Fight Them On The Beaches

[madiba]

WE SHALL fight them on the beaches, we shall fight them in the fields and on the landing grounds, said Churchill in 1939. Unusual use of the word 'we'. I was on Omaha Beach having my leg shot off and I can't remember seeing Winnie anywhere. Perhaps I missed the bit where he said "We shall fight them 50 feet underground in a reinforced concrete bunker."

[askyourgran]

Someone had to tell them where to go madiba, Winnie got the long straw. Recently we had Tony Blair swaggering around sending our troops to fight a war that we will never win and it has escalated into terrorism here. The collective 'we' is now the 'all in it together' that Dave is now telling us about.

[stokemaveric]

the term ''lions led by donkeys'' is 1 saying that will ring true forever..i salute you madiba...

[jno]

he was referring to the beaches - and fields and landing grounds - of Britain, after an invasion by them, not by us (which was why he said it in 1939). Happily, it never took place and he was able to get on with running the government.

[jno]

It may ot have been Madiba's own leg that got shot off, stoke

http://www.godlikepro...m1/message1319670/pg1

[boxtops]

It was the corporate "we", surely. I wouldn't denigrate anything he said.

[stokemaveric]

nevertheless jno i doubt whether we would have seen winston on the beaches at dover bayonet to bayonet against the germans just like we dont see david cameron or any of his cronies in helmand province....

[seadogg]

If you was at Omaha my respects to you madiba. My father went in at Juno beach.

I dont think Churchill's personal courage was ever in doubt but the days when the rulers led their forces into battle are long gone. One wouldn't have expected Ike to put himself in danger knowing what he did.

[stokemaveric]

lol jno....now i know...thank you...i bet madiba is jumping around his living room as we speak lol....

[boxtops]

The generals are rarely in the front line, they've been there before, Churchill was certainly at Dover in the front-line bunkers under Dover Castle.

[Graham-W]

i bet madiba is HOPPING around his living room as we speak lol....

[jno]

and Churchill fought in Africa when a lot younger, so I see no reason to doubt his personal courage.

[paddywak]

He also took part in the cavalry charge at the Battle of Omdurman.

[mike b]

Actually, Churchill had the habit of leaving the bunker and watching air-raids from the roof-top (!!), to the despair of his bodyguards and staff. He wanted to observe D-Day from HMS Belfast until forced to give up the idea (the King blackmailed him out of it by insisting that if Churchill went, he was going too.)
Churchill had seen more active service than just about any Prime Minister apart from Wellington, and is probably one of the few PMs who can't be sneered at in this context.

[dundurn]

I think he said it in 1940 just prior to the Battle of Britain. It would be uncharitable to stress that at this time "we" could not have been intended to include the USA - it wasn't in the war for another 18 months. Churchill had been a prisoner during the Boer War and his intention never to be taken alive by the Germans has been documented on a number of occasions. The final passage of the quoted speech indicates that he saw the "we" as being very much the British people on their own, with the Empire and the USA being left to carry on the (as he saw it necessary and inevitable) fight. - "...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.”

[askyourgran]

Thank you dundurn that was soul stirring stuff.

[squarebear]

Surely, common sense would tell you that "we" refers to Britain rather than just you and Mr Churchill? It means that everyone will do their bit to help. For some, it was making tactical decisions, for other it was the physical act of fighting.

Alan Turing helped crack the Enigma code but didn't do any actual fighting but was an enormous help to the war effort.

[jake-the-peg]

Yes he did square bear

Such a shame Churchill didn't lift a finger to help him when he was Prime Minister in 1952 and Turing was arrested

There's gratitude for you!