Evening Post. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 1942. "DOGGED AS DOES IT"

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIV, Issue 108, 3 November 1942, Page 4

Evening Post. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 1942. "DOGGED AS DOES IT"

Britain, in llie opening months of the fourth year of war, has come in for criticism from several quarters to which some reply was due. It is characteristic of the British people in normal times not to worry about

criticism, but just to go on doing what they are doing in .their -own way. But there are reasons in the abnormal times of war, especially now, when the single-handed struggle by Britain from June, 1940, to June, 194.1, against the apparently overwhelming strength of the aggressors has now become the struggle of the United Nations, why, to prevent mutual misunderstanding, criticism should not be allowed to go by default. So Mr. Herbert Morrison, the British Home Secretary, has broken silence to tell the world something of the part Britain has played and is playing in the war. Mi\ Morrison is a plain man, whose record of hard, solid work in the administration of the vast metropolis of Britain is typical of so many of his countrymen, and he has done some plain speaking. It was time it was done. Britain was unprepared, for reasons that are well known, for a war on the scale which since developed. Mr. Morrison was right in reminding detractors that Britain entered the war, with all its risks, for reasons of principle. By what history may well judge a miracle Britain saved herself and the world two years ago. and the world, in Mr. Morrison's words, was "generous in • its applause." But now, after two years, we were, he said, having "critical shafts directed at us from different points of the compass," as if, presumably, Britain had failed to live up to the traditions of those sublime, thrilling days of August and September, 1940. The real truth is that Britain s "attitude and outlook from the start of the war to the present day has been consistent." At the very outset there was never any. thought in Britain of a short war. In the early days of September, 1939, the British Government announced that it was basing its policy on the assumption that the war would last "three years or more." It has lasted three years and is now lasting more. In that time the curve of Britain's achievement, in spite of losses on land and sea, has moved steadily upward. There have been successes, like the conquest of Abyssinia and the destruction of the Italian army in the first Libyan campaign, and failures, like those in Libya afterward and in the Far East. But at no stage, however dark the outlook, have the British people ever lost heart. They have replaced their losses, filled the gaps in their ranks, and organised themselves, as never before, to play their part in the final struggle. That the hour for that last decisive round may seem to have been deferred is due simply to the magnitude of the task in building up strength to pit against the strength of enemies with many years of preparation behind them. No British leader, least of all Mr. Churchill himself, has ever promised an easy or an early victory. Nor have the masses of the people of Britain ever expected it. They realise from experience in the front line of battle how great the task is. And they have buckled down to the task in a way that is the admiration of all who visit Britain in these days. It is not from these visitors that the criticism conies. They have declared that no nation on either side is doing so much in proportion to population and resources as Britain.

Mr. Morrison has given a glowing picture of Britain's achievements, particularly in the air and at sea. September was a record month in the production of aircraft and ships. Eighty per cent, of the production is shipped overseas. It is here that the Navy and the Merchant Fleet enter into the picture with their convoys circling the globe and carrying the materials and men for the war that is being waged in so many distant theatres. -The figures quoted by Mr. Morrison are prodigious, the numbers and length of the voyages, the hosts of seafarers engaged, the means for the defence of convoys, and the small percentage of losses in the aggregate. No nation is doing more in the war than Britain today. Britain, said Mr. Morrison, is near the limit of her man-power resources, but there is still room for improvement "in the organisation. These improvements, he added, will be made. The British people are determined to see the struggle through. They have nothing to be ashamed of or to apologise for in the part they have played. There is one word for the quality that carries them through —doggedness. It is still true, as it was in the days when Giles rloggett remarked to Mr. Crawley, when things looked bad: "There ain't nowt a man can't bear if he'll only be dogged. It's dogged as does it."