Remembrance Day: the memory of British heroism in the face of the European massacre
In the United Kingdom, the week of Remembrance has just ended, marked by the famous red poppies in homage to the fallen of all conflicts. Remembering the glorious dead who sacrificed themselves to restore peace is an essential obligation of every nation that experienced the atrocities of the last century on the front line.
However, for the British this anniversary takes on an even higher value and is difficult to superimpose on the celebrations that take place in the rest of Europe. Established in 1919 in honor of the victims of the Great War, this event is still today the worthy recognition of the lives sacrificed in the name of freedom. The commemorations at the Whitehall Cenotaph on the second Sunday of November are a cause for meditation and emotion every year even for the unflappable Elizabeth Windsor. For the sovereign, absent this year to protect her health, it means reliving the moments in which, in 1940, the royal family remained at the side of their subjects even when Buckingham Palace was hit by the bombs.
Fortunately for us, the wicked Albion resisted. Britain on the edge of the abyss was able to unite around its flag and the hope of being able to relive peace for themselves and for that Continent which it has always watched from afar, and from which great threats to democracy have often come. It was continental Europe with its old orders and ideologies that allowed two wars of unprecedented scale to break out. And both times, on the other side of the Channel, no one stood by, even before the decisive reinforcements from overseas arrived. From the soldiers who died in the fields of the Somme and in Flanders, to those who failed to return home from the beaches of Dunkirk, to the civilians left under the rubble of the Luftwaffe Blitz .
It deeply affects the short memory of many of us, who seem to have forgotten the considerable role that the British have played in the most difficult moments of our past. From the end of the Thirties, London became a refuge from Nazi persecutions, a land of landing for those who no longer had a reason to stay in Europe, a voice of hope that invigorated the souls of those who would not succumb to the dictatorship. Together with the many illustrious who found asylum here, it should not be forgotten that, shortly before the war, almost 10,000 children fleeing Germany, Austria and Czechoslovakia, mostly Jews, were welcomed. Left alone to fight Hitler, in 1940 the British prevented Nazism from engulfing the entire West. Nobody is thanking them anymore for such a test of heroism. On the contrary, he snubs them, often going so far as to denigrate them as soon as the opportunity arises, because they have recently decided to go out through the main door. A curious way to treat an ally who is on the other side of the shore and to whom the whole continent owes a lot.
Among the nations that can boast of not having had totalitarian regimes is Great Britain. Cradle of liberal democracy and home to a royal house which, if the need arose, would have prevented the establishment of any dictatorship, unlike what happened in Europe. We are obviously not talking about a monarchy like the Italian one, which was welcomed by fascism. We are not referring to the continent that gave rise to the most execrable ideologies, but to an island whose antibodies have allowed it to remain free.
This certainly does not mean to diminish the sacrifice of millions of people, in our country and throughout the world. In commemorating pain and suffering, gratitude to entire generations of men and women forced to live in a time in which one had to sacrifice oneself for something greater should never be lacking.
It is easy to say that if London also collapsed, democracy would have a few hours left to live. And if there is no doubt that without the arrival of the United States everything would have been more complicated, it is equally undeniable that when the lights of all of Europe were out, Great Britain remained the only light against the tyranny that it already had. brought millions to their knees. The stakes were high and those who were preparing to pay the price of a battle that would decide the future of many was precisely the people led by Sir Winston Churchill, who spoke thus at the dawn of the darkest hour:
“[…] We will once again prove ourselves capable of defending our island, riding the storm of war and surviving the threat of tyranny, for years if necessary, alone if necessary; […] and if, which I do not believe for a moment, this island or a large part of it were subjugated and starved, then our empire, across the sea, armed and protected by the British fleet, will continue to fight until, God willing, the New World, with all its strength and power, will take a step forward for the salvation and liberation of the old one ”.
The post Remembrance Day: the memory of British heroism before the European massacre appeared first on Atlantico Quotidiano .
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Atlantico Quotidiano at the URL http://www.atlanticoquotidiano.it/quotidiano/remembrance-day-il-ricordo-delleroismo-britannico-davanti-allecatombe-europea/ on Tue, 16 Nov 2021 03:44:00 +0000.