Germans are facing 'knock-out punch this year', says Ernest Bevin (1943)

The Minister of Labour, said at a government training centre in the north-east of England: “There is no doubt in my mind that before many weeks Hitler will be faced with the greatest disaster of the war.

“Before long I hope that we shall be able to bring the power of the whole of the Allies into force.

"We hope that the Eighth Army and the First Army will join hands and drive Hitler out of Africa.

“That is the task now, and every man and woman should have the feeling that now is the time to put in the big punch.

"It is the last round and the last mile that counts.”

The message they should send to the shipyards, he said, was: “Go all out and give us the necessary escort vessels to protect our men and keep the lines of communication open. More and more ships are needed.”

He said to employers: “You must not fool about when labour is so tight and the task is very difficult.

"You must not ask for more than you want and put in bidding before other employers.

“Every man and woman is priceless in this great war effort. Everybody should be resolute and say that 1943 is Britain's chance - a chance to take the weight off Russia, and I hope it will be a chance to get in the knock-out blow.”

The government, he said, were working hard to prepare for demobilisation, and “accepted the principle that never again would we tolerate mass unemployment and low wages”.

He concluded: “The people who rallied to the country and the cause of freedom deserve and demand better than that.

“There is still a great reserve of energy, will and determination that could be called from the people.”

Meanwhile, the Allied nations said they would do their utmost to defeat the increasing campaign of plunder which the Axis is carrying on in occupied countries.

A Foreign Office statement said: “The British government have today joined with 16 other governments of the United Nations, and with the French National Committee, in making a formal declaration of their determination to combat and defeat the plundering by the enemy powers of the territories which have been over-run or brought under enemy control.”