CONDUCT OF WAR

Wairarapa Times-Age, 9 January 1942, Page 3

CONDUCT OF WAR

DEBATES IN BRITISH PARLIAMENT NEGLECT IN FAR EAST DENIED. PRESSURE OF COMPETING DEMANDS. \ LONDON. January 8. Both Houses of Parliament debated the war situation. In the House of Lords, Lord Moyne (Colonial Secretary) gave new details of the scorched earth policy, which was being ruthlessly applied in Malaya. The War Council at Singapore, he said, had given instructions that all slocks of rubber, copper and tin and mining plant and transport were to be denied to the enemy by ruthless destruction if necessary. Statements about the failure to effect a scorched earth policy in Penang had been exaggerated, Lord Moyne said. All ships were successfully evacuated, except 50 small craft which included six vessels not exceeding 75 tons. GENERAL WAVELL’S COMMAND. Mr Attlee, speaking in the House of Commons, said Australian, Netherlands, the United States and British officers would be included in General Wavell’s staff in the South-West Pacific. His command would not include India and Australia. This arrangement was part of wider Allied plans. The dispatch of supplies to Russia and elsewhere meant that our territories in the Far East had not been garrisoned and equipped as strongly as we would have wished. It was beyond our resources to be strong everywhere. The Japanese landing in Thailand had been unopposed and there was reason to believe that stores of fuel had been accumulated there for them in advance.

In Malaya aerodromes and stores had been destroyed by the withdrawing forces, and everything done to hinder the enemy's progress. Fifteen aerodromes had been lost but none had been taken as the result of parachute or airborne attacks. They were lost because it was impossible to hold the areas in which they were situated. It was unfair, he said, to blame the commanders on the spot for the fact that we were not as strong as we could wish. Answering a question, Mr Attlee said that staff talks had taken place between the British military authorities in the Far East and General Chiang Kai-shek before the declaration of war by Japan. After speaking of the work of the Navy in maintaining communications and taking toll of the enemy, Mr Attlee paid a tribute to the steadfast valour of the garrison and people of Malta. In the Battle of the Atlantic, he said there had been a satisfactory decline in our shipping losses, but it would be unwise not to recognise the strain which the extension of the wai had placed on the Navy and the Mercantile Marine. It was satisfactory to know that tanks and planes sent from this country had played their part in the great and valiant achievements of the Soviet Army. SOME CRITICISMS. In the course of debate several members strongly criticised the Government’s handling of the Far Eastern situation. Suitable provision, it was stated, had not been made for Singapore and the Far East. Some members contended that we had concentrated too much of our energy on the production of tanks and heavy bombers, instead of torpedo-bombers and planes to defend our ships. , The Foreign Secretary (Mr Eden), who replied, said the Dominions were not of one mind regarding representation on the British Cabinet. The Prime Ministers of Canada and New Zealand were satisfied with the present arrangement. The Prime Minister of Australia took another view. 1 Mr Eden said that when reinforcements had been sent to the Middle East, the calls of Malaya and Singapore had not been forgotten. If the wrong course had been taken it had not been taken deliberately and was not due to neglect. Reinforcements had been sent many times to the Far East since 1939.