ACTION URGED

New Zealand Herald, Volume 78, Issue 24104, 24 October 1941, Page 7

ACTION URGED

OFFENSIVE BY LAM) "ENTERPRISE BLANKETED" LONDON PRESS CRITICISM LONDON, Oct. 01 A British land offensive against the Axis in Europe or Africa is again urged by the editor of the Sunday Express, Mr. John Gordon. "Why, after two years of war." he asks, "is the great- British Empire not strong enough to force even one military action on land to relieve Nazi pressure on Russia? "My explanation is that, instead of organising ourselves for war, we have di sorganised ourselves into paralvsis. Where men of individuality, judgment, and decision are the paramount neeessity, we sprout not men but committees. "Dither ol Indecision" "Nothing can be done with any problem until these committees have gathered to look at it from the front, back, top, bottom, sideways and upside-down. They lie on the nation like layers of cold poultices. "They have brought a dither and dally of obstruction and indecision to science and have blanketed initiative, enterprise and energy. They have slowed down the machine until it can hardly move. "Their one important function is to keep risk of individual responsibility away from those who are terrified to shoulder ij. They are a perfect umbiella for incompetence, "It is all very well to let the former Commander-in-Chief of the B.T. Lord Gort, tell us what went wrong with his army. What is more important is, who made it go wrong, and are the men responsible still in positions of responsibility ? Position in Libya ' "What is holding up the conquest of Libya, for example? If we cannot harass the Germans in Europe, surely we can cause them some worry in Africa. "It is no secret that an enormous army lies in the Nile Valley. But that army seems to he just as immobile as the army at home. "The Germans are pouring tanks across to Libya. Every day their strength is increased. Yet still we wait —defence instead of offence again. It is time we got a fighter on top."