbers. Our
fighter Air Force might easily have been exhausted as a mere accident in that
great struggle, and then we should have found ourselves at the present time in
a very serious plight. But as it is, I am happy to inform the House that our
fighter strength is stronger at the present time relatively to the Germans, who
have suffered terrible losses, than it has ever been; and consequently we
believe ourselves possessed of the capacity to continue the war in the air
under better conditions than we have ever experienced before. I look forward
confidently to the exploits of our fighter pilots-these splendid men, this
brilliant youth-who will have the glory of saving their native land, their
island home, and all they love, from the most deadly of all attacks.
There remains, of course, the danger of bombing attacks, which will
certainly be made very soon upon us by the bomber forces of the enemy. It is
true that the German bomber force is superior in numbers to ours; but we have a
very large bomber force also, which we shall use to strike at military targets
in Germany without intermission. I do not at all underrate the severity of the
ordeal which lies before us; but I believe our countrymen will show themselves
capable of standing up to it, like the brave men of Barcelona, and will be able
to stand up to it, and carry on in spite of it, at least as well as any other
people in the world. Much will depend upon this; every man and every woman will
have the chance to show the finest qualities of their race, and render the
highest service to their cause. For all of us, at this time, whatever our
sphere, our station, our occupation or our duties, it will be a help to
remember the famous lines: He nothing common did or mean, Upon that memorable
scene.
I have thought it right upon this occasion to give the House and
the country some indication of the solid, practical grounds upon which we base
our inflexible resolve to continue the war. There are a good many people who
say, "Never mind. Win or lose, sink or swim, better die than submit to
tyranny-and such a tyranny." And I do not dissociate myself from them. But I
can assure them that our professional advisers of the three Services unitedly
advise that we should carry on the war, and that there are good and reasonable
hopes of final victory. We have fully informed and consulted all the
self-governing Dominions, these great communities far beyond the oceans who
have been built up on our laws and on our civilization, and who are absolutely
free to choose their course, but are absolutely devoted to the ancient
Motherland, and who feel themselves inspired by the same emotions which lead me
to stake our all upon duty and honor. We have fully consulted them, and I have
received from their Prime Ministers, Mr. Mackenzie King of Canada, Mr. Menzies
of Australia, Mr. Fraser of New Zealand, and General Smuts of South Africa-that
wonderful man, with his immense profound mind, and his eye watching from a
distance the whole panorama of European affairs-I have received from all these
eminent men, who all have Governments behind them elected on wide franchises,
who are all there because they represent the will of their people, messages
couched in the most moving terms in which they endorse our decision to fight
on, and declare themselves ready to share our fortunes and to persevere to the
end. That is what we are going to do.
We may now ask ourselves: In what
way has our position worsened since the beginning of the war? It has worsened
by the fact that the Germans have conquered a large part of the coast line of
Western Europe, and many small countries have been overrun by them. This
aggravates the possibilities of air attack and adds to our naval
preoccupations. It in no way diminishes, but on the contrary definitely
increases, the power of our long-distance blockade. Similarly, the entrance of
Italy into the war increases the power of our long-distance blockade. We have
stopped the worst leak by that. We do not know whether military resistance will
come to an end in France or not, but should it do so, then of course the
Germans will be able to concentrate their forces, both military and industrial,
upon us. But for the reasons I have given to the House these will not be found
so easy to apply. If invasion has become more imminent, as no doubt it has, we,
being relieved from the task of maintaining a large army in France, have far
larger and more efficient forces to meet it.
If Hitler can bring under
his despotic control the industries of the countries he has conquered, this
will add greatly to his already vast armament output. On the other hand, this
will not happen immediately, and we are now assured of immense, continuous and
increasing support in supplies and munitions of all kinds from the United
States; and especially of aeroplanes and pilots from the Dominions and across
the oceans coming from regions which are beyond the reach of enemy bombers.
I do not see how any of these factors can operate to our detriment on
balance before the winter comes; and the winter will impose a strain upon the
Nazi regime, with almost all Europe writhing and starving under its cruel heel,
which, for all their ruthlessness, will run them very hard. We must not forget
that from the moment when we declared war on the 3rd September it was always
possible for Germany to turn all her Air Force upon this country, together with
any other devices of invasion she might conceive, and that France could have
done little or nothing to prevent her doing so. We have, therefore, lived under
this danger, in principle and in a slightly modified form, during all these
m6nths. In the meanwhile, however, we have enormously improved our methods of
defense, and we have learned what we had no right to assume at the beginning,
namely, that the individual aircraft and the individual British pilot have a
sure and definite superiority. Therefore, in casting up this dread balancesheet
and contemplating our dangers with a disillusioned eye, I see great reason for
intense vigilance and exertion, but none whatever for panic or despair.
During the first four years of the last war the Allies experienced
nothing but disaster and disappointment. That was our constant fear: one blow
after another, terrible losses, frightful dangers. Everything miscarried. And
yet at the end of those four years the morale of the Allies was higher than
that of the Germans, who had moved from one aggressive triumph to another, and
who stood everywhere triumphant invaders of the lands into which they had
broken. During that war we repeatedly asked ourselves the question: How are we
going to win? and no one was able ever to answer it with much precision, until
at the end, quite suddenly, quite unexpectedly, our terrible foe collapsed
before us, and we were so glutted with victory that in our folly we threw it
away.
We do not yet know what will happen in France or whether the
French resistance will be prolonged, both in France and in the French Empire
overseas. The French Government will be throwing away great opportunities and
casting adrift their future if they do not continue the war in accordance with
their Treaty obligations, from which we have not felt able to release them. The
House will have read the historic declaration in which, at the desire of many
Frenchmen-and of our own hearts-we have proclaimed our willingness at the
darkest hour in French history to conclude a union of common citizenship in
this struggle. However matters may go in France or with the French Government,
or other French Governments, we in this Island and in the British Empire will
never lose our sense of comradeship with the French people. If we are now
called upon to endure what they have been suffering, we shall emulate their
courage, and if final victory rewards our toils they shall share the gains,
aye, and freedom shall be restored to all. We abate nothing of our just
demands; not one jot or tittle do we recede. Czechs, Poles, Norwegians, Dutch,
Belgians have joined their causes to our own. All these shall be
restored.
What General Weygand called the Battle of France is over. I
expect that the Battle of Britain is about to begin. Upon this battle depends
the survival of Christian civilization. Upon it depends our own British life,
and the long continuity of our institutions and our Empire. The whole fury and
might of the enemy must very soon be turned on us. Hitler knows that he will
have to break us in this Island or lose the war. If we can stand up to him, all
Europe may be free and the life of the world may move forward into broad,
sunlit uplands. But if we fail, then the whole world, including the United
States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the
abyss of a new Dark Age made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the
lights of perverted science. Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties,
and so bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for
a thousand years, men will still say, "This was their finest hour."
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