THE SUMMER OF 1940: Britain Stands Alone in World War II Winston Churchill became Prime Minister of England in May 1940, just as it seemed Great Britain would join the list of nations that had gone down before the German avalanche of fire and steel that Hitler had loosed on Europe. He later made this observation about the summer of 1940, when England stood alone: "It is odd that, while at the time everyone concerned was quite calm and cheerful, writing about it afterwards makes one shiver." No wonder. The British government had to be convinced by its new leader that the fight was worth continuing, and then the British people-and then the watching world. Speaking to Parliament onJune4, Churchjl] warned that Dunkirk was a deliverance but not a victory: "Wars are not won by evacuations." He ended with this expression of resolve, and suggestion of how the tide of war might ultimately be turned: "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 odious 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 in 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
subjugated 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 rescue and the liberation of the Old.'' The events of the summer then came pounding one on top of another. The United States supplied half a million rifles to arm the British populace to resist invasion on the lines Churchi ll had set forth-and which the War Cabinet planned in deadly serious detail. Workers put hours that would have seemed incredible a few months before, to rearm and re-equip the army saved from Dunkirk, and above all to build up the strength of the Royal Air Force fighting for Britain's very life in the skies over southern England. The French Navy had to be kept out of Hitler's grasp. The ships at Alexandria in the Mediterranean consented to be disarmed; at Oran and Mers-el-Kebir they resisted British takeover and Churchill gave the harsh order to sink them, resulting in heavy loss of life. Only afterthe war was it learned thatthis act, more than any other, convinced President Roosevelt in Washington of the war resolve of the British and their leader. As a direct result, the canny President worked out a formula whereby fifty World War I destroyers could be turned over to the Royal Navy in exchange for bases in the Caribbean, Bermuda and Canada's Maritime Provinces. Churchill was able to report to the House of Commons on September 5: "There will
be no delay in bringing the American destroyers into active service; in fact, British crews are already meeting them at the various ports where they are being delivered. You might," he added, "call this the long arm of coincidence." The foundations of the coalition that won the war were being laid. And , most important, while these moves were taken at sea, in the summer skies over England, the Battle of Britain was being won, as Spitfire and Hurricane fighters inflicted mounting losses on the Luftwaffe's bombers. First the English, then the Germans, then the Americans, and ultimately the world realized this. For the first time in World War II, a Nazi attack had failed. Danger, acute danger, sti 11 threatened in the Mediterranean. At least one German general, Guderian, author of the blitzkrieg, saw the importance of the Mediterranean opportunity in forcing Britain to the peace table; his colleagues and their master puppeteer Hitler did not. Here, however, Germany's Axis partner Italy held a commandi ng position backed by a large air force and modern navy outnumbering the Royal Navy by 50percent. But here, in November, a critically important victory upset the balance of sea power in Britain's favor: Taranto! PS Further Reading: Winston S. Churchill, The Second World War; Vol. II , Their Finest Hour(Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 1949) is a remarkably balanced account of this period of the war by its most important leader; for the Battle of Britain and the sea war, see "The Book Locker," pp. 37-38.
The first flotilla of US destroyers transferred to the Royal Navy enters Plymouth on September 28-still bearing their US pennant numbers, which the censor has marked for deletion. This is the future HMS Chelsea. The able but venerable four-pipers each received the name of a town common to the US and Britain. Photo: Imperial War Museum.
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SEA HISTORY 56, WINTER 1990