FROM: Air Chief Marshal Hugh Dowding
Air Officer Commanding, RAF Fighter Command

TO: The Prime Minister

16 May 1940

I have the honour to refer to the very serious calls which
have recently been made upon the Home Defence fighter units
in an attempt to stem the German invasion on the Continent.
I hope and believe that our forces may yet be victorious
in France, but we have to face the possibility that they
may be defeated. In this case I presume that no-one will
deny that England should fight on.....   
If the Home Defence is drained away in desperate attempts
to remedy the situation in France, defeat in France will
involve the final, complete and irremediable defeat of
this country.


END TRANSMISSION 



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