MILITARY PROBLEMS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXIII, 25 June 1940, Page 9

MILITARY PROBLEMS

INVASION OF BRITAIN REVIEW or SITUATION jfU.P.A.— By Electric Telegraph—Copyright] LONDON. 23rd June. A review of the military problems of {an invasion of Great Britain was given by Captain Cyril Falls, military corrcs--1 pendent of ‘ The Times.” England had saved from the wreck, he said, more than seven-eighths of the men of the British Expeditionary Force, and what was called the second B.E.F. and had also saved the personnel of j the bases established far down in the i south-west, and a large proportion of i equipment. She had saved that part of the R.A.F. which went to France. There were at present in England the largest number of trained and proved , troops the country had ever possessed. On the other hand England had lost the heavy equipment and artillery of the first B.E.F. which had come off from Dunkirk, and a loss of base stores which could not be withdrawn, some aircraft which were damaged on aerodromes and for which there were no J repair facilities, and light craft sunk | when carrying out the evacuation at ! Dunkirk. The enemy now held the whole of the | western European coast from the Arc- | tic in Norway to the estuary of the ! Loire. He had outflanked England in j Norway and still more in Brittany, j for not everyone realised that Brest, j which the Germans had reached, was 1 farther west than Plymouth and almost jas far west as Land’s End. For the first j time since the war the Germans had 1 launched heavy air attacks on Great ! Britain, but so far without results at all j in proportion to their efforts. ! It was probable that the Germans ! would attempt to invade England, but j Captain Falls did not think that a ! large-scale invasion was possible while i the R.A.F. and the Navy remained in : being, and he expected that attacks | would be made on them first of all. It i should be remembered, however, that ■ the Germans had recklessly sacrificed ; their aircraft, and though they might j be able to replace a large proportion I of the planes they could not replace the | pilots so easily. They certainly did not i possess the magnificent material which ! was now being provided by the British Empire, and German's most highly .trained pilots were not equal to the: British. So far the Germans had not i produced fighter aircraft to equal the. i Defiant?, Spitfires and Hurricanes. The. enemy had a very grim fight in front of. him if he depended upon winning sup-1 remacy in the air. The fate of the Navy depended to, a considerable extent upon that of the R.A.F. The enemy could hardly hope to cripple the Navy unless he crippled its bases, and although he might damage both ships and ports it was unlikely that he would be able to do that while the R.A.F. remained. STRATEGIC VIEWPOINT Referring to the possibility of an invasion on a big scale or on a small scale by parachutists, troop-carriers, or ships, or by a combination of all three. Captain Falls said that it was necessary to look at Great Britain from a strategic point of view. Very roughly speaking. England was a low country with a long chain of hills running from north to south, high in the north and low in the south, with another lower chain crossing it in the south, the whole hill structure being like a T upside down. Smaller hills were not included in this general idea. From about, the Thames Estuary to the Humber the whole coast zone was fiat generally, with wide sandy beaches on which small landings might be po.ssible. but on the other hand large tracts of this zone were seamed with drainage ditches, crossed by sluggish rivers running through heavy ground. The south-east and south coasts were much more difficult generally, with high cliffs, chalk in the east and rocks of one sort or another in the west. Wales was a mass of mountains with wide and fertile valleys. Scotland was | marked by mountain chains running roughly east to west, but between the most southern chain and the central chain was a district with only occasional hills, with Edinburgh, on the east, side on the Firth of Forth and Glasgow on the west side on the Clyde. Captain Falls said he would not pretend that large stretches of England were ideal from the point of view of resistance to the invader, but England’s internal communications were the best in the world and mobility was far more important than mountain ranges and deep gorges* It was not possible to be strong everywhere along a lengthy coastline. It was much better to be quick everywhere. They knew that if they were in the enemy’s shoes, strong as he was, they should look upon the invasion of England as a matter of extreme difficulty. They did not underrate his strength, and they knew wha* he had accomplished already, but they were coolly and calmly preparing to face it with many advantages on their side.