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THE CHINA MAIL, MAY 8, 1940.
THE COMMONS DEBATE
SIR ARCHIBALD SINCLAIR CALLS FOR NEW VIGOUR
London, To-day.
Sir Archibald Sinclair, Leader of the Liberals, after as- soclating himself with the tributes to the courage and will of the Allied fighting forces in Norway, said in the Commons debate he was not surprised the Chiefs of Staff had felt some anxiety about what might be said in the course of the debate. He was sorry, however, that Mr. Chamberlain had men- tioned the matter because their debates must be ab- solutely free and there must be no suggestion at all, either from outside, from military officers or from any other direction, of hints or advice as to how they were being conducted.
"I am not at all sure that if we wished to indulge in a 'tu quoque,' which is the last thing in which I de- sire to indulge, we might not say it would be a good thing if Ministers themselves. would keep in their own hands contacts with the Press, and that it would be better if all contacts with the Press were carried out by Ministers and if statements made on
by Ministers and not by professional 20016.behalf of the Government were made
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any
"I don't wish to criticise, more than Mr. Attlee criticised, the to evacuate Government decision
advised Norway when they were by the Chiefs of Staff that it was Impossible to carry to a successful conclusion the operations for capture of Trondheim.
the
"It seems to me that in those cir- cumstances the Government was abundantly right to act on the advice of their military advisers.
"Our
Why?
criticism and examination might be directed to the question why we ever got ourselves into a position in which we had to accept defeat in Norway.
1
a major "It is, however, not
disaster. Nothing has military happened to shake our confidence in the courage and efficiency of our fighting forces and to weaken our resolve to win the war, but some- which dooe thing has happened
foresight and suggest that more energy and a more ruthless will to victory is required in the supervis- Ing of our war efforts.
"But if the military, consequences are not of our defeat in Norway comparable to those suffered in the last war, they are sufficiently pleasant.
un-
"I shan't exaggerate but we must face facts and not dig our heads into
the sand.
"The casualties were not negligible. The loss of material was not negligi- ble either. We lost numbers of cer- tain weapons and warships of which for some our prospective supply
our time ahead insufficient for needs.
is
Economic Aspect
"The other consequences, however, The Prime are much more serious. Minister did not touch on the econo- mic aspect of them.
"We have lost all our Norway, Denmark and all the Baltic countries. is sealed to us.
supplies from Sweden and The Baltic
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"We must not forget the 570,000 tons of iron ore which we Import- ad from Narvik and which la the meantime and must, 1 afraid, for some time to come cut off.
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"Let us be clear that when we do take Narvik we shall and the Ger- mans have destroyed everything value in that place,
"Diplomatically, our position weakened in every country in world.
Only Results Count
of
18
the
"The complacent and ill-founded boastings of Ministers contrasts fully with the hard swift blows of the Ger- man forces, for in war it is only results which count.
"Another serious loss we have suf-
tered is the blow to the credit of our press and the B.B.C.
1
blames the "The Prime Minister
rosy Stockholm reports for their colour. I agree that the Stockholm re- ports were the worst sources of mis- leading news to the public but bitter complaints have been made to me by British journalists, by representatives of Empire newspapers and by foreign '
the misleading character of some of the official com- muniques. journalists about
"The idea was given that the land- tremendous ing of troops was a achievement and there was a gen- eral air of optimism generated that all was going well.
"This gave these pressmen a mis- leading idea of the true situation.
"The root cause is that our war ef- fort is not being sustained and thrust forward with ruthless war-minded energy in every Government depart- ment and in every field of 'policy.”
Ruthlessness Wanted
Sir Archibald Sinclair claimed that the British forces ought to have been ready and practising, as the Germans were practising, for the Norwegian operations.
"Now that the Germans are secure in Trondheim, Britain's best gateway into Sweden is closed.
"If the occupation of Trondheim was not. feasible this Norwegian ex- pedition ought never to have been un- dertaken. If it was feasible the opera- tion then ought to have been under- taken with ruthless determination.
“The - Germans
may-havə-sacri- ficed a third of their floot. That fleet helped to win a campaign, which is more than the Kaiser's fleet ever succeeded in doing.
"The Prime Minister has condemned the Germans for their disregard of life A wise in bringing reinforcements. general doesn't throw away the lives of his troops without regard to the objects to be achieved, but 10,000 must surely be an exaggerated estimate of German losses in the Skagerrak, and it is not a great sacrifice to pay for a victorious modern battle, let alone a campaign.
While We Hesitated "The Germans pushed resolutely through Oslo while we hesitated out- side Trondheim.
Sir Archibald Sinclair supported Mr. Attlee's contention that seasoned troops and not Territorials should have been sent to Norway, and severely criticised the Government for not supplying white coats and snowshoes to
men.
the
They had an unsuitable type of mounting, they had no trained mon range to work the guns and no taxles, and they were utterly use- less. One transport had no chrono- moter or barometer or -International not Code book. It had no arms, -even a rifle, and the food on board was for less than half the men, Ghe:currlad:#›smali;party of wound- ad: soldiers: but there was no medical attention.
Replying to an interjection by Mr. Churchill, Sir Archibald said he would inform the First Lord of the name of the ship privately. He hoped no-one would suffer because of having com minicated this information.
(Continued on Page 9)
P
THE CHINA MAIL, MAY 8, 1940.