Britain Will Weather the Storm

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLIX, Issue 21958, 9 May 1941, Page 5

Britain Will Weather the Storm

Many Perils Have Been

Overcome

War Review by Prime Minister

British Official Wireless " *■ (Rec. 6.30 p.m.) RUGBY, May 7.

“WHEN I look back upon the perils which have " been overcome and the great mountainous waves through which a gallant ship has been driven, and when I remember also all that has gone wrong, I feel sure we have no need to fear the tempest. Let it roar, let it rage. We shall come through.’’ In these words the Prime Minister (Mr Winston Churchill) wound up the two days’ debate on the war in the House of Commons. He was loudly cheered. The House by 457 votes to three passed a vote of confidence in the Government.

Mr Lloyd George, opening the renewed debate, admitted that there was complete agreement as to the obligation in honour to run every risk to support the valiant Greek Army, but there never had been a war where diplomacy counted for so much, and he expected from Mr Eden a full and frank statement of the Government's foreign policy. Our worst defeats had been defeats of diplomacy. Our greatest triumph had been a diplomatic triumph—the work of the late Lord Lothian. He had hoped that Mr Eden would have had more to say about our relations with Turkey, Spain and Vichy. Why withhold the perfectly well known fact that Turkey allowed German ships to pass through the Bosphorous and the Dardanelles to seize Greek Islands.

Mr Lloyd George added that Turkey was also reported to have signed an agreement with Rashid All. These were serious developments of which the House of Commons should be Informed. Mr Lloyd George appealed for the reorganisation of man-power and also a real War Council. The Prime Minister might be a most brilliant man, but he required a few more ordinary men to look after him. No one man, however capable, could pull them through. "We must hold on until America is ready with equipment, but It is most Important not to exaggerate

what we are going to get from America and how quickly we can get it. We must In the meantime do the job more thoroughly than we are doing. Germany has been manufacturing for six years and has spent £6,000,000,000 on preparations for war. We have spent £1,200,000,000. Mr Churchill has said that England and America have 200,000,000 ranged against 70,000,000 Germans, but the whole American population simply is not available. Suppose half of the American population was available for our war, making • with Britain 130,000,000, Germany has 80,000,000 plus the occupied territories. Forty per cent of the lorries turned out in France are for the German army, Czechoslovakia turns out some of the best tanks and the Poles are working for the Germans as mechanics. All these occupied territories are available to Germany, and while we may not think much Of the Italians as fighters they are first-class mechanics. The enemy therefore has forces of life and energy superior to ours and those of America. We must do infinitely more.” Mr Lloyd George added that he was certain the British people would not weaken but would stand firm and steadfast in the face of their difficulties. The people were not panicky. They had faith and confidence arising from centuries Of success in overwhelming difficulties. Mr Lloyd George also said that the power of the German submarine was more formidable at this stage in the last war than it was to-day. The longer the war the better was Britain’s chance of victory. There were many dark passages to be crossed but there was United States help to count on and Britain could thank God for Mr Stimson’s speech. Mr Vernon Bartlett criticised the lack of news that had been available during the fighting in Greece. He said that Mr Eden’s trip to the Middle East had been a much greater political success than was generally believed. Mr P. J. Noel Baker (Labour) said he hoped the Government was agreed on the best method of holding Suez. If Suez were lost they would fight and retake It from bases further south. He considered an offensive should be concentrated on Italy, which was the weakest part of the Axis. Major T. L. Dugdale said that Britain should use the weapon of Fifth Column. “We are sending grain to Spain while the Germans are sending ‘tourists.’ We may find Gibraltar surrounded and unable to be used. We have In Spain the best potential Fifth Column. Why can’t we use it?" Referring to Mr Lloyd George’s criticisms, Mr Churchill In reply agreed that In Mr Eden’s speech much could be said about Spain and about Russia, but he was not sure there would have been any advantage by saying It nor would the House have profited by debating at length about the sad squalid tale about what was going on at VichY In regard to Turkey he reminded Mr Lloyd George that she had no right, under the convention to prevent ships passing through the Dardanelles while she was at peace. To do so would amount to a decision to quit neutrality.

British Honour Clear Mr Lloyd George had criticised the procedure of the vote of confidence, but after the reverses and disappointments in the field the British Government had the right to know where it stood with the House of Commons and where the House stood with the country Still more was this knowledge

Important for the. fate of foreign nations, especially those which were balancing their foreign policy at the present time. It was very natural that the House was not to be entirely satisfied with the 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 have been unable to keep or extend our conquests in Libya. “For myself,” said the Prime Minister, “I watched the fate of Greece after her valiant repulse of the Italian invader with agony. The only relief I feel is that everything In human power was done by us, and that 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 famous people a fate so hideous and so undeserved. . , , “So far as the German Invasion of Bulgaria Is concerned we had long, ample warning. It is three months since it was stated in a broadcast that the Bulgarian airfields were being occupied. Every week one watched the remorseless movement of vast German forces through Hungary and through Rumania Into Bulgaria and toward Croatia and toward Yugoslavia, until at last no fewer than 40 German divisions, five of them armoured, were massed. Hitler told us it would be a crime on our part in such circumstances to go to the aid of Greece. “I do not wish to enter into an argument with experts. That Is not the kind of crime of which he is a good judge. 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 the rescue and engaging Yugoslavia in bloody strife gained advantage or suffered loss. fYom a strictly military viewpoint the addition of the Balkan peoples to the number of ancient independent States ana 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. One fact will certainly emerge—the fact that the German name and the German race are becoming more universally and more Intensely hated among all the 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 a steadfast House, will once again perform Its liberating functions and humbly exercise and execute Its high purpose among men. I say this with the more confidence because we are no longer a small island in 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 proclaims herself by our side or at any rate near our side.”

No Cabinet Changes Proposed Referring to Mr Hore-Bellsha s criticism of the Government on our admitted shortage of heavy tanks, Mr Churchill said we were now making every month as many heavy tanks as there existed ta the British army when Mr Hore-Bellsha left the War Office and before the end of the . we would be producing nearly double that number without taking.into account the Immense production of the U Replying to Mr Lloyd George’s criticisms 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 state— Foreign Affairs, Finance and Labour. It gave its broad sanctions to the main policy and the conduct of the war. Unto their authority the chiefs of staff of the three services sat daily together and he as Prime Minister and Minister of Defence presided, sumnyming when necessary the three service Ministers. All the larger issues of military policy were brought before the mittee which for several months past had consisted of the three chiefs of staff, the three service Ministers and four members of the Cabinet—the Prime Minister, the Lord Privy Seal, the Foreign Secretary and Lord Beaverbrook. “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, xn this whole business of Libya and Greece I can assure the House that no violence has been done to expert military optatahAll decisions have been taken unitedly freely, voluntarily and with goodwill under the hard pressure of events. Mr Churchill said he noted a tendency in some quarters, ally abroad, to talk about the Middle East as if we could afford to lose our position there and yet carry on the war to victory on the oceans and in the air, but no one must underrate the gravity of the issue being fought in the Nile Valley. “The loss of the Nile Valley, the Suez Canal and. the loss of our position in the Mediterranean and of Malta would be among the heaviest blows we could sustain. We are determined to fight for them with all the resources in the British Empire and we have every reason to believe we shall be successful.”

The Prime Minister continued: "General Sir Archibald Wavell has under his orders at present nearly 500,000 men. A continuous flow of equipment has been in progress from this country during the last 10 months and now Italian resistance in Abyssinia, East Africa and Somaliland is

collapsing, a steady concentration northward of all these forces is possible. Indeed it for many weeks has been rapidly proceeding. General Smuts has ordered the splendid South African army forward to the Mediterranean shore but the warfare in the desert can be conducted only 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 Italians. “One hundred and eighty thousand men lay along the North African shore from Benghazi to the Egyptian frontier, and once the head of this force was stopped and broken it was not possible for the army to retreat all at once. A single coast road could not carry It and the transport available could not feed it on the move. This victory of Sldl Barranl sealed the fate of all Italian troops in Cyrenaica. They did not possess the command of the sea and they were destroyed in detail at Bardla, Tobruk and Benghazi. The same thing with Important modifications, might thus have happened to the British when German armoured forces defeated and largely destroyed our single armoured brigade guarding the advance to the frontier of the province of Cyrenaica. I have no exact account of what happened at Agadabla or Mechili, 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 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 and there for the moment they were stopped. So long as the Germans have superiority in armoured vehicles they will have an advantage in desert warfare even if as at present the air forces are about equal. But this warfare must be conducted only by small forces. Thirtythousand or 40,000 are the most that can be fed and supplied in the desert and it is very doubtful whether even this number can be maintained. For an invasion of Egypt in great force such as Italy contemplated, enormous preparation would nave 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 they have so far solved in Africa.” ± , w Intrigue in Iraq Turning to Iraq Mr Churchill said: "So long ago as last May the Foreign Office began to ask for troops to guard the lines of communication. We had not got the troops and it was difficult to make headway against the pro-Axis Intrigues of Raschid All who had staged military revolt against the lawful Regent and the lawful government. Obviously his object was to have all ready for the Germans but in this case the British Government forestalled him and three weeks ago strong British forces which were being continually reinforced from India were landed at Basra and have assumed control. Having assented to the first stage of these events, Raschid All 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 Palestine and yesterday the garrison sallied out and completely routed the besiegers and put them to flight. Sixteen Iraqi officers and 408 men were taken prisoners and the total enemy casualties were about 1000 So far as is known our forces attacked and largely destroyed a convoy of lorries on its 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. It may be that 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.”

Hitler"- Fear of America Turning to the Battle of the Atlantic Mr Churchill said: "The test of success is the number of tons of Imports to Britain at any given quarter of any given year. Great progress has been made in meeting losses by new building, repairs and accelerating the turnabout, but there is still much to be done. With the continued flow of assistance which has already been promised by the United Ftates we can probably maintain our minimum essential traffic during 1941. As for 1942 we must look for immense construction of merchant ships by the United States. This is already in full swing and within the last month I 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. The year 1943, if we have to endure It as a year of war, will present easier problems. The United States patrol takes a considerable part of the Atlantic Ocean off British hands but a good deal more help is needed. It is not for a British Minister to forecast or still less prescribe the nolicy of the United States. When a mighty democracy of 130,000,000 people gets on the move one can await only the full deployment of this vast psychological gravitation and its translation into the physical field. Anyone can see Hitler’s fear of the

United States in the fact that he has not declared war upon them long ago.” Mr Churchill said he had ne.ver underrated the gravity of the difficulties and problems facing Britain. He felt she was fighting for her life from day to day and hour to hour. He recalled that it was nearly a year ago that France collapsed and spoke of Hitler’s expectations then, adding that Hitler little knew that 10 months later he would be “appealing to the much tried German people to prepare themselves for war in 1942.” Cheers for Mr Churchill Members of the House of Commons expressed the opinion that Mr Churchill made one of his most effective speeches and entrenched himself even more deeply in the confidence of the House. After the announcment of the result of the voting members left their seats, lined up along the chamber to the exit and loudly cheered Mr Churchill as he walked from his seat. The three “noes” were Dr. Alfred Salter (Labour), Messrs Britt and Gallagher (Communist). Messrs J. Maxton and J. McGovern (Independent Labour Party), who forced the division, were tellers, and as Mr Campbell Stephen, the remaining member of the Independent Labour Party was absent, the Independent Labour Party was unable to register a single vote against the Government.