CONDUCT OF WAR

Wairarapa Times-Age, 8 May 1941, Page 5

CONDUCT OF WAR

CRITICISM IN HOUSE i OF COMMONS FOREIGN OFFICE METHODS. j MR. HORE-BELISHA ON HELP TO GREECE. (.By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyrighti LONDON. May 6. In the debate that followed the Foreign Secretary’s speech members of the House of Commons heard criticism and praise for the Government from all parts of the House. Mr Lees-Smith, leader of the Labour Front Bench, emphasised that the main theatre of war was still in the Atlantic. “Our inability to use Irish ports is fantastic and has now become a matter of urgency in view of the Mediterranean situation." he said. “The use of Berehaven and Lough Swilly in our own Dominion of Southern Ireland would transform the submarine wai overnight. The attention of the United States should be drawn to this matter, because her policy of patrol is being defeated by Southern Ireland’s policy.”

Were it not for the British Navy, Southern Ireland would be in the same position as Poland. Denmark, or Holland. Mr Lees-Smith criticised the way we were taken by surprise in Iraq, and asked why air reconnaissance was unable to prevent the Germans transporting tank divisions to Libya. He also, asked whether the Government was satisfied that the Vichy Government was maintaining strict neutrality. Sir Percy Harris (Liberal), said there was a feeling that over and over again the Foreign Office had been outmanoeuvred. “We should cease being superior and adopt the crude but effective methods of Germany." he said. “Mr Eden should overhaul the Foreign Office and recognise that this is not a kid-glove war." Praise for Mr Churchill came from Professor Savory (Conservative), who said that one must go back to the days of the Younger Pitt to find a statesman who would compare with the Prime Minister. ATTACK ON ITALY. The former Secretary of State for War, Mr Hore-Belisha (Liberal) said help to Greece should have been given six months' earlier, as then advocated urgently by all sections of the House of Commons. Italy was most vulnerable and our task was to break Italy’s communications with Albania, and, if possible. break Italy herself. “Members pleaded for the discharge of our obligation to Greece by concentrated bombing of Italy,” Mr HoreBelisha said. “Why was not that course followed when Lord Beaverbrook was saying that our stores were bulging with aeroplanes.

“Grave calamities will ensue unless we remedy what is wrong with our information service. It failed us in Norway, in France, at Dakar, and in Iraq. How much longer can this selfdeception continue?” Mr Hore-Belisha criticised the inconsistency of attaching importance to our success in North Africa and minimising the importance of the places we had seized now that we had lost them. He urged that we should meet the Germans only when we could do so on equal terms —not with ill-prepared plans or an inadequate expedition. We must concentrate on the production of tanks as much as planes, and our Army must have air support as an integral part of its establishment. ALLEGED DAY-DREAMS. “We are still day-dreaming about the amount of shipping we shall receive from America,” said Mr Shinwell (Labour). “Mr Churchill has declared that next year several million tons of American shipping will be available to us. An analysis of the American shipping programme and of the capacity of American shipyards completely disproves it.” The Lord Privy Seal. Mr Attlee, wound up the first day of the debate by pointing out that we could not choose our battlefields with the nicety that had been suggested in the debate, because the enemy did not go where we wanted him to go. The lesson of the war. he said, was that we could not sit behind a defensive wall and wait for the attack, but he was confident we would hold our position in the Middle East, and. looking back, he believed. despite Hitler's successes, we were in a stronger position than six months ago. The debate was adjourned.