DIRECTION OF WAR

Southland Times, Issue 24603, 27 November 1941, Page 5

DIRECTION OF WAR

SIR ROGER KEYES’S CRITICISM

LONDON, November 25. “I was frustrated in every worthwhile offensive action I tried to take, declared Admiral of the Fleet Sir Rogei Keyes, in a statement in the House or 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 criticized earlier in the war. “Mr Churchill, in appointing me, doubtless hoped that I would be able to assist him in delivering amphibious strokes,” he said. “We were eager and ready to act a year ago. Mr Churchill was as keen as I to act vigorously, to face the hazards and to achieve great results which, if we had been allowed to carry on, might have electrified the whole world and altered the course of the war. None can doubt Mr Churchill’s will for victory, but he is 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 concerntrating on the difficulties and dangeis of every amphibious enterprise sug~ gested these committees succeeded in thwarting or delaying execution until we were either forestalled or were over-late. We shall always be overlate in everything we undertake until the staff system has been thoroughly overhauled. The cumbersome machine in Whitehall has either strangled before birth or mangled by endless discussion all amphibious actions suggested.” Mi’ Arthur Greenwood, Minister without Portfolio, said he was not replying to Admiral Keyes because to do so would be to disclose information of “great strategic importance.” GERMAN ANXIETY The Ministry of Information states that the Germans are betraying anxiety about British intentions over the coast of the occupied territory and hope, by making exaggerated claims, to elicit information which is being withheld from them. , It is learned in London that today s German communique—which said that during Sunday night British forces made an attempt to land on the Fiench Channel coast with several boats, but were successfully repulsed by the German coastal defences—probably refers to a small British patrol which landed on Sunday night on the coast of Normandy. This patrol returned complete. The only casualty suffered was one man struck in the arm by a machinegun bullet.