Evening star., 1940-06-05
The Will to Win

lie VIII ~ WIN
Prime Minister Winston Churchill's
grimly frank report to the House
OF Commons yesterday on the Allied
retreat from Flanders was cloaked
with no rhetorical camouflage to
spare the feelings of the British peo-
pie. Yet, with all it's solemnity, it
was an inspiring message of deter
mination and hope, rather than of
despair and defeatism From the
heroism of the British and French
and Belgian soldiers on the bloody
fields of Flanders the regimented
forces of totalitarianism have learned
something of the indomitable brav-
cry of free peoples forced to bear
arms in defense of their principles
and of their homes; from the delib-
crate words of Englands Prime
Minister the dictators could learn
much. Certainly they are finding
that it takes more than dive -bombers
and tanks and machine guns to crush
the spirit of free men.
Mr.. Churchill's address provided
answers for many of the questions
which have been swirling in the
minds of Americans and others who
have been shocked and confused by
the cataclysmic rush of events In
Europe. He has left no room for
doubt as to these important facts:
That the Allies have suffered a
colossal military disaster; that,
despite this catastrophe, they enter
tain no thoughts of vanquishment
nor of surrender; that the truly
miraculous escape of the British ex-
peditionary force and of it's French
and Belgian Allies from the claws of
DEATH" which only yesterday
succeeded in swapping shut at Dun
kerque, paves the way for recon-
struction and consolidation of the
Allied front; and that the subjuga-
ton of England would not mean that
the sun had set upon the British
Empire.
The crisis which confronts the
Allies-and, indirectly, the worlds
remaining democracies-is so grave
that no good can come of avoiding
the facts, of indulging in further
wishful thinking of the type to which
Britain and France and the other
democratic nations have clung SO
hopefully and so futilely in recent
years. Aggression in its mightiest,
most fearsome form is on the
march-and is flushed with victory.
Totalitarianism has ceased to be
merely the bombast of blatant die
tators; it has materialized into a
mechanical monster that threatens
to devastate all who dare oppose it.
Britain and France have accepted
the challenge and they are paying a
frightful price-but the epic with
draWal from Flanders, the gallant
sacrifices of the garrisons at Calais
and Dunkerque, the near-incredible
salvation of more than 100000 brave
men who had been virtually given
up for lost-all these things have
given the Allies and their friends
new heart for the even darker days
which loom ahead
The trials and tribuations Of Brit
ain and France are far from over.
AS Mr.. Churchill succinctly put it,
Wars are not won by excavations"
Sterner and more ferocious blows,
aimed at the heart of these two great
nations are just starting If America
can ease those blows, or turn them to
the disadvantage of the attackers, it
behooves us to do so with the utmost
speed. We have procrastinated too
long as it is-and with every days
delay the threat of war is being
brought closer and closer to our
shores.
1t is matter of inestimable i'm
portance to our own security that
we should instantly remove all
restrictions on the rendering of
realistic, material aid to the Allies,
while there remains some hope of
their eventual triumph. And there
will be hope as long as there prevails
in England and France such an
unquenchable spirit of fortitude and
such will to win" as Allied soldiers
and statesmen have exhibited in
recent days.