1、Sp e ec h onHi t l e r 2 7sI n v as i o n o f t h eU. S. S. RSpeech on Hitlers Invasion of the U.S.S.RWinston S. ChurchillWhen I awoke on the morning of Sunday, the 22nd, the news was broughtto me of Hitlers invasion of Russia. This changed conviction intoecrtainty. I had not theslightest doubt wher

2、e our duty and our policy lay. Nor indeed what to say. There only remainedthe task of composing it. I asked that notice should immediately be given that I would broadcastat 9 oclock thatnight. Presently General Dill, who had hastened down from London, came into my bedroom withdetailed news. The Germ

3、ans had invaded Russia on an enormous front, had surprised a largeportion of the Soviet Air Force grounded on the airfields, and seemed to be driving forward withgreat rapidity and violence. The chief of the Imperial General Staff added,“I suppose they willbe rounded up in hordes.”I spent the day co

4、mposing my statement. There was not time to consult the War Cabinet, norwas it necessary. I knew that we all felt the same on this issue. Mr. Eden, Lord Beaverbrook, andSir Strafford Crippshe had1left Moscow on the 10thwere also with me during the day.The following account of this Sunday at Chequers

5、 by my Private Secretary, Mr. Colville, whowas on duty this weekend, may be of interest:“On Saturday, June 21, I went down to Chequers just before dinner. Mr. and Mrs. Winant, Mr.and Mrs. Eden, and Edward Bridges were staying. During dinner Mr. Churchill said that aGerman attack on Russia was now ce

6、rtain, and he thought that Hitler was counting on enlistingcapitalist and Right Wing sympathies in this country and the U.S.A. Hitler was, however, wrongand we should go all out to help Russia. Winant said the same would be true of the U.S.A.After dinner, when I was walking on the croquet lawn with

7、Mr. Churchill, he reverted to thistheme, and I asked whether for him, the arch antiCommunist, this was not bowing down in theHouse of Rimmon. Mr. Churchill replied,Notat all. I have only one purpose, the destruction ofHitler, and my life is much simplified thereby. If Hitler invaded Hell I would mak

8、e at least afavourable reference to the Devil in the House of Commons.I was awoken at 4 a.m. the following morning by a telephone message from the F.O. to theeffect that Germany had attacked Russia. The P.M. had always said that he was never to bewoken up for anything but Invasion (of England). I th

9、erefore postponed telling him till 8 a.m. Hisonly comment was,Tell the B.B.C. I will broadcast at 9 tonight.rHepeabregtahne to pspeech at 11 a.m., and except for luncheon, at which Sir Stafford Cripps, Lord Cranborne, andLord Beaverbrook were present, he devoted the whole day to itThe speech was on

10、ly ready attwenty minu tes to nine.”In this broadcast I said:“The Nazi regime is indistinguishable from the worst features of Communism. It is devoid ofall theme and principle except appetite and racial domination. It excels all forms of humanwickedness in the efficiency of its cruelty and ferocious

11、 aggression. No one has been a moreconsistent opponent of Communism than I have for the last twenty-five years. I will unsay noword that I have spoken about it. But all this fades away before the spectacle which is nowunfolding. The past, with its crimes, its follies, and its tragedies, flashes away

12、. I see the Russiansoldiers standing on the threshold of their native land, guarding the fields which their fathershave tilled from time immemorial. I see them guarding their homes where mothers and wivesprayah, yes, for there are times when all prayfor the safety of their loved ones, the returnof t

13、he bread-winner, of their champion, of their protector. I see the ten thousand villages ofRussia where the means of existence is wrung so hardly from the soil, but where there are stillprimordial human joys, where maidens laugh and children play. I see advancing upon all this inhideous onslaught the

14、 Nazi war machine, with its clanking, heel-clicking, dandified Prussianofficers, its crafty experts fresh from the cowing and tying down of a dozen countries. I see alsothe dull, drilled, docile, brutish masses of the Hun soldiery plodding on like a swarm of crawlinglocusts. I see the German bombers

15、 and fighters in the sky, still smarting from many a Britishwhipping, delighted find what they believe is an easier and a safer prey.“Behindall this glare, behind all this storm, I see that small group of villainous men who plan,organise, and launch this cataract of horrors upon mankind“I have to de

16、clare the decision of his MajestyvernmesnGt oand I feelsure it is a decision in which the great Dominions will in due course concurfor we must speakout now at once, without a days delay. I haveto make the declaration, but can you doubt what our policy will be? We have but one aim andone single, irre

17、vocable purpose. We are resolved to destroy Hitler and every vestige of the Naziregime. From this nothing will turn usnothing. We will never parley, we will never negotiatewith Hitler or any of his gang. We shall fight him by land, we shall fight him by sea, we shall fighthim in the air, until, with

18、 Gods help, we have rid the earth of hisshadow and liberated its peoples from his yoke. Any man or state who fights on against Nazidomwill have our aids. Any man or state who marches with Hit ler is our foeThat is our policy andthat is our declaration. It follows therefore that we shall give whateve

19、r help we can to Russia andthe Russian people. We shall appeal to all our friends and allies in every part of the world to takethe same course and pursue it, as we shall faithfully and steadfastly to the end“Thisis no class war, but a war in which the whole British Empire and Commonwealth ofNations

20、is engaged, without distinction of race, creed, or party. It is not for me to speak of theaction of the United States, but this Iwill say: if Hitler imagines that his attack on Soviet Russia will cause the slightest divergence ofaims or slackening of effort in the great democracies who are resolved

21、upon his doom, he iswoefully mistaken. On the contrary, we shall be fortified and encouraged in our efforts to rescuemankind from his tyranny. We shall be strengthened and not weakened in determination and inresources.“This is no time to moralise on the follies of countries and Governments which hav

22、e allowedthemselves to be struck down one by one, when by united action they could have savedthemselves and saved the world from this catastrophe. But when I spoke a few minutes ago ofHitler-lust s bloodand the hateful appetites which have impelled or lured him on his Russian adventure I said therew

23、as one deeper motive behind his outrage. He whishes to destroy the Russian power becausehe hopes that if he succeeds in this he will be able to bring back the main strength of his Armyand Air Force from the East and hurl it upon this Island, which he knows he must conquer orsuffer the penalty of his crimes. His invasion of Russia is no more than a prelude to an attemptedinvasion of the British Isles. He hopes, no doubt, that all this may be accomplished before thewinter comes, and that he can overwhelm Great Britain before