SHARP CRITICISM BY OPPOSITION

Dominion, Volume 33, Issue 191, 9 May 1940, Page 9

SHARP CRITICISM BY OPPOSITION

Leaders’ Statements DEFECTS IN WAR CABINET Tributes To Soldiers (British Official Wireless and Press Assn.) RUGBY, May 7. The Leader of the Opposition, Mr. Attlee, after paying a tribute to the courage, skill, and devotion of the Allied forces in Norway, said that though the withdrawal was a great feat of arms, it represented a setback. It was the duty of the House of Commons to examine intg the events which had occurred. As regards the Finnish expeditionary force, he said, he could not understand its rapid dispersal. If it was true this force comprised 100,000 men in March, and the Government had in mind the laying of mines off the coast of Norway, which was announced about April 8, he asked how it was that this force was not kept in being to meet a German counter-stroke. The gravamen of the Opposition’s attack was that there did not seem to have been a thinking out of plans beforehand, intelligent anticipation, or the necessary concentration on essential objectives. Mr Attlee asked whteher there was at any time delay and discussion when action was necessary. He said that he was not iu the least satisfied, in spite of what the Prime Minister had said, that the present War Cabinet was an efficient instrument for conducting the war. It was not through Norway alone. That had come as the culmination of many other discontents. People were saying that those who were mainly responsible for the conduct of affairs were men who all had an almost uninterrupted career of failure. , Mr. Attlee concluded: “There is a widespread feeling in the country, not that we will lose the war —we shall win it—but that to win it we need different people at the helm from those who led us into it.” “More Ruthless Will.” The Lilipral Leader, Sir Archibald Sinclair, also joined, iu a tribute to the fighting forces. He said he did not wish to criticize the Government’s decision to evacuate southern Norway when advised that the capture of Trondheim was impossible, but he would direct criticism to the question of how the position arose in which the defeat in Norway had been accepted. It was not a military disaster. The nation’s confidence was unshaken. Nothing had happened to deprive Britain of the use of the large resources vital for the future conduct of the war or which affected the British power or resolve to win. “But,” he added,“there is something it does suggest—that more energy and a stronger, more ruthless will to victory is required in the conduct of the war effort.” He had uo desire to exaggerate, but it was necessary not to bury their heads in the sand, and he suggested that neither the loss of materials nor the loss of supplies from Norway, Sweden, and Denmark were negligible factors.

Sir Archibald Sinclair, after giving revelations from men who had returned from Norway, expressed doubt whether the Finnish force ever exr isted on the scale described b.v Mr. Chamberlain.

Giving examples of confusion, he said that two anti-aircraft guns which were landed were unsuitably mounted, had no means of testing sights, no trained gunners, and no range tables. One transport sailed without a chronometer, without a barometer, without arms, and without escort, had food for less than half the men aboard, no medical provisions for the wounded, and no charts for the fjords to which the ship was directed. Policy Toward Sweden.

Speaking of Sweden, Sir Archibald Sinclair said that. Mr. Chamberlain had expressed concern about her situation and hoped that she would preserve strict neutrality. “Let us be fair to Sweden,” he said. “She is now surrounded and German pressure on her will increase. Shall we be ready to help her resist Germany and, if so, how? Are we prepared to send her military and air support? “Herr Hitler,” he concluded, “has taken time by the beard and has struck quickly. We must show equal swiftness of action if wo want to win the war. Parliament must see that we have done with half measures and must, insist upon and rally to a policy of wore vigorous prosecution of the w.”