BLOG POST #7 - Courage

“Never was so much owed to so many by so many to so few”. 

-Winston Churchill August 20 1940

     There are few people over the ages of history that I admire so much as Winston Churchill. First before I get into the quote, a little WWII history. The British air force was called the RAF (Royal Air Force) while the German air force was called the Luftwaffe. The Luftwaffe without a doubt had the upper hand going into this battle due to the size of their fleet. The RAF had approximately 1200 planes after the fall of France with only 660 being serviceable. The Luftwaffe on the other hand had approximately 3000 planes with 2500 being serviceable. Britain’s other problem rested in the fact that there was a lack of trained pilots; so many inexperienced pilots with minimal training were being sent up. In terms of navies, the British navy was called the RN (Royal Navy) while the Germans commanded the Kreigsmarine. In this case the Royal navy was much better equipped than the German Kreigsmarine. Now keep in mind the fact that Britain is an island. The German forces would not be able to take Britain as they did France with Blitzkrieg warfare. The German’s plan for the invasion of Britain was codenamed operation Sea lion and consisted of a joint air and water attack. Now since the Kreigsmarine was far inferior to the Royal Navy, for their invasion to have any chance of success the Germans would have to cripple the RN. They could only do this if they controlled the skies over Britain and defeated the RAF. This is why the Battle of Britain was so important. If the RAF had been defeated then nothing could stand in the way of a joint Luftwaffe and Kreigsmarine invasion.  

     Now back to Winston Churchill and this quote. Churchill spoke daily on the radio to the citizens of Britain to inspire them to keep fighting. One such speech occurred on August 20 1940 a few days before a huge German air invasion was about to occur. If not for Britain’s victory in the Battle of Britain the whole world as we know it today may very well be Nazi Germany. Britain was the last country standing in front of Germany taking over all of Western Europe.

     This quote relates specifically to the RAF fighter pilots who fought off the German Luftwaffe and were instrumental in Britain’s victory. In this quote, Churchill is expressing the idea that if not for this very small amount of people, then we may have lost the war. So many people (the allied world) owe their lives to these few individuals (the RAF pilots) who fought courageously for their country. 

     This quote applies mostly to courage. Churchill is thanking these few soldiers for their courage. The typical RAF pilot’s lifespan was approximately three weeks. Many of these men knew when they went up thousands of feet in the air that they would not come back down alive. Even with this knowledge they still went up and they still fought because they new that if they wanted their free society to continue then that’s what they would have to do. This commitment to their families and to their country, even when staring death right in the face, is in my opinion true courage. I, as Winston Churchill has expressed, owe my incredible life today in a free society to these few soldiers who gave their lives for our freedom.