THE RIGHT FLANK

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24633, 14 June 1941, Page 9

THE RIGHT FLANK

MIDDLE EAST CAMPAIGN PROBABLE NAZI MOVE THRUST THROUGH SYRIA « RUGBY, June 12. That there was some hope before many months were over that defeat of the night bomber will be a long way towards accomplishment was the opinion expressed by the Parliamentary Under-secretary for War, Lord Croft, in a speech. Lord Croft spoke of the “ immense leeway” Britain had achieved in the military theatre during the last year, and recalled how all attacks on British people, both from the air and sea, so far had been repulsed. Speaking of the Greek campaign, Lord Croft said that had the Serbs been able to be in position in time on the right flank there was every hope that the Germans could have been held. ' After referring to Crete, he summed up the military situation, and said that during the past year and a-half an army had been created and had fought some first class battles and minor engagements. During the last eight months British Imperial forces had defeated Graziani’s great armies, inflicting casualties, including prisoners, of over 200,000.

Speaking of the German counterattack, Lord Croft said: “Our thin screen was driven from Benghazi to Tobruk, our most forward prepared position. From here to date the Germans have been unable to budge us, in spite of a series of attacks, and I would ask you to remember that Tobruk is 200 miles west of the Mersa Matruh defence line from which Genera] Wavell started winter. German Pincer Attack “Tobruk Is the time bomb in the German pincer attack in the western approach to Egypt. So long as it holds, and also our main line at Mersa Matruh, Egypt is safe on that, flank.” He then considered the British strategic position and pointed out that the Duke of Aosta’s well-equipped army of 250,000 had been destroyed and driven out of their fortified positions by a series of campaigns undertaken from a circumference of 45,000 miles. Only some 40,000 Italian troops now remained under arms. Lord Croft continued: “ When we were, fighting in all these different thfiatres-'We were suddenly confronted with a treacherous rebellion in Iraq, By a lightning stroke we landed troops from the East on the principal Iraq aerodromes, crushed the rebellion, and only last week secured the vital pipeline and saved all the centre of Mosul from German aggression. If the enemy had won Iraq by this treachery our difficulties would have seriously increased. We restored. that situation. Facts to be Faced “ Now let us face facts. While we hold our left flank in the desert and while we have now secured our rear both in East Africa and Iraq, we have still, the problem of our right flank. If the enemy succeeded in attacking us in force from Syria the task would be far more difficult, for we should be menaced in Iraq' and Palestine, with a threat to Egypt from the north. We have acted with speed to meet this menace, and the courageous decision to enter Syria'has been taken. But let no one be so foolish as to imagine you can despatch large armies over the longest sea communications ever maintained in all the history of warfare without a considerable lapse of time. What we can declare is that, as they have already proved, the soldiers of the British Empire are magnificent, and if they can still receive the wonderful protection of the navy, to which they owe so much, and adequate help from the air, no soldiers will equal them in fighting quality. "We can look back on the story of the British armies during the last nine months with pride, gratitude and confidence in their wonderful power to withstand numerical superiority. That is my answer to critics.” Lord Croft was formerly Brigadiergeneral Sir Henry Page Croft.