Re:http://www.famous-speeches-and-speech-topics.info/famous-speeches/winston-churchill-speech-the-few.htm
August 20, 1940
It is quite plain that Herr Hitler could not admit defeat in his air attack on Great (Britain) without sustaining most serious injury. If, after all his (boastings) and blood-curdling threats and lurid accounts (trumpeted) round the world of the damage he has inflicted, of the vast numbers of our Air Force he has shot down, so he says, with so little loss to himself; if after tales of the panic-stricken British crushed in their holes cursing the plutocratic Parliament which has led them to such a (plight); if after all this his whole air onslaught were forced after a while (tamely) to peter out, the Fuehrer's reputation for veracity of statement might be seriously (impugned). We may be sure, therefore, that he will continue as long as he has the strength to do so, and as long as any preoccupations he may have in respect of the Russian Air Force allow him to do so.
On the other hand, the conditions and course of the fighting have so far been (favorable) to us. I told the House two months ago that whereas in France our fighter aircraft were wont to (inflict) a loss of two or three to one upon the Germans, and in the fighting at Dunkirk, which was a kind of no-man's-land, a loss of about three or four to one, we expected that in an attack on this Island we should achieve a larger (ratio). This has certainly come true. It must also be remembered that all the enemy machines and pilots which are shot down over our Island, or over the seas which surround it, are either destroyed or captured; whereas a (considerable) proportion of our machines, and also of our pilots, are saved, and soon again in many cases come into action.
A vast and admirable system of (salvage), directed by the Ministry of Aircraft Production, ensures the speediest return to the fighting line of damaged machines, and the most provident and speedy use of all the spare parts and material. At the same time the (splendid), (nay), (astounding) increase in the output and repair of British aircraft and engines which Lord Beaverbrook has achieved by a (genius) of organization and drive, which looks like magic, has given us (overflowing) reserves of every type of aircraft, and an ever-mounting stream of production both in quantity and quality.
The enemy is, of course, far more (numerous) than we are. But our new production already, as I am advised, largely exceeds his, and the American production is only just beginning to flow in. It is a fact, as I see from my daily returns, that our (bomber) and fighter strength now, after all this fighting, are larger than they have ever been. We believe that we shall be able to continue the air (struggle) indefinitely and as long as the enemy pleases, and the longer it continues the more rapid will be our approach, first towards that parity, and then into that (superiority) in the air, upon which in a large measure the decision of the war depends.
The (gratitude) of every home in our Island, in our Empire, and indeed throughout the world, except in the (abodes) of the guilty, goes out to the British airmen who, (undaunted) by odds, (unwearied) in their constant challenge and mortal danger, are turning the tide of the world war by their prowess and by their (devotion). Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.
All hearts go out to the fighter pilots, whose brilliant actions we see with our own eyes day after day; but we must never forget that all the time, night after night, month after month, our bomber squadrons travel far into Germany, find their targets in the darkness by the highest (navigational) skill, aim their attacks, often under the (heaviest) fire, often with serious loss, with deliberate careful (discrimination), and inflict shattering blows upon the whole of the technical and war-making structure of the (Nazi) power. On no part of the Royal Air Force does the (weight) of the war fall more heavily than on the daylight bombers who will play an (invaluable) part in the case of invasion and whose unflinching zeal it has been necessary in the meanwhile on (numerous) occasions to restrain.
We are able to verify the results of bombing (military) targets in Germany, not only by reports which reach us through many sources, but also, of course, by (photography). I have no hesitation in saying that this process of bombing the military industries and (communications) of Germany and the air bases and storage (depots) from which we are attacked, which process will continue upon an ever-increasing scale until the end of the war, and may in another year attain (dimensions) hitherto undreamed of, affords one at least of the most certain, if not the shortest of all the roads to victory. Even if the Nazi (legions) stood triumphant on the Black Sea, or indeed upon the Caspian, even if Hitler was at the gates of India, it would profit him nothing if at the same time the entire economic and (scientific) apparatus of German war power lay shattered and pulverized at home.
The fact that the invasion of this Island upon a large scale has become a far more difficult operation with every week that has passed since we saved our Army at Dunkirk, and our very great (preponderance) of sea-power enable us to turn our eyes and to turn our strength (increasingly) towards the Mediterranean and against that other enemy who, without the (slightest) provocation, coldly and deliberately, for greed and gain, (stabbed) France in the back in the moment of her (agony), and is now marching against us in Africa.
