Britain Will Weather the Tempest

Manawatu Times, Volume 66, Issue 109, 9 May 1941, Page 10

Britain Will Weather the Tempest

Churchill Convinced Premier Wins Confidence Vote After War Debate (British Official AVireless.) RUGBY, May 7. By a vote of 447 to three, the House of Commons today endorsed the war policy of the Churchill Government after a debate marked by some vigorous and outspoken comment. Mr. Churchill reviewed the situation and once again expressed his faith in complete, absolute, and final victory. “We have no fear of the tempest,” he said. “Let it rage and let it roar; we shall come through.” Referring to the decision to give military support to Greece, he said: “I for one would send aid to Greece again, should similar circumstances arise.” Answering the criticism of Mr. L. Hore-Belisha, former Secretary for War, who had criticised the lack of equipment, Mr. Churchill said that Britain was making every month now as many heavy tanks as there were in the whole British Army when Mr. Hore-Belisha was in power. Before the end of the year the output would be double that number. “Let no-one underrate the importance of the struggle in the Mediterranean,” said Mr. Churchill. “The loss cf the Nile, Gibraltar, Malta, and Alexandria would be among the heaviest blows we could sustain, but we are determined to fight for these with all the resources of our Empire.”

In the Battle of the Atlantic, said Mr. Churchill, we were making good progress, though with heavy losses. For 1942 we must look for a large increase in merchant tonnage from the United States. It qiight be that in 1943, if we had to endure until then, the Atlantic might present an easier problem.

Replying to the debate, Mr Churchill said it had been marked by a h:gb sense of responsibility in all who had taken part.

proclaims herself by our side, or at any rate near our side.

It was very natural that the House would not be entirely satisfied with Ihe recent turn of things in the Middle East and that some members should be acutely disappointed that we had not been able to defend Greece successfully against the Italian and German armies, or that we should not have been able to keep or extend our conquests in Libya. I

Referring to Mr Hore-Belisha’s criticism of the Government on our admitted shortage of heavy tanks, Mr Churchill said: “We are now making every month as many heavy tanks as there existed in the British Army when Mr HoreBelisha left the War Office, and before the end of the year we : v hall be producing nearly double that without taking into account the immense production of the United States.

“For myself,” said Mr Churchill, “I have watched with agony the fate of Greece after her valiant repulse of the Italian invader. The only relief I feel is that everything in human power was done by us and th:# our honour as a nation is clear. If anything could add a pang to these emotions, it would be the knowledge we had of the impending outrage with so little power to avert from this heroic and famous people a fate .so hideous and undeserved.

Replying to Mr Lloyd George’s criticism on the composition of the War Cabinet, he said there was in fact a War Cabinet of eight, of whom five had no regular departments and three represented the main general organisms of the State —Foreign affairs, finance, and Labour. It gave its broad sanctions to the main policy in the conduct of the war.

“So far as the German invasion of Bulgaria is concerned, we had long and ample warning. It is three months since I stated in a broadcast that the Bulgarian airfields were being occupied. . Every week one watched the remorseless movements of the vast German forces through Hungary and through Rumania into Bulgaria, and towards Croatia and towards Yugo» slavia, until at last no fewer than 40 German divisions, five of them armoured, were massed.

Under their authority, the chiefs-of-staff of three Services sat daily together, and he, as Prime Minister and Minister of Defence, presided, summoning, when necessary, the three Service Ministers.

All the larger issues of military policy were brought before the Defence Commitep, which for several months past had consisted of three chiefs-of-staff, the three Service Ministers, and four members of Cabinet the Prime Minister, the Lord Privy Seal, the Foreign Secretary, and Lord Beaverbrook.

“Hitler has told us it was a crime on our part in such circumstances to go to the aid of Greece,” Mr Churchill continued. ‘‘l do not wish to enter into an argument with experts. That is not the kind of crime of which he is a good judge.

“That is the body and that is the machine which works easily and flexibly at the present time, and I do not propose to make any changes in it until further advised,” said Mr. Churchill. “In this whole business of Libya and Greece,” I can assure the House that no violence has been done to expert military opinion. All decisions have been taken unitedly, freely, voluntarily, and with goodwill under the hard pressure of events.” After mentioning the flexible working of the War Cabinet, the Prime Minister added: “I say that as the head of the Government, and the one who would have his head cut off if we failed, and with the knowledge that the other members of the Cabinet would have to suffer at the hands of the triumphant Huns.” He had noted a tendency in some quarters, especially abroad, to talk about the Middle East as if we could afford to lose cur position there and yet carry on the war to victory on the oceans and in the air. But no-one must under-rate the gravity of the issue being fought in the Nile Valley. “The loss f f the Nile Valley and the Suez Canal and the loss of our position in the Mediterranean and of Malta would be among the heaviest blows we could sustain,” he declared. “We are determined to fight for them with all the resources of the British Empire, and we have every reason to believe we shall be uccessful.” “General Wavell has under his orders at present nearly half a million men. A continuous 'llow of equipment has been in progress from this country during the last ten months, and, now that Italian resistance in Abyssinia, East Africa, and Somaliland is collapsing, a steady concentration northward of all these forces is possible. Indeed, it has for many weeks been rapidly proceeding. “General Smuts has ordered the splendid South African Army forward to the Mediterranean shore, but warfare in the desert can only be conducted by comparatively small numbers of highly-equipped troops. Here the fortunes of war are subject to violent oscillations, and mere numbers do not count. On the contrary, the employment in the desert of large numbers would in the long run lead inevitably to disaster. That is what happened to the ItaJr “One hundred and eighty-thousand

“Looking: back, I can only feel, as the Prime Minister of New Zealand has so nobly declared, that, if we had to tread that stony field, even with the knowledge we possess to-day, I for one would do the same thing again. And that is the view of all my colleagues in the War Cabinet and on the Defence Committee, and I believe that view is generally agreed upon by this House/' “But military operations must be Judged by the success which attends them rather than by the sentiment which inspires them. It remains to be seen whether the Italian invader invading Greece or the German invader coming to his rescue and engaging Yugoslavia in bloody strife gained an advantage or suffered a loss when the full story of the war is told. Hatred of Germany. “From the strictly military viewpoint, the addition of the Balkan peoples to the number of ancient independent States and sovereignties under the Nazi yoke that must be held down by force and intrigue may by no means prove a source of strength to the German Army, while in the political aspect nothing can more surely debar the Germans from shaping a new Europe —and one will certainly emerge—than the fact that the German name and the German race are becoming more universally and more intensely hated among all peoples in all lands than any race of which history bears record. “I derive confidence that the willpower of the British nation, expressing itself through this steadfast House, will once again perform its liberating functions and humbly exercise and execute its high purpose among men. I say this with more confidence, because we are no longer a small island lost in the northern mists, but around us are gathered in proud array all the nations of the British Empire and now, across the Atlantic, the United States

Italians lay along the North African shore from Benghazi to the Egyptian frontier, and, once tho head of this force was stopped and broken, it was not possible for the army to retreat all at once. The single coast road could not carry it; the transport available could not feed it on the move. This victory of Sidi Barani sealed the fate of all the Italian troops in Cyrenaica. They did not possess command of the sea, and they were destroyed in detail at Bardia, Tobruk and Benghazi.

“The same thing, with important modifications, might thus have happened to the British when the German armoured forced defeated and largely destroyed our single armoured brigade guarding the advance frontier of the privince of Cyrenaica. We have no exact account of what happened at Agedabia or Mekili, the generals having been taken prisoners through running undue risks in their personal movements. The remains of that brigade are now fighting at Tobruk.

“The German armoured force was not much Larger than our own, but tactical mistakes were committed and mischances occurred, with the result that our armoured force was disorganised, and this, by rapid retreat, reached Tobruk unmolested.

“There it stands at bay. The Germans, as we know from an examination of prisoners, had no expectation of proceeding beyond Agadabia. They meant to engage our armoured troops so as to prevent the dispatch of reinforcements to Greece while bringing up larger forces, but, when they won their surprising success, they exploited it with that organised audacity which ranks so high in military art, and pressed on against Tobruk, where they met a hard and heavy prop. They came into contact also with the large force guarding Egypt. There, for the moment, they are stopped.

“As long as the Germans have superiority in armoured vehicles, they will have the advmtage in desert warfare, even if, as at present, the air forces are about equal.

“But this warfare must be conducted only by small forces. Thirty or forty thousand is the mod that can be fed and supplied In the desert, and it is very doubtful whether even this number can be maintained.

“For the invasion of Egypt in great force, such as Italy contemplated, enormous preparations would have to be made.

“Incidentally, the deserts of Egypt are the worst in the world for armoured vehicles. Here the enemy is confronted with a far harder problem than anything he has so far solved in Africa.”

Turning to Iraq, Mr Churchill said that so long ago as last May the Foreign Office began to ask for troops to guard the lines of communication. Wo had not got the troops, and it was difficult to ‘make headway agaiiist the pro-Axis intrigues of Rashid All, who had staged a military revolt against the lawful Regent and the lawful Government. Obviously, his object was to have all ready for the Germans.

“However,” the Prime Minister said, “in this case the British Government forestalled him, and three weeks ago strong British forces, which are being continually reinforced from India, were landed at Basra and have assumed control^

“Having assented to fhe first stage of these events, Rashid Ali was led into more violent courses.

“For several days we were very anxious about the position at Habbaniyah. We have, however, reinforced the Air Force from Egypt and Falestine, and yesterday the garrison sallied out and completely routed the besiegers and put them to flight. Sixteen Iraqi officers and 408 men were taken prisoner.

“The total enemy casualties are about 1000, so far as is known. Our forces attacked and largely destroyed a convoy of lorries on the way to the besiegers. Other operations are in progress. “We shall try to make headway against all our foes, wherever they present themselves. A combative spirit in all directions is essential.

“I shall not predict the result. It may be that the Germans will arrive before we shall crush the revolt, in which case our difficulties will be greater. Maybe the revolt went off at half-cock in consequence of our forestalling action. “We are not at war with the Iraqis. We are dealing with a military dictator, and we intend to assist the Iraqis to get rid of him.”

Turning to the battle of the Atlantic, Mr Churchill said that the test of success was the number of tons of imports to Britain in any given quarter of any given year. “At present,” he said, “we are maintaining great traffic, though with heavy loss.”

Great progress had been made iit meeting these losses by new building and repairs and by accelerating the turnabout of ships, but there was still much to be done.

“With the continued flow of assistance which has already been promised us by the United States,” Mr Churchill continued, “we can probably maintain our minimum essential traffic during 1941. As for 1942, we must look for an immense construction of merchant ships by the United States. This is already in full swing, and within the last month I have received an assurance of the construction of merchant vessels by the United States which, added to our own programme of building and repair, should see us through the year. And 1943, if we have to endure it as a year of war, will present easier problems. . “The United States patrol took a considerable part of the Atlantic Ocean off British hands, but a good deal more