PLANS FOILED

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20623, 26 November 1941, Page 6

PLANS FOILED

COMMANDOS’ CHIEF PROTEST BY ADMIRAL WHITEHALL MACHINE (Elec. Tel. Copyright—United Press Assn.) (Reed. Nov. 26, 2 p.m). LONDON, Nov. 25. “I was frustrated in every worthwhile offensive action I tried to take,” declared Admiral Sir Roger Feyes (Con., Portsmouth), in a statement in the House of Commons on his removal from the leadership of the Commandos. He added that his appointment was unwelcome to one section of the war machine which he had criticised earlier in the war. “The Prime Minister, Mr. Winston Churchill, in appointing me, doubtless hoped that I would assist him in delivering amphibious strokes. We were eager and ready to act a year ago. Mr. Churchill was as keen as I to act vigorously and face hazards to achieve great results which, if we had been allowed to carry on, might have electrified the whole world and altered the whole course of She war. None can doubt Mr. Churchill’s will for victory, but he was handicapped by the Whitehall machine. “The service committees and subcommittees, which have sprung up since the last war, have become almost dictators of military policy. By concentrating on difficulties and dangers of every amphibious enterprise that was suggested, these committees succeeded in thwarting or delaying execution until we were either forestalled or too late. We shall always be too late in everything we undertake until the staff system is thoroughly overhauled. The cumbersome machine in Whitehall has either strangled before birth or mangled by endless discussion all the amphibious actions suggested.” The Minister without portfolio, Mr. Arthur Greenwood, said he was not replying to Sir Roger Keyes because it would disclose information of great strategic importance.