Page 80 - Sylvia Malt - Side by Side

In June 1940, France fell to the Germans and Britain was suddenly isolated, facing
occupied Europe and the very real threat of invasion.

4th June 1940 - Winston Churchill, House of Commons

...................."Even though large tracts of Europe and many old and famous states have
fallen or may fall into the grip of the Gestapo and all the odious apparatus of Nazi rule, we
shall not flag or fail.

We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France.
we shall fight with growing confidence and great strength."

He was convinced that the German invasion would come by air:

"I look forward confidently to the exploits of our fighter pilots - these splendid men, this
brilliant youth, who have the glory of saving their native land, their island home, and all
they love, from the most deadly of all attacks.”

We shall go on to the end, we shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans,
we shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in the air, we shall defend our
Island, whatever the cost may be.

We shall never surrender... and even if, which I do not for a moment believe, this Island or a
large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and
guarded by the British Fleet, would carry on the struggle which, in God's good time, the
New World with all its power and might, steps forth, to the rescue and liberation of the old."

18th June1940 - a week after the French surrender, Churchill spoke to the House of
Commons:

"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 will be free and the life of the world may move forward to broad, sunlit
uplands.

But if we fail, the whole world, including the United States of America, including all that we
have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a Dark Age made more sinister and
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 say: This was their
finest hour."

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