Five days after his speech in Parliament the First Lord of the Admiralty administered on October 1st 1939, another tonic to the nation in the shape of a broadcast review of Great Britain’s position after four weeks of war.
The British Empire and the FrenchRepublic have been at war with Nazi Germany for a month tonight.
We have not yet come at all to the severity of fighting which is to be expected, but three important things have happened.
First Poland has been again overrun by two of the great Powers which held her in bondage for 150 years, but were unable to quench the spirit of the Polish nation.
The heroic defence of Warsaw shows that the soul of Poland is indestructible and that she will rise again like a rock, which may for a spell be submerged by a tidal wave, but which remains a rock.
What is the second event of this first month? It is of course, the assertion of the power of Russia.
Russia has pursued a cold policy of self interest; we could have wished that the Russian armies should be standing on their present line as the friends and allies of Poland, instead of as invaders.
But that the Russian armies should stand on line was clearly necessary for the safety of Russia against the Nazi menace.
At any rate, the line is there and an Eastern Front has been created which Nazi Germany does not dear assail.
When Herr von Ribbentrop was summoned to Moscow last week it was to learn the fact, and to accept the fact, that the Nazi designs upon the Baltic States and upon the Ukraine must come to a dead stop.
I cannot forecast to you the action of Russia. It is a riddle wrapped in mystery inside an enigma, but perhaps there is a key.
That key is Russian national interest. It cannot be in accordance with the interest or safety of Russia that Nazi Germany should plant itself upon the shores of the Black Sea or that it should overrun the Balkan States and subjugate the Slavonic peoples of the South Eastern Europe.
That would be contrary to the historic life interests of Russia.
But here these interests of Russia fall into the same channel as the interests of Britain and France. None of these three Powers can afford to see Rumania, Yugo Slavia, Bulgaria, and above all, Turkey, put under the German heel.
Thorough the fog of confusion and uncertainty we may discern quite plainly the community of interests which exists between England, France and Russia to prevent the Nazis carrying the flames of war into the Balkans and Turkey
Thus (at some risk of being proved wrong by events) I will proclaim tonight my conviction that the second great fact of the first month of the war is that Hitler and all that Hitler stands for have been and are being warned off the East and the SouthEast of Europe.
British Success against U- Boats.
What is the third event? Here I speak as First Lord of the Admiralty, with especial caution.
It would seen that the U-boat attack upon the life of the British Isles has not so far proved successful. It is true that when they sprang out upon us and we were going about our ordinary business, with two thousand ships in constant movement every day upon the seas, they managed to do some serious damage.
But the Royal Navy has immediately attacked the U-boats, and is hunting them night and day, I will not say without mercy because God forbid we should ever part company with that, but at any rate with zeal, and not altogether without relish.
And it looks tonight very much as if it is the U-boats who are feeling the weather and not the Royal Navy or the world wide commerce of Britain.
We must of course, expect that the U-boat attack on the sea borne commerce of the world will be renewed presently on a greater scale.
We hope, however that by the end of October we shall have three times as many hunting craft at work as we had at the beginning of the war, and by the measures we have taken we hope that our means of putting down this pest will grow continually.
We are taking great care about that.
Therefore to sum up the results of the first month, let us say that Poland has been overrun, but will rise again, that Russia has warned Hitler off his Eastern dreams, and that the U-boats may be safely left to the care and constant attention of the British Navy.
Now I wish to speak about what is happening in our own island.
When a peaceful democracy is suddenly made to fight for its life there must be a lot of trouble and hardship in turning over from peace to war.
I feel very keenly the reproaches of those who wish to throw themselves into the fight, but for whom we cannot find full scope at present time. All this will clear as we get into our stride.
His Majesty’s Government is unitedly resolved to make the maximum effort of which the British nation is capable and to persevere, whatever may happen, until decisive victory is gained.
Meanwhile patriotic men and women, and those who understand the high causes in human fortunes which are at stake, must not only rise above fear, they must also rise above inconvenience and boredom.
Parliament will be kept in session and all grievances or muddles or scandals can be freely ventilated there. In past times the House of Commons has proved itself an instrument of national will power capable of waging stern wars.
Parliament is the shield and expression of democracy, and Ministers of the Crown base themselves upon the Parliamentary system.
A large army has already gone to France. British armies upon the scale of the effort of the Great War are in preparation.
The British people are determined to stand in the line with the splendid army of the FrenchRepublic and share with them, as fast and as early as we can, whatever may be coming towards us both.
Immense Resources at Britain’s Command
It may be that great ordeals are coming to us in this island from the air. We shall do our best to give a good account of ourselves, and we must always remember that the command of the seas will enable us to bring the immense resources of Canada and the New World into play as a decisive ultimate air factor beyond the reach of what we have to give and take over here.
Directions have been given by the Government to prepare for a war of at least three years.
That does not mean that victory may not be gained in a shorter time, how soon it will be gained depends upon how long Herr Hitler and his group of wicked men ,whose hands are stained with blood and soiled with corruption, can keep their grip upon the docile unhappy people.
It was for Hitler to say when the war would begin, but it is not for him or his successors to say when it will end.
It began when he wanted it, and it will end only when we are convinced that he has had enough.
The Prime Minister has stated our war aims in terms which cannot be bettered, and which cannot be too often repeated.
“To redeem Europe from the perpetual and recurring fear of German aggression, and enable the peoples of Europe to preserve their independence and their liberties”.
That is what the British and French nations are fighting for.
How often have we been told we are the effete democracies , whose day is done and who must now be replaced by various forms of virile dictatorship and totalitarian despotism, No doubt at the beginning we shall have to suffer because of having too long wished to lead a peaceful life. Our reluctance to fight was mocked at as cowardice.
Our desire to see an unarmed world was proclaimed as the proof of our decay.
Now we have begun, now we are going on ,now with the help of God and with the conviction that we are the defenders of civilization and freedom, we are going on, and we are going to go on to the end.
I do not underrate what lies before us, but I must say this. I cannot doubt we have the strength to carry a good cause forward and to break down the barriers which stand between the wage earning masses of every land and a free and more abundant daily life.
