Evening star., 1942-02-16
Churchill, Announcing
q ---.-' +v.
Fall Of Singapore,
.:Remains Confident
Prime Minister Expected
To Give Parliament Fuller
: Account Of Disaster
(Tert OF Churchill Broadcast
cn Page A-6.
By the Associated Press.

|. Churchill, standing before his
people at one of the blacklist
hours of their history, has as
sured them that the United Ma
tions will be found fully capable
of squaring all accounts" and the
question before Britain today is
how strong remains her faith in
] his leadership. -.
Although be bore a message OF
disaster. the Prime Minister de-
clared that ultimately the over
whelming fact of the war would be
that the power of the United States
and its vast resources are in
. it with U.S."
It fell to the Prime Minister yes
terday to broadcast to the empire
J the most dismal news for its people
since Dunkerque:
Singapore has fallen. All the
Malay Peninsula has been overrun.
That bare statement was all that
Britain was told OF the loss Of her
great fortress and the fate Of its
valiant defenders except for ia
pans announcement that Singapore
had surrendered Internationally.
But Mr.. Churchill frankly ac-
knowledged it to be a heavy and
far-reaching defeat" and. though
he was pleading for confidence, he
told Britain in unvarnished words:
"Other dangers gather about US
out there and none of the dangers
which we have hitherto faced sue
cessfully at home and in the East
are in any way diminished
No Mention Of Channel Battle.
Loss of the island citadel. guardian
of the gateway to the Indian Ocean
and a rampant for the defense of
the Netherlands Indies and Aus
tralia, came after a week of dis
maying news for Britain. news
which has loosed cry of doubt in
the empires leadership.
The Prime Minister did not men,
ton the feat of a German squadron
in slipping home through the Eng
lish Channel; he did not mention
Japan's growing threat to Burma;
he touched but briefly on the dark
picture in Libya.
Some Britons regarded the gov
ernment's silence on details Of
Singapore's downfall as a wise Sc
curity measure for the present. Ex-
pecting Mr.. Churchill to give Par
lament q fuller account, possibly
later in the week, they reserved
Judgment.
Churchill Facing Battle.
There was abundant evidence
that Mr.. Churchill may be facing
one of the stormiest political bat
ties of his career when the House
Of Commons meets.
Opposition elements were rallying
steadily around Sir Stafford Cripps,
the returned Ambassador to Moscow
who has stayed outside the govern
ment as a critic.
Although the Prime Minister was
expected to make full statement
on the escape from Brest of the
Nad battleships Gneisenau and
Scharnhorst and the heavy cruiser
Prfffh Eugen in order to sforestall
criticism. it was probable that the
Opposition would try to get a gen.
eral debate on both setbacks.
Even more than the defeat at
Singapore which, after all, the en-
pire had been prepared to hear, the
people we're smarting under the
naval upset and in some quarters
where Mr.. Churchill's popularity
had been strongest the Nazi ships
dash to freedom caused the greatest
misgivings.
Press Voices Missivings.
With the exception of Lord Beaver
brooks Daily Express, however, all
London newspapers which took
stand expressed misgivlngs ana
hiuted at a rising clamor for change
which may reach as far as Downing
Street.
I'VE must endure anything, Ger
tainly," said the Daily Mail, but to
20 on offering us tears, sweat and
blood in monotonous gloom OF stolcal
resignation is now to confess
that something is seriously wrong
with the conduct Of the war as q
whole"
The Daily Mail warned the Prime
Minister that If he does not make
radical changes in the general direc-
ton OF our war effort now, the day
may come soon when these changes
will be forced by the impact OF
further disasters.
Only the Express came to his sup
port with the exhortation that we
must stand together under the great
leader this land has produced Tor
its trial"
Essence of Message.
Essentially, this was the Prime
Minister'S message: Formidable as
are the factors against Britain, they
are outweighed by those in her
favor. Therefore, the nation must
preserve its unity and its confidence
In itself.
He asked Britain to put "the good
and the bad side by side and let us
try to see exactly where we are"
The first and greatest of events"
he began "is that the United States
is now unitedly and wholeheartedly
in the war with us.
IT cannot believe there is any
other fact in the whole world which
can compare with that.
That is what 1 have dreamed OF,
aimed at and worked for, and now
it has come to pass"
Mr.. Churchill also cited the might
Of Soviet Russia, whose example OF
unity amid adversely he laid before
the British.
THE Russian armies have not
been defeated" he said. They have
not been torn to pieces. They
are advancing VIGOROUSLY, driving
the foul invader from that native
soil they have guarded so bravely
and loved so well. 80
Here, then, are two tremendous
facts which will in the end domi-
nate the world situation and make
victory possible. ."
New Promise Of Hard War.
The leader who rallied the British
people after Dunkerque with the