Dunkirk And
Churchill
We labelled the war 1914 to 1918 as a world
war, because at the time we thought it was. But WW2 was to prove really global
expanding much further than ever before. This Island we call the UK is small, it
is impossible to be more than 200 miles from the sea. The total length of this
Island is approximately 900 miles,and from where I live the east coast is 40
miles away & the west coast some 60 miles. As a land mass we are smaller
than most USA states, so why is the UK such a big player in this war? The
answer was simple to see, if you studied the world map of
1939.
Our forefathers had been great seafarers and
sailed the world on voyages of discovery. At that time so were the Spanish,
French & Portuguese. Captain Cooke borne some 50 miles from my front door
discovered Australia & New Zealand. The world map at that time was coloured
red to indicate the British colonies. The British Empire as it was called then
encompassed Canada, Australia, India, the African Gold coast, Rhodesia,Malaya,.
Burma, Singapore & Hong Kong, and I will have left out another dozen, is my
guess. We ruled these places, we exploited their wealth, and now we had to
defend them, especially once the Japanese had entered the war.
We had
declared War when we were at our weakest. Defence cut backs had left us short of
all the machinery that we needed. Our Services were still controlled by
aristocrat leaders. These were the same men responsible for the tactics and
carnage in WW1. Sure we had "Won" that one and therefore the same type of
officer prevailed in 1939.
As I explained, the very first tanks had been used
in WW1, now years later they had been improved and Calvary Regiments were to
become mechanised. We had some senior army officers who would not accept this
as they firmly believed that they could win the war on horse back. Such was the
arrogance of the UK establishment. Horses are no match for artillery and Hitler
had perfected The Panzer tank. To refuse to become mechanised was stupidity of
the highest order.
Sure horses do a very useful job on the
battlefield, for when the supply lines are cut, they provide food for otherwise
starving troops.
As I said earlier our democracy became
recognisable only in the 1920s when women got the vote. Here was a little
dictator who was hell bent on taking it away from any and all countries he could
occupy.
As the poorly equipped UK army started to enter
Europe, Hitler turned his attention to France... All their expensive defence
lines were simply By-Passed and this large civilised country fell in less than
14 days. The French did not put up much of a fight. The Flemish countries of
Holland and Belgium fell within days. The British army was pushed back to the
channel port of Dunkirk.
The entire British army with its back to the sea
was evacuated using anything that floated and was capable of crossing the
English channel. Pleasure boats were commandeered. Some as small as six seats.
Often sailed by men in their 70s (assisted by young teenagers) repeatedly
crossed the channel over several days taking men off the beach and bringing them
home. At Dunkirk many men died as the beach was
constantly under fire and there were thousands of acts of individual bravery as
the army was returned home.
This was our darkest hour. The train line from the
south coast into London became littered with guns as the disheartened British
soldier simply gave up and threw his gun off the train,he was going
home.
My father was left behind at Dunkirk but found his way into German Occupied Holland,
Here a Dutch family kept him hidden for months until the resistance got him back
to the UK, He had been posted as "Killed in Action" until he
returned.
2 good things came from this. The old fashioned
aristocratic Officer was in disgrace & for the first time in our history we
had the professional soldier as the battlefield commander. Also Winston
Churchill was to come to the foreground.
Before 1939 Churchill as a politician was seen as
a nobody. His career was just about finished, he was seen as mediocre. But in
any conflict you can be assured the correct leader will step into the limelight.
Churchill had found his role in life and yes this man was bloody good. Borne of
this time, Churchill was the right man for the job. Churchill was not fit and
was to have 2 heart attacks in the war years, but the country was never told. He
constantly smoked huge cigars, he was often very rude and Churchill liked to
drink, but this man was a great leader.
Once when he was leaving Whitehall,
he slipped on the steps and fell, obviously very drunk. A woman passing showed
her disgust and said "Sir You are drunk" Churchill replied "Madam you are ugly
and tomorrow I will be sober" This man was not a charmer
but every one in this country put their faith in his leadership and were right
to do so.
Hitler now made the same mistake as Napoleon. He
could have easily crossed the channel and would have met little or no
opposition. But our intelligent services had been very busy and Hitler believed
that the British had a massive army waiting for him to invade. He therefore
gave his instructions for the mass bombing of the UK which would last for years.
He was convinced that his bombers and fighters would bring us to the surrender
table without his army getting involved. The "Battle Of Britain" had commenced.
The German Army turned east to take on the Soviet
Union. This Russian war deserves consideration on its very own so I will come
back to that in due course. The Russians were our allies in this war and took
massive casualties.
The Japanese now get heavily involved and
seeing the British weakened decided to implement their expansion policy. We were
at war in Burma, India, Singapore & Hong Kong. Singapore was quickly overrun
as the lazy British officers thought that the invasion would come from the sea.
After all these dinosaurs thought that the Malay Jungle was impenetrable. So all
the guns point out to sea as the Japanese army on bicycles came in from Malaya.
Singapore fell . Many white women & Children were taken prisoner and
suffered dreadfully at the hands of the Japanese.
Burma fell and the British prisoner of war was put
to work building the 1,000 miles long Burma Railway which was designed to
transport the Japanese war effort to pastures new. It is recognised that
for every railway sleeper on that track a British POW died, either through
starvation or was simply beaten to death by the Japanese guards. The Japanese
guards felt that they were being deprived of battle honours as they were left
behind to work the POWs. So they showed no mercy. Here of course was built that
famous Bridge over the river Kwai <sp>
Back in the UK commenced total mobilisation.
Every able bodied man from the age of 18 to 55 was drafted into one of the
services. There was only one exception and that was the coal miners for it was
now recognised that our coal was to be the furnace of our war effort, but where
was the steel to come from? Well every scrap of metal was salvaged. Cooking
pots donated by housewives. All metal railings were sawn off and put in the
furnace. Old disused railway lines torn up and the tram lines in city centres
ripped up, after all who needs a tram at a time like this.
Women went to work in armament and aircraft
factories. Men trained to fight as we rapidly re-armed, and in America at this
time was a great isolationist policy of not getting involved. American Leaders
were certainly well informed as Churchill often visited the President of the United States. But I do
not know what the average person in the cities of America knew of this time.
Maybe you can tell me?????
When I complete this story you must judge
for yourself just how valuable your democracy is to you and your family. To me I
see it as so hard won, that we must never let it go. Later I will talk of events
that almost took away American Rights from within that country (created by the
American administration), and of similar events initiated by British
politicians.
Simply Steve
Democracy Link Page
