Winston Churchill Gallery

Churchills praise for RAF Pilots

"Never was so much owed by so many to so few" - Prime Minister Winston Churchill from a speech made on 20th August 1940, in reference to the bravery of the pilots of the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the Battle of Britain, the pivotal air battle with the German Luftwaffe with Britain expecting a German invasion.
circa 1941

© Mary Evans Picture Library 2015 - https://copyrighthub.org/s0/hub1/creation/maryevans/MaryEvansPictureID/10583718

Battle of Abu Klea, 17 January 1885

Battle of Abu Klea, 17 January 1885. Oil on canvas signed and dated lower left: W B Wollen 1896, by William Barns Wollen (1857-1936), 1896. In a race against time to relieve General Gordon, besieged at Khartoum, a relief column under General Sir Garnet Wolseley set out from Cairo in October 1884. Realising that his infantry, travelling in boats up the Nile, might not reach Khartoum in time to save Gordon, Wolseley detached a Desert Column to travel overland by a faster but more dangerous route. On 17 Jan 1885 this Column, commanded by General Herbert Stewart, was attacked by the Mahdists at Abu Klea. The resulting battle was later described by Winston Churchill as the most savage and bloody action ever fought in the Soudan by British troops'. The British square broke and was closed only after desperate hand-to-hand fighting. The British suffered 168 casualties, the Mahdists about 1100. The Column finally reached Khartoum on 28 January, two days after the town had fallen. Date: 1885

© The National Army Museum / Mary Evans Picture Library

Churchill speaking at Theydon Bois

In a speech at Theydon Bois on 27th August, Winston Churchill declared that the whole state of Europe was moving steadily towards a climax which could not be long delayed. "War is certainly not inevitable" he said, but he argued that danger to peace would not be removed until the vast German armies which had been called up had been dispersed. Date: 1938

© Illustrated London News Ltd/Mary Evans