BRITISH ARMY ESTIMATES

Press, Volume LXXV, Issue 22661, 16 March 1939, Page 9

BRITISH ARMY ESTIMATES

HOUSE OF COMMONS DEBATE PART OF DEFENCE FORCES IN EUROPEAN WAR (BRITISH OFFICIAL WIRELESS.! RUGBY, March 14. The Army Estimates were considered in the House of Commons this evening. Mr H. B. Lees-Smith, for the Labour Opposition, expressed concern that in the staff conversations between Britain and France no commitments, formal or implied, should have been entered into which would prevent Britain, in the event of war, exercising its judgment as to the best use of the country’s resources. He thought that British and French views of the role of the British Army in a future conflict might differ, and that - the French might under-esti-mate the important part which the British Navy might again be called upon to play. He started from the premise that defence, in the western front at least, might enjoy a superiority of as much as three to one and—given approximate equality in air strength —he concluded that the next war might be one of long duration in whi-'h economic resources and the power of blockade might be final and decisive. So far as the British field force was concerned, he indicated his view that thei>- might be other theatres in which, in the event of war, its presence might be more urgently required than in France. Such considerations brought him back to the question whether collective thinking on problems of strategy would ever be satisfactorily achieved until the service departments were fused in a Ministry of Defence. Mr Churchill’s Approval Mr Winston Churchill congratulated the Secretary of State for War (Mr L. Hore-Belisha) on his estimates speech last week, and his success in improving the recruiting figures. He also congratulated the Government on its decision to provide the Territorial Army with the same weapons and equipment as the Regular Army, and to provide 19 divisions for general service overseas should the occasion require, and he described it as the first instalment of the bill for Munich. He was afraid that there might yet be other instalments to be met. Continuing, Mr Churchill said that the time, might well come when the Government would have to make even greater demands on the people in the interest of national security, hut he was confident that they would submit to such demands for the sake of their own security, and for the triumph of world causes in which they were inseparably involved. He was particularly concerned to know what steps were being taken to provide industrial arrangements which would ensure adequate supplies to a field force of 19 divisions. Mr F. J. Bellenger (Labour) said that although recruiting had ijiade great strides it would be necessary to prepare the nation for a greater effort even than the provision of 19 divisions for service overseas. He wanted to know what the Government was proposing to do to cieate that sense of national unity which alone could provide the man power and production they would need to oppose totalitarian warfare. Mr M. P. Price (Labour) emphasised the importance of equipment in modern warfare, and said that the size of the British armed forces mattered less than that they should be equipped with the most modern and efficient types and on a sufficient scale. Minister’s Reply Replying in a debate in the House of Commons on the Army Estimates, the Secretary for War, Mr L. HoreBelisha, while declining to commit himself to a precise date for the benefit of any intending enemy, indicated that the territorial contingent of the ’ proposed field force would be ready to depart quite possibly within the relatively short period suggested by Mr Lees Smith. He assured Mr Winston Churchill that it was intended that the Middle East reserves should be as selfsufficient as possible, and provided with stores of food, vehicles, and munitions. He also said that the Government fully recognised the necessity, in view of the personnel to be served, of a considerable expansion of productive capacity and of placing large additional orders.