1941-09-09_BBC_Winston_Churchill_Still_Masters_Of_Our_Fate

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
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 in relation to the
several and common interests of our respective countries. As I
was sure that Parliament would approve.

Speaker 2 (00:18):
I obtained its madristive permission to leave the country. I
crossed the.

Speaker 1 (00:24):
Atlantic Ocean in one of our latest battle trips, to
meet the President at a convenient place I wanted the House.

Speaker 2 (00:31):
Now accompanied by the first si Lords.

Speaker 1 (00:34):
A Chief of the Imperial General Staff, and the Vice
Chief of the Air Staff, together with the Permanent Secretary
to the Foreign Office and others. We were therefore in
a petition to discuss with the President and with its
technical advisors every question relating to the war and to
the state of affairs after the war. Important conclusions were

(00:56):
reached on four main topics. First of all, on the
eight point Declaration of the broad Principles and Aims which
guide and govern the actions of the British and United
States governments and peoples amid the many dangers by which
they are beset in these times. And secondly, unmeasures can

(01:17):
be taken to help Russia to resist the hideous Onslop
which Hitler had made upon him. Thirdly, the policy to
be pursued towards Japan in order, if possible, to put
a stop to further.

Speaker 2 (01:30):
Encroachments in the Far East likely to.

Speaker 1 (01:33):
Endanger the safety or interests of Great Britain or the
United States, and thus, by timely action, prevent the spreading
of the war to the Pacific Oceans. Fourthly, there we
at a large number of purely technical matters which were
dealt with, and close personal relations were established between high naval,

(01:54):
military and air authorities of both countries. I have at
the household his tool consistently deprecated the formulation of peace
aims or war aims, however you put it, by His
Majesty Government at this stage, I deprecate it. At this time,
when the end of the war is not in sight,

(02:14):
when the conflict says to and fro is alternating fortunes,
and when conditions and association at the end of the
war are unforseeable. But a joint declaration by Great Britain
and the United States is a process of a totally
different nature. Although the principles in the decloration and much

(02:36):
of the language have long been familiar to the British
and American democracies. The fact that it is a united
decloration sets up a milestone or monument which needs only
the stroke of victory become a permanent part of the
history of human progress. The purpose of the joint declaration
signed by President Roosevelt and myself on August twelve is

(03:00):
stated in the preamble to be to make known certain
common principles in the national policies of our respective countries
on which they base their hopes for a better future.

Speaker 2 (03:12):
For the world.

Speaker 1 (03:13):
No words are needed to emphasize the future promise held
out to the world by such a joint declaration by
the United States and Great Britain. I need only draw attention,
for instance, to the phrase after the final destruction of
the Nazi tyranny, to show the profound and vital character

(03:34):
of the solemn agreement into which we have jointly ended.
Questions have been asked, and will no doubt be asked
as to what is implied exactly by this or that point,
and explanations have been invited. Is it a wise rule that,
when two parties have agreed at statement, one of them
shall not, thereafter, without consultation with the other, seek to

(03:56):
put special or strained interpretations upon this or that. I
propose therefore to speak today only in an exclusive sense. First,
the Joint Declaration does not try to explain how the
broad principles proclaimed by it are to be applied to
each and every case which would have to be dealt
with when the war comes to an end. It would

(04:19):
not be wise for us at this moment to be
drawn into laborious discussions on how it is to fit
all the manifold problems with which we shall be faced
after the war. Secondly, the Joint Declaration does not qualify
in any way the various statements of policy which have
been made from time to time about the development of

(04:40):
constitutional government in India, Burma or other parts of the
British Empire. We are pledged by the Declaration of August
nineteen forty to help India obtain free and equal partnership
in the British Commonwealth, with ourselves, subject of course, to
the fulfillment of obligations arising from o our long connection

(05:01):
with India and our responsibilities to its many creeds, raise
it and interest. Burma is also covered by our considered
policy of establishing Burhmid's self government and by the measures
already in progress at the Atlantic Meeting.

Speaker 2 (05:18):
We had in mind primarily.

Speaker 1 (05:19):
The restoration of the sovereignties, self government and national life
of the states and nations of Europe now under the
Nazi yoke, and the principles governing any alterations in their
territorial boundaries which may have to be made. So that
is quite a separate problem from the progressive evolution of
self governing institutions in the regions and peoples which are

(05:41):
allegiance to the British Crown. We have made declarations on
these matters which are complete in themselves, free from ambiguity,
and related to the conditions and circumstances of the territories
and peoples affected. They will be found to be entirely
in harmony with a high conception of freedom and justice
which inspired the Joint Declaration. Since we last met, the

(06:05):
Battle of the Atlantic has been going on unceasingly in
his attempt to blockade and starve out this island by
U boat, an air attack, and the very formidable combination
of you boat and air attacks. The enemy continually changes
in tactics. Driven from one beat, he goes to another.
Chased from home waters, driven from the approaches.

Speaker 2 (06:27):
To this island.

Speaker 1 (06:28):
He proceeds to the other side of the Atlantic, increasingly
hampered by United States patrolled in the North Atlantic, he
develops his malice.

Speaker 2 (06:36):
In the South.

Speaker 1 (06:38):
We follow hard up an his trakt, and sometimes we
anticipate in tactics, But it is not denirable to give
him two precise or above or too early information of
the success or failure.

Speaker 2 (06:50):
Of each of his various maneuverents.

Speaker 1 (06:53):
And it was therefore decided that the publication of our
shipping losses at regular monthly intervals should cease.

Speaker 2 (07:00):
According to an old.

Speaker 1 (07:01):
Statement to Lost, it has been published from July and August,
and I do not think the time has come to
give the actual figures.

Speaker 2 (07:08):
Yet.

Speaker 1 (07:09):
The public, and indeed the whole world, have, however, derived
the impression that things have gone much better in those
two months.

Speaker 2 (07:17):
I cannot deny that that is so.

Speaker 1 (07:19):
The improvement in the sea war manifests itself in two directions.

Speaker 2 (07:24):
In the first place, there is a.

Speaker 1 (07:25):
Very great falling off in the sinking of British and
Allied ships, with a corresponding increase in the turnage of
invaluable cargoes safely landed on our shores.

Speaker 2 (07:36):
The estimates which I made at the.

Speaker 1 (07:39):
Beginning of the year of the volume of our importations
for nineteen forty one, and which I mentioned to the House.

Speaker 2 (07:45):
On another occasion, to which it could be improper to refer.

Speaker 1 (07:49):
The secrets notion look to me as if they would
not only be made good, but exceeded. The second improvement
is the extraordinary rise in the last three months in
the destruction of German and Italian shipping. This has been
achieved very largely by the development of new and brilliant

(08:10):
tactics by the Coastal Command and by the Royal Air
Force bombing squadrons acting with the Coastal Command. To the
exploits of the Air Force must be added those of
our submarines. I have for some time looked for an
opportunity of paying a tribute to our submarines. There is
no branch of his magiative forces which in this war

(08:32):
suffered the same proportion of fatal loss as our submarine service.
It is the most dangerous of all the services. That
is perhaps the reason why the First Lord tells me
that entry into its achieve.

Speaker 2 (08:45):
Is not bioficant of men.

Speaker 1 (08:47):
I feel the House would wish to testify its gratitude
and admiration for our submarine crews with our skill and devotion,
which approved of inestimable.

Speaker 2 (08:56):
Value to the life of our country.

Speaker 1 (09:00):
Other aerials which have been overcome, and other labors of
splendid quality which have been performed unknown or almost unknown
to the public. I mentioned some of these to the
house upon a private occasion, and it had been suggested
to me that this particular reference should also obtain publicity.
The first deals of the Anti mining Service. We do

(09:23):
not hear much about the mind menace now, yet almost
every night thirty or forty enemy aeroplanes are casting these
destructive engines with all their ingenious variations, at the most
likely spots to catch our shipping. The attack which began
in November nineteen thirty nine, which began indeed.

Speaker 2 (09:43):
When the war opened, with.

Speaker 1 (09:44):
The ordinary mood mine laid by night in the approaches
to our harbors, were succeeded before the end of nineteen
thirty nine by the magnetic mind with all its mysterious terrors,
and is now waged continually by the acoustic mine as
well as by the magnetic in many dangerous combinations. We
do not hear much about all this now, because by

(10:07):
the result into British science and British organization, it has
been largely mastered. We do not hear much about it,
because twenty thousand men and a thousand ships toiled ceaselessly
with many a strange varieties of apparatus to clear the
ports and channels every morning of the deadly deposits of
the night.

Speaker 2 (10:26):
You will remember the lines.

Speaker 1 (10:27):
Of Kipling Mine reported in the fair way worn all
traffic and detain sent up unity, Tarabelle, Assyrian Stormcock and
golden game. This is going on night after night, day
after day, and it may well be imagined as the
work has to be performed in all weathers, and constantly under.

Speaker 2 (10:50):
The attack of the enemy.

Speaker 1 (10:52):
How excellent is the service rendered by the brave and
faithful men engaged in it. We do not hear much
about them, because it's work done in secret and in silence,
and we live on.

Speaker 2 (11:03):
We take it as a matter of course, like the
feats of the Salvash Service, to which I must also refer.

Speaker 1 (11:10):
The Salvage Service has recovered since the beginning of the war.

Speaker 2 (11:14):
In every circumstances of.

Speaker 1 (11:15):
Storm and difficulty, are put through a million tons of
shipping which would otherwise have been cast away. These marvelous
services of seamanship and devotion, and the organization behind them,
prove at every stage and step the soundness of our
national life, and the remarkable adaptiveness of the British mind,
and the tenacity of the British character, by which we

(11:38):
shall certainly be saved and save others. Although as I
have admitted, there has been a very great improvement in
our lastings at sea in July and August, it could
be a very foolish mistake to assume that the grave
dangers which threaten us are.

Speaker 2 (11:52):
At an end.

Speaker 1 (11:54):
The enemy has been employing a greater number of view
boats and also of long range aircraft never before, and.

Speaker 2 (12:01):
We must expect further increases.

Speaker 1 (12:04):
We have made prodigious exertions, and our resources are growing continually.
The skill and science of the Admiralty staff and their commanders,
working in perfect harmony with.

Speaker 2 (12:15):
The Royal Air Force, have gained these successes.

Speaker 1 (12:19):
But the Admiralty would be the last to guarantee their
continuance as a matter of course, and certainly the slightest
relaxation of vigilance, of exertion and of contrivance would be
followed by a very serious relapse. It must be remembered
also that the Germans are much hampered in the American
parts of the Atlantic, which are very extensive by the

(12:42):
fear of trouble with the powerful American naval forces, which
ceaselessly patrol the approaches to the Western Hemisphere.

Speaker 2 (12:50):
That has been a great help to us. I wish
it might be a greater help.

Speaker 1 (12:55):
But here again the enemy's tactics may change. No doubt
Hitler will other finished off Russia and then Britain before
coming to close quarters with the United States. That would
be in accordance to the individual technique of one by one.
Itai has, however, also the greatest possible need to prevent
the presious munition supplies now streaming across the Atlantic in

(13:19):
pursuance of the policy of the United States government, from
reaching our shores. Should he do so, the area of
the danger zones would again become ocean wide. In the meanwhile,
let us hear no vain talk about the Battle of
the Atlantic having been won. We may be content with
the success in which are rewarded patience and exertion, but

(13:42):
war is inexhaustible in its surprises, and very few of
those surprising are of an agreeable character. Now I turned
to a far wider field. The magnificent resistance of the
Russian armies and the skillful manner in which their vast
front is being with drawn in the teeth of Nazi

(14:02):
invasion make it certain that hit turn hope for a
short war with Russia will be dispelled. Already, in three
months he has lasted more German blood than r shed
in any single year of the last war. Already effaced
the certainty of having to maintain his armies on the
whole front from the Arctic to the Black.

Speaker 2 (14:24):
Sea at the end of long inadequate, assailed and precarious.

Speaker 1 (14:29):
Lines of communication through all the severity of a Russian winter,
with a vigorous counterslopes which may be expected from the
Russian armies. From the moment now, nearly eighty days ago,
when Russia was attacked, we have cast about for every
means of giving the most speedy.

Speaker 2 (14:45):
And effective help to our new ally. I am not
prepared to.

Speaker 1 (14:49):
Discuss the military projects which have been examined. Such a
discussion would be harmful to our interests, both by what
was said and by what was not said. Nor will
it be possible for anyone representing the government to enter
upon any argument on such questions. In the field of supply,
Morgan be said, I agreed with President Roosevelt upon the

(15:11):
message which present the Premier Stallion, the terms of which
have already been made public.

Speaker 2 (15:18):
The needed urgent and the scale heavy.

Speaker 1 (15:20):
A considerable part of the munition industry and the iron
and steel production of Russia has fallen into the hands
of the enemy. On the other hand, the Soviet Union
disposed of anything from ten to fifteen million soldiers, for
nearly all of whom they have equipment and arms. To
aid in the supply of these masses, who enable them

(15:41):
to realize their long continuing force and to organize the
operation of their supply will be the task of the
Anglo American Russian Conference. We must be prepared for serious
sacrifice it in the munition's field in order to meet
the needs of Russia. The utmost ext and energy will
therefore be required from all concerned in production, in order

(16:04):
not only to help Russia, but to fill the gaps
which will now be opened in our long tour and
at last arriving supply. It must be remembered that everything
that is given to Russia is subtracted from what we
are making for ourselves, and in part at least from
what would have been.

Speaker 2 (16:22):
Sentenced by the United States.

Speaker 1 (16:25):
In terms of finished munitions. The flow of our own
production in this country and the Empire is still rising.
It will reach full flood during this third year of
our wartime munitions production. If the United States not to
fulfill the task they have set themselves, very large new
installations would have to be set up or converted, and

(16:46):
there will have to be a further curtailment over there.
As a fully recognized of civilian consumption, we must ourselves
expect a definite reduction in the military supply from America
on which we have counted, but within certain limits, we
are prepared to accept these facts and their consequences. If

(17:07):
we now look back for a moment, we can measure
the solid improvement in our position in the Middle East
or East, which had been achieved since the French suddenly
fell out of the war and the Italians made haste
so eagerly to come in against us. At that date,
all we had in those parts was from eighty thousand
to one hundred thousand men starved a munitions and equipment

(17:28):
which had all been sent to the French front or
at first to claim the vestry had we had lost
our means of safe communication through the Mediterranean and almost.

Speaker 2 (17:39):
All the main bases which we occupied.

Speaker 1 (17:42):
We were anxiously concerned for our defense of Nairobi, Khartoum,
British Somaliland, and above all of the Nile Valley and Palestine,
including the famous cities of Caro and Jerusalem.

Speaker 2 (17:56):
None were safe.

Speaker 1 (17:57):
But nevertheless, after little more than a year, we have
managed together very large and well equipped armies, which already
begin to approach seven hundred and fifty thousand men, which
possess and are being supplied with massiative equipment of all kinds.
We have developed an air force almost as larger that
we had in Great Britain when the war began, an

(18:19):
air force which.

Speaker 2 (18:20):
Is rapidly expanding.

Speaker 1 (18:22):
We have conquered the whole of the Italian Empire in
Abyssinia and Eritrea, and have killed or taken prisoner the
Italian armies of over four hundred thousand men by which
the regions we are defended. We have defended the frontier
to Egypt against German and Italian attack. We have consolidated
our position in Palestine and Iraq. We have taken effective

(18:45):
control of Syria and provided to the security of Cyprus.

Speaker 2 (18:51):
Finally, by the swift and.

Speaker 1 (18:52):
Vigorous champaign in Persia, which have taken place since the
House last met, we have joined hands with our Russian
airs allies and stand in the line to bar the
further eastward progress of the enemy. I cannot help feeling
that these are achievements which, whatever the future may contain,

(19:13):
will learn the respect of history and.

Speaker 2 (19:15):
Deserve the approval of the earth.

Speaker 1 (19:18):
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 exaltation.

Speaker 2 (19:33):
That is no time for boasts or glowing propers eyes.
But there is this.

Speaker 1 (19:39):
A year ago our petition looked forlorn and well nigh
desperate to all eyes but our own. To day, we
may say aloud before an awe.

Speaker 2 (19:49):
Struck world, we still are masters of our fate. We
still our captain of our souls.