ON THE ALERT

Evening Post, Volume CXXVII, Issue 129, 3 June 1939, Page 8

ON THE ALERT

DEFENCE OF BRITAIN

IMPORTANT STEPS

DRILL IN ROTATION

;By Air Mail, from "The Post's" London

Representative.)

LONDON, May 11

The past few weeks have seen the most important steps taken to protect Britain from external attack in the event of war. Never again will the clumsy scenes of last autumn be reenacted in time of emergency. All through the winter and spring plans have steadily been formed and action taken, though not, perhaps, without that discussion and difference of opinion peculiar to a British democracy which sometimes gives the wrong impression that the country is irrevocably split by the difference of views. In the picturesque phrase of the Minister of War, Mr. Hore Belisha, "the nation must sleep on its haversack"; the Reserve and Auxiliary Forces Bill, introduced this week, provides for measures to be taken that will ensure Britain being continually on the alert against an attack which would require the full resistance of the whole country from the first hour. MEN TO BE CALLED UP. In batches, at convenient dates, a large proportion of the Regular Army reserves, men and officers, are to be called up for not more than three months. This will enable the Army to train at war strength and to take the field at short notice. It will also provide for the training of the Militia of young men of 20-21. . Personnel of the Territorial anti-air-craft units will be called up this summer in rotation, no man being kept on service for more than a month. They will be at war stations, the gunners training for half the month at practice camps. Sites will be acquired for permanent defences, later to be manned by the Militia, "holding the fort" in an emergency till the Territorials are deployed. On these sites a number of huts will be ready by the time the Territorials take their month's spell of duty; The Admiralty proposes to call out 3800 men of the Royal Fleet Reserve and 1500 pensioners for not more than three months to increase the readiness of anti-submarine and mine-sweeping units. A number of retired officers are required for six months. . A proportion of the Auxiliary Air Force will be called up at the same time as the Territorial anti-aircraft units on a similar rotation for periods of one month. Everyone summoned will have protection under the Bill to reinstate him in his former occupation SAFETY OF LONDON. From aii independent source this week came the cheering opinion by Major-General E. Ashmore, who controlled London's air defence during the Great War, that the city's air defences today are admirably organised, and that the balloon barrage of today is an immense advance on his own system, which at the end of the war virtually stopped air raids on London. General Ashmore believes that London is unlikely to be bombed in the event of war, and that even if raiders came, there would be comparatively little to fear. London is being ringed with fighting aeroplanes, searchlights, guns, and balloon barrages. These are not yet complete, but when they are finished it is expected that they would defeat the enemy by the mounting losses they would suffer. The Government has been active in these last few days; there have been circulars and handbooks on evacuation and new kinds of shelters for the congested areas, and on incendiary bombs and lighting rules in war. It is, of course, continually being criticised. One point of criticism has been over the question of deep air-raid shelters, which was rejected,- causing much dissatisfaction in many quarters. POPULACE TO REMAIN. Another question that is likely to raise discussion concerns the Government's evacuation plans. Its general j attitude is that people should stay where they are as a duty. A strong appeal will be made to the public not to create panic and chaos by attempting to leave their homes in the first few days of an emergency. In making their decision, Ministers have taken into account the fact that tlfeir elaborate plans for moving 3,000,000 children, mothers of babies and others, might be seriously jeopardised by an uncontrolled movement of the adult population. The railways want four days at least in which to complete evacuation of these 3,000,000. During this time it is believed that no others will be allowed to leave their areas on the railways, though skeleton services for general purposes are likely to be run. To prevent people leaving by car, petrol supplies are to be cut off. Further, certain roads will be reserved for use in the event of railway communications being damaged. Until recently the Government favoured a policy of advising the public who wished to move to leave well in advance of hostilities and before the child evacuation began. It is now felt that the Government cannot properly give any advice on when this movement should begin. CONSCRIPTION. The introduction of conscription has passed with comparatively little disturbance. The debate in the House of Commons indicated that the Opposition supported its objections largely by emotional arguments, a practice which draws the support of its followers, but carries comparatively little weight outside that ring. There was much talk about "broken pledges" and the belief that the voluntary system had not failed. Mr. Wedgwood Benn, who led the debate'against the Government, had something to say about "sacrificed freedom," and difficulties of lads of 20 finding employment. He also said that people felt the Bill to be an "insult to the country" and that if people had an ideal to fight for they would fight." Hearty Opposition cheers greeted his final shot that the Government was "thrusting their clumsy fingers into the mainspring of human action and damming up the richest sources of the nation's power." Mrs. Adamson, the Labour member for Dartford, also struck a rich emotional note with her reference to mothers* going down to the jaws of death to bring life into the world, and not liking to think that when their sons attained the golden age of manhood they were to be conscribed for the art of war. PRINCIPLE OF CO-OPERATION. Compared with the realism of Mr. W. S. Morrison, who led the Government reply, and Mr. Hore Belisha, the Minister for War, the Opposition's arguments sounded somewhat thin. Mr. Morrison referred to "certain unheralded attacks extinguishing the independence of countries smaller and less formidable than our own"; to the new elements of sjpeed in assault and at-

tack, and the necessity for a force permanently on duty if the nation was to be satisfied with its defences.

Mr. Hore Belisha proved the counterproposal of the Opposition to be shallow. This was for 790,000 past, present, and prospective members of the Territorials to be invited to spend three, four, or six months in camp.

"It would be difficult to find a proposal more calculated to abuse than that," he said. In private relationships it was considered unjust to take for granted the sacrifices of good-natured people and to presume upon their willingness by wantonly imposing further burdens upon them. For a great and well-organised community to place the increased requirements of its defence solely on those who had already done their share v/as contemptible.

The Territorial Army was based on co-operation between employers, employed, and the State, he added. Under Mr. Lees-Smith's suggestion those employers who had most encouraged the Territorial Army would be, "in some cases, deprived of almost the whole of their staffs for a long period. That was an inverted form of conscription.

While the Government is criticised for introducing conscription by the Opposition, many of its supporters also are uncomplimentary on the same subject, but from another point of view. They consider that it should have been introduced a year ago.