MORE HITTING POWER

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIII, Issue 43, 20 February 1942, Page 5

MORE HITTING POWER

BRITISH ARMIES

TROOPS & EQUIPMENT

(Rec. noon.) RUGBY, Feb. 19. A review of the British position in the Middle East was given by Captain Margesson, Secretary for War, in the House of Commons, when he moved the adoption of the Army Estimates. He referred to the western flank of the Middle East position and contrasted it with ■the northern front, where the Russian counter-stroke had driven off for the time being the German threat to the Caucasus. The offensive in North Africa, he said, was launched to remove the danger to the western flank and free the

North African seaboard. t Discussing the Libyan battle, the Minister said that the ebb and flow bewildered the onlooker. He could not say how far our latest reverses had been due to tactical considerations, but "I do know that the difficulties the staff have had to contend with in keeping the troops in the forward areas supplied with food and water, ammunition, petrol, etc., have been colossal. In the desert there is no continuous front line. Our forward troops are not 25 miles but sometimes as much as 30 miles in front of their railhead. The House will readily understand from this that the number of troops that could be maintained in the forward area to attack General Rommel's strongly defended positions at Agheila or resist any counter-attack that might be made against them was strictly limited by the amount of supplies that could be brought forward over those hundreds Of miles of desert. As Rommel retreated on to his supply dumps, his maintenance difficulties became less, although his total force has been considerably weakened. So, you get the position that, owing to supply difficulties, although we had a total force stronger than the^ enemy, this advantage was counteracted by our not being able to maintain in the forward line of battle a force sufficiently strong to drive the enemy from his defended positions covering his reinforcement of supplies, or to withstand the counterstroke which the enemy, refreshed with men and materials, was able to launch against these light forces, which were all we were able to maintain until once again "we were able to use Benghazi as a base." REPLY TO CRITICISM. Captain Margesson then dealt with certain criticisms which had been made against the efficiency of the British tanks. Before, the war, he said, Britain's tank and two-pounder antitank gun, without doubt, were the best in the world. Their worth was shown in the battles preceding the Dunkirk evacuation. The War Office knew that the success of this gun would be countered by the enemy using heavier armour and a more powerful gun. So, before the war, a tank and an antitank gun of greater hitting power were designed. However, if after the heavy material losses suffered at Dunkirk some of the two-pounder capacity had been turned over to production of the new design, the total output of tanks and guns would have been slowed down at a time when invasion threatened and when the Army was practically without equipment. Thus it was necessary to rely entirely on the new capacity for the production of a larger and more powerful weapon. This new capacity was secured, and manufacture of the new gun was proceeding apace.

"We are working on the production of a still larger tank and an antitank gun with even greater penetrating power," he added.

The Minister passed to another criticism which he had heard, namely, that Britain showed a certain reticence in sending her armed forces overseas. "With all 'the emphasis at my com-

mand," he said, "I deny this insidious and wholly false suggestion." The details which he proposed to disclose were intended only as a refutation of this suggestion, and in no sense as a depreciation of the efforts of those who had helped from outside Britain.

In the Middle East Command, which comprised the whole of Libya, Egypt, the Sudan, Eritrea, Palestine, Syria, Irak, and Persia, half of all the troops were from Britain. Rather more than a quarter were from the Dominions, something over a tenth from India, and the balance was made up of colonial and Allied contingents.

"As to the1 composition of the Bth Army during this present battle," he said, "75 per cent, of all the troops employed were British, nearly onethird were provided by South Africa and New Zealand, and more than a tenth by the Indian Empire. There were also a small number of Australian troops', and the remainder of the force was completed by units provided by our Polish, Free French, and Czech allies. All the armoured tank brigades were British. The armoured car regiments were all British, except for two from South Africa.

"Of every 100 men killed or wounded in land fighting since the beginning of the war, up to January, 1942, about 70 per cent, come from this country. Critics should not forget that in naval warfare, and, of course, amongst the Mercantile Marine, the vast majority of the casualties have been inflicted 'upon our seamen, and the same is true of the Royal Air Force, which, in spite of the magnificent contributions of the Dominions and the Allied forces, has suffered far more heavily than any of them." FACTORS IN SENDING TROOPS ABROAD. The dispatch of British troops to foreign theatres of war, he said, depended fundamentally on two things: firstly, the absolute necessity of defending Britain, the heart, of the Empire and the bridgehead for future operations against Europe; and, secondly, availability of shipping.

As regards the equipment position in the last twelve months, Captain Margesson said it had shovn a marked improvement, but the result was not yet satisfactory. "Both at home and abroad the year has been one of steady and progressive administrative development," he said. "The most important development has been the complete re-