The first half of September, 1940, was marked by large scale daylight air attacks on London, in countering which the R.A.F. won deathless fame.
We give below extracts from two speeches of the Prime Minister, his enthusiastic message to the Fighter Command, and the heartening broadcast of the King in which his Majesty paid tribute to the “unconquerable spirit of the people” by creating a new Order for civilians the George Cross and Medal.
Mr Churchill in a Broadcast Speech, September 11th 1940.
These cruel, wanton indiscriminate bombings of London are of course a part of Hitler’s invasion plan.
He hopes by killing large numbers of civilians and women and children that he will terrorize and cow the people of this mighty Imperial city and make them a burden and anxiety for the Government, and thus distract our attention unduly from the ferocious onslaught he is preparing.Little does he know the spirit of the British nation or the tough fibre of the Londoners who forebears played a leading part in the establishment of Parliamentary institutions and who have been bred to value freedom far above their lives.
This wicked man the repository and embodiment of many forms of soul destroying hatred, this monstrous product former wrongs and shames, has now resolved to try to break our famous island race by a process of indiscriminate slaughter and destruction.
What he has done is to kindle a fire in British hearts , here and all over the world , which will glow long after all traces of the conflagrations he has caused in London have been removed.
He has lighted a fire which will burn with a steady and consuming flame until the last vestiges of Nazi tyranny have been burnt out of Europe , and until the Old World and the New can join hands to rebuild the temples of man’sfreedom and man’s honour on foundations which will not soon or easily be overthrown.
This is the time for everyone to stand together and hold firm, as they are doing.
I express my admiration for the exemplary manner in which the air raid precaution services in London are being discharged, especially the fire brigades, whose work has been so heavy and also dangerous.
All the world that is still free marvels at the composure and fortitude with which the citizens of London are facing and surmounting the great ordeal to which they are subjected, the end of which ,or the severity of which cannot yet be foreseen.
It is a message of good cheer to our fighting forces, on the seas, in the air and in our waiting armies, in all their posts and stations that we send them from this capital city.
They know that they have behind them a people who will not flinch or weary of the struggle, hard and protracted though it will be, but that we shall rather draw from the heart of suffering the means of inspiration and survival, and of a victory won not only for ourselves, but for all, a victory won not only for our times, but for the long and better days that are to come.
Mr Churchill in a Message to the Fighter Command September 16th 1940.
Yesterday eclipses all previous records of the Fighter Command.
Aided by squadrons of their Czech and Polish comrades, using only a small proportion of their total strength, and under cloud conditions of some difficulty, they cut to rags and tatters three separate waves of murderous assault upon the civil population of their native land, inflicting a certain loss of 125 bombers and 53 fights upon the enemy, to say nothing of probables and damaged, while themselves sustaining only a loss of 12 pilots and 25 machines.
These results exceed all expectations and give just and sober confidence in the approaching struggle.
Mr Churchill in a Speech in the House of Commons, September 17th 1940
Sunday’s action was the most brilliant and fruitful of any fought upon a large scale up to that date by the fighters of the Royal Air Force.
The figures have already been made public, to the best of my belief and I have made searching inquiries and taken several cross checks those figures are not in any way exaggerated….
The German attacks upon the civil population have been concentrated mainly upon London, in the hopes of terrorizing its citizens into submission, or to throw them into confusion and also in the silly idea that they will put pressure upon the Government to make peace.
The deliberate and repeated attacks upon BuckinghamPalace and upon the persons of our beloved King and Queen are also intended, apart from their general barbarity, to have an unsettling effect upon public opinion.
They have of course the opposite effect.
They unite the King and Queen to their people by new and sacred bonds of common danger, and they steel the hearts of all to the stern and unrelenting prosecution of the war against so foul to foe.
H.M. the King in a Broadcast to Britain and the Empire, September 24th 1940
In this battle for Britain, London the mighty capital of the Empire, occupies the forefront.
Other of our cities are being subjected to the barbarous attacks of the enemy.
Our sympathy goes out to them all.
But it is London that is for the time being bearing the brunt of the enemy’s spite.
I am speaking to you now from BuckinghamPalace, with its honourable scars, to Londoners first of all, though of course my words apply equally to all the British cities, towns and hamlets who are enduring the same dangers.
The Queen and I have seen many of the places here which have been most heavily bombed and many of the people who have suffered and are suffering most.
Our hearts are with them tonight.
Their courage and cheerfulness, their faith in their country’s cause and final victory are an inspiration to the rest of us.
To the men and women who carry on the work of the A.R.P. services I should like to say a special word of gratitude.
The devotion of these civilian workers, firemen, salvage men, and many others in the face of grave and constant danger has won a new renown for the British name.
These men and women are worthy partners of our armed Forces and our police of the Navy, once more as so often before our sure shield, and the Merchant Navy, of the Army and the Home Guard, alert and eager to repel ay invader, and of the Air Force, whose exploits are the wonder of the world.
Tonight, indeed, we are a nation on guard and in the line.
Each task, each bit of duty done, however simple and domestic it may be, is part of our war work.
It takes rank with the sailor’s, the soldier’s and the airmen’s duty.
The men and women in the factories or on the railways who work on regardless of danger, though the sirens have sounded, maintaining all the services and necessities of our common life and keeping the fighting line well supplied with weapons, earn their place among the heroes of this war.
No less honour is due to all those who night after night uncomplainingly endure discomfort, hardship, and peril in their homes.
Many and glorious are the deeds of gallantry done during these perilous but famous days.
In order that they should be worthily and promptly recognized I have decided to create at once a new mark of honour for men and women in all walks of civilian life.
I propose to give my name to this new distinction, which will consist of the George Cross, which will rank next to Queen Victoria Cross, and the George Medal for wider distribution.
As we look around us we see on every side that in the hour of her trial the MotherCity o the British Commonwealth is proving herself to be built as a city that is at unity in itself.
It is not the walls that make the city but the people that live in them.
The walls of London may be battered, but the spirit of the Londoner stands resolute and undismayed.
As in London, so throughout Great Britain, buildings rich in beauty and historic interest may be wantonly attacked, humbler houses, no less dear and familiar, may be destroyed.
But “there’ll always be an England” to stand before the world as the symbol and citadel of freedom, and to be our own dear home.
