We Shall Fight on the Beaches

by Winston Churchill | June 4, 1940 | House of Commons


From the moment that the French defences at Sedan and on the Meuse were broken at the end of the second week of May, only a rapid retreat to Amiens and the south could have saved the British and French Armies who had entered Belgium at the appeal of the Belgian King. This strategic fact was not <u>apprehended</u> at the time.


Meanwhile, the Royal Air Force, who had already <u>intervened</u> in the battle at decisive moments, began to play a <u>predominant</u> part. They struck at the columns of the <u>advancing</u> enemy with <u>relentless</u> pressure. The German columns on the roads were bombed from morning till night by the British Air Force with <u>considerable</u> success.


The navy, using nearly 1,000 ships of all kinds, carried over 335,000 men, French and British, out of the jaws of death and back to their native land and to the tasks which lie immediately ahead. We must be very careful not to assign to this <u>deliverance</u> the attributes of a <u>victory</u>. Wars are not won by <u>evacuations</u>. But there was a victory inside this deliverance, which should be noted. It was gained by the Air Force.


Nevertheless, our thankfulness at the escape of our Army and so many men must not blind us to the fact that what has happened in France and Belgium is a <u>colossal</u> military disaster. The whole root and core of the British Army, on which we had built the great <u>structure</u> of our defences after the <u>disaster</u> of 1918-1919, has <u>perished</u>.


I have, myself, full confidence that if all do their duty, if nothing is neglected, and if the best arrangements are made, as they are being made, we shall prove ourselves once again able to defend our island home, to ride out the storm of war, and to <u>outlive</u> the <u>menace</u> of <u>tyranny</u>, if necessary for years, if necessary alone.


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 <u>odious</u> 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 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 fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.


And even if, which I do not for a moment believe, this island or a large part of it were <u>subjugated</u> and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British Fleet, would carry on the struggle, until, in God's good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the <u>rescue</u> and the liberation of the old.