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-HONGKONG DAILY PRESS
CHURCHILL
REVIEWS
OUR NUMERICAL DEFICIENCY
HAS CONDEMNED. US".
WHY BRITISH FLEET DID NOT GO
UP TRONDHEIM FJORD
LONDON, May 9 (Reuter)-Mr. Winston Churchill, replying to the Debate, said that a new issue was sprung upon the House at 5 p.m. and we are being invited to consider all the faults of the Government. A vote of censure is to be taken unexpect edly, with this little notice on the adjournment tonight,»
Regarding the Norwegian Campaign, and the war in general, Mr. Churchill said that in this war we had been frequently asked why we did not take the initiative.
The reason for this serious disadvantage of our not having taken the initiative is one which cannot speedily be removed. It was our failure in the last five years to maintain or regain air parity with Germany.
In the last two years, Op- position parties came round and gave great and valuable aid, but the fact remains that we had failed to achieve, air parity which was considered to be vital to our security,
armies. We must not exag- gerate this new factor but nelther must we refuse to give it Its deadly due. ..
NAVAL PREPONDERANCE
CABLES
AIR
and Aandalsnes prevented the landing at those small fishing sports of any large reinforce- mes and even of artillery and many supplies for the troops land- ed.
i
WITHDRAWAL OR DEATH
FRIDAY, MAY 10, 1940.” —PAGE 17
PARITY WITH GERMANY
SIH SAMUEL HOARE
AIR FORCE SPLENDID
"DEFECTS BOTH
BOTH IN METHODS
33
AND PERSONNEL" STRABOLGI
GOVERNMENT SHOULD HAVE KNOWN
TRONDHEIM WAS KEY POSITION
LONDON, May 9. (Reuter)-In the House of Lords yesterday, Lord Strabolgi (Labour) moved a motion at the request of the Leader of the Opposition calling at- tention to "the conduct of the war generally and particularly to the operations in Nor -way."
Opening with a tribute to the gallantry and devotion to duty of the Services in Scandinavia, Lord Strabolgt made particular mention of "the magnificent quality" of the airmen from the Dominion's.
no he did not think it could be main- tained for one, moment that the
He contended that there was considerable uneasiness about the Government's conduct of affairs and still more about the possibility of their mending their ways.
The Norwegian operations, he said, were a symptom of a disease which must be treated quickly or become chronic. The disease was that there were defects both in It was, therefore, necessary to
the methods and the personnel of the Government. He said that his party, had agreed that we were perfectly right withdraw the troops or leave them
in immediately sending what help we could.. to be destroyed by overwhelming
But the German plan of attack- forces. The decision to withdraw LONDON, May 9 (Reuter)-Taking Norway in the World War had mán aggression would have
If we failed the victims of Ger- As far as Narvik was concerned was undoubtedly sound (Governing part in the debate, Sir Samuel been known in detalls for some hoped whatever or restoration. men: cheers) and the withdrawal Hoare, the Air Minister, said that years by the combined General Mr. Churchill went on to say of these troops was accomplished he proposed to concentrate upon Stans and the three fighting sermore dangerous challenge than the smallest lack of vigour or de-, We were facing, he said, a far Government or Services displayed that the Rt. Hon. Mr. A. V. Alex with very great skill and with very the events of the last month and vices. ander had asked why we did not good luck. And the responsible the part taken in those operations
this country had ever meta chal- edalon. Our numerical deficiency in the touch the enemy communications naval. military and alt author-by the B.AF.
The knowledge "had not per-lenge which demanda every ounce "With regard to Central Norway." air. In spite of our superiority in in the Skagerrak, for our present les principally
colated upwards and Mr. Cham-of concerned, ELT
energy. material, intellectual He said that the political advan quality both in men and manaval preponderance
The Germans were in control of berlain was able to say that we and spiritual, that this country tages of action were so over-riding ought terials, has condemned us and will make it feasible for us to dominate stage united.
to the War Cabinet, were at every all strategical aerodromes in cen-had been taken completely by sur-car summon to its task. condemn us for some time to the Skagerrak with our surface Mr. Herbert Morrison, interven-.
tral and southern Norway. That prise. come to a great deal of difficulty, ships and thus cut communications in asked if the naval authorities never be forgotten when they con- the top were so occupied with de- The fact was that the men at was a critical fact which must suffering, and danger which
we with Oslo from the first moment on the spot at Trondheim were sidered the military operations. that partmental work that they were must endure with armness unul and continuously.
willing and anxious to enter
not free to devote their minds to more favourable conditions can be
subsequently took place!"
the prosecution of the war. established, as assuredly they will
be
It is no ase talking about this, war in terms of the last war, Power in the air has great- ly affected it and in some ways has decisively affected the movements of fleets and
But the Immense enemy, alr Trondheim and whether their strength which can be brought to desire was countermanded or not bear on our patrolling craft has sanctioned by Whitehall
made this method far too costly to be adopted. Important forces would have to be inflicted on that patrol from the air and this would, undoubtedly, very soon constitute
a naval "disaster,
TOOK EXPERT NAVAL OPINION
"I am so sorry these things should be So, We, therefore, adopted a submarine blockade as the only method at our dis- posal and in doing this I followed the 'opinión, of the naval authorities. There is a great deal of difference about being re- «. sponsible for an order which might jose several valuable ships and expressing opinion without such responsibility.
I had been guided in the But when the German outrage advice I gave to the Cabinet by occurred, there was no dispute responsible naval expert opinion, that we were bound to go to the therefore we limited our opera- atd. ot the Norwegians, tions in the Skagerrak to submar-Trondheim was the place. Ines,
In order to make that block- ade as effective as possible, the usual restrictions, which we had imposed on the action of our submarines were relaxed. \_All German, ships, by day or by night, were to be sunk as the opportunity served.
and
The plan was prepared by the Joint Staffs for two diversionary landings at. Namsos and Aandal- snes, and for a direct landing at Trondheim Fjord where the enemy forces had seized that port. This. Was undoubtedly. 宜 hazardous operation.
Mr. Churchill replied: "I nal_ only deny. it but I give a strong denial. There, were no naval authorities on the spot at Trondheim. No
authorities
that We consulted differed from the advice tendered by the Chiefs of Staffs and Vice- Chiefs, but the Ministers are not sheltered by the fact that
they accepted expert advice. GLAD TO TAKE RESPONSIBILITY "I always believed that the Navy could carry troops into Trondheim Fjord and land them to come to grips with the enemy. I would have been glad to take all possible responsibility for the attempt pro- vided it was supported by expert opinion:
"But even if we assume that this view. is right that we would be masters at Trond- heim or its ruins by April 25- could we have brought to bear a sufficient army south of -Trondheim to drive the in-
vader back?
"Even we had at the present time got 25.000 or 30.000 Allied troops into action on that front which in view of the enemy's alr superiority is highly questionable. such a force would not have been able to arrive in time or be equip-
NAVY READY This statement that I made was.
There was the fact that a very most foolishly and grotesquely large number of valuable shife twisted into the statement that all would have to be continuously ex- German ships would be sunk. Dosed for many hours to air at- Nobody can give so absurd a tack, and possibly with grievous results. Nevertheless the. Navy was This has been a costly German perfectly ready to carry troops in, ped with artillery or anything like quccess. Seven or eight thousand and no doubt about their ability equal air support in time. raeri have been drowned and to do so was entertained. thousands of corpses had been
promise as that
washed up.
#
Why then, was this plan timed for April 25 abandoned? It was abandoned because on April 17 the two diversionary" divisions bad.made good pro- gress and it seemed earlier that the capture of Trondheim carld be effected
by this method rather than incur the heavy cost of a direct attack The Admiralty never withdrew
~NO BIG SHIP Replying to the question as to why did we not send a big ship into Narvik on the first day with the destroyers. Mr. Churchill said the reason was that the only one available was a battle cruiser, We had two battle cruisers and we felt it would be a very great danger to the balance of the Fleet their offer
от
35
It meant from the very outset that the RAF was suffering under a handicap as their machines had to fly hundreds of miles backwards and forwards across the North Sea,; while the enemy had air bases on the spot
as to justify some risk, The Gov- ernment did not underate the risks but decided without a moment's unnecessary delay that these riaka should be run.
It was not necessary or advis- able that he should attempt to state the precise reasons why the naval bombardment at Trondheim was not undertaken: ---It would in- volve a mass of detalls and assist the enemy.
there was a short cut to victory.
He deprecated the delusion that
He said he had never dis- guised from himself what "an immense strain would be Lord Strabolgi criticised the
Imposed on us or that it would Government for not realising
largely depend on our capacity quickly enough that Trond- to keep steady and marshal, helm was the key to the whole
our efforts without waste or situation. He criticised them
dissipation of vital energy. for not making a direct attack Therefore, he hoped the Gov- on the port which "of course vernment would not be deflected
INQUIRY DEPRECATED would have succeeded."
"The Government took this deel- from. their main purpose, but The present operations in Nar-would act as and when it appear-ston after giving full consideration were a match against any enemy vik were of great importance.bed to them in the light or the best to the opinion of its responsible and on reasonably equal terms] Other plans' must be formulated possible technical advice with ae-advisers. would take very heavy toll. and the Germans cleared out of tion best calculated to achieve re-
Sir Samuel praised the R.A.F. men and said that in quality they
Sir Samuel said that two lessons Norway had been learned from the opera- tions in Norway!
1. The superiority of the British Aghter over the German bomber but a strong air power must be met by stronger air power.
2.-The power of the British Air Force" striking night after night,
The quality of this force, he said, was unsurpassed but the quantity was not nearly big enough.
The momentum of production was how gathering speed.
www
DEBATE ENDS
He considered that there should! be a select committee to make
Inquiry into the campaign.
LORD HANKEY'S REPLY
sults.
AMATEUR STRATEGISTS
1.
พ
sunk
of
Referring to the landing troops the Trondheim area, Lord Hankey mentioned that on April 20 a ship in convoy, loaded He would be greatly alarmed if with anti-aircraft guILS. motor the amateur strategists who were transport. ammunition and other Lord Hankey spoke of the shouting for immediate action had valuable stores, was torpedoed and heroism and competence of
our command of affairs.
Nothing would lead to more dis-sunk during the whole campalgi It was the only transport forces in Norway as "a shining example to the nation of good aster than to yield to temptation and it was a particularly serious augury for the days to come.”
for large scale adventures.
loss at that juncture. Answering allegations of
Dealing with Mr. Churchill's new the
Lord Hankey deprecated the in- lack of intelligence in the reports duties, Lord Halifax hoped that quiry and said the set back would given concerning the events Lord the result would be to give valu- not prevent us from winning the Hankey said. "We had a general able assistance in the direction of waz. knowledge that the enemy had as higher strategy "of war
HEAVY CASUALTIES sembled troops and shipping andį
Replying to questions whether
were practising embarkation and matters of supply would tall with- He pointed out that the opera- disembarkation But the Norwe-in Mr. Churchill's power. Lord tions in Norway had drawn some gians and Danes themselves have Halifax said he did not doubt that eight or nine German divisions close connections with Germany Mr. Churchill naturally would be and a huge air force away frown yet they had not the slightest idea in a position to have any investi- the main theatre of war into Nor what was going on.
gation he wished made into any way where they sustained very "We really could not know more question, of supply. He could sug- heavy casualties than the Governments of Norway gest any improvement in organj- We ought not to be depressed, and Denmark.”
sation and could bring, any bottle he said, at the withdrawal but to Regarding the German plans neck questions to the Cabinet for take comfort the fact that our which Lord Strabolgi had inen-solution.
forces comported themselves in a manner equal to the great tradi- LONDON, May 9 (Reuter) Intioned.. Lord Hankey sald that
tions of the past. "German communications in the winding up for the Opposition, Mr. there were of course many books north- were incomparably superior A. V. Alexander (Labour), paid tri- of that kind produced to anything we could obtain at bute to the work of the fighting Trondheim and the auxiliary land.services in the last four difficult Ing places in the region. It would weeks in Scandinavia. ̧ have been a costly struggle.
IF SWEDEN
ל
NO SPLIT IN COUNTRY
It was of course known to the Staffs that these plans existed and we had plans ready for emergency operations which would be necessáry,
COMMON IDEAL With referthce to the construc- tion of the War Cabinet and a
NATION'S. UNITY suggestion for a smaller non-de-
Lord Spell said that the Labour partmental body, Lord Halifax Party wished to reassert in the said that they all wanted the strongest way the essential unity same thing, namely the despatch of the nation concerning the prin of business as efficiently as might ciples for which the country was be. But it would be very rash to at war. "There has not been, nor assure that all the advantages in
will there be either "retreat or division. this argument were on one side.
There was a very real danger that the apparent simplification Might against Right, Despotism In all circumstances the Gov-would simply introduce another um Against Democracy, there are against Freedom and Totalitarian-
#
He felt that a great deal too much had been made of the.. dispersal of the Finnish ex- pedition.
NO MISTAKE MADE
In pressing for a change in the "There are already 120,000 Gėr
outlook and, if necessary, in 'the man troops operating in Southern composition of the Government, and Central Norway. Although we Mr. Alexander said that they were could have thrown in continual doing this because they knew the reintorcements, I cannot believe feeling in many parts of the coun- considered the
that there Was" the slightest
try with regard to those forces who chance of success between an were in Norway. if we had lost a battle cruiser, operation impracticable in the
ernment did not feel justified in cog into the machine and cause The authorities in the Admiralty. Baval aspect. Grave doubts were army based on Trondheim and the
German army based on Oslo." Mr, Alexander said he was also retaining inactive all these forces additional delay. to entertained by the military when HMS Warspite went Narvik, were very much relieved regards the possibility of making sweden bad come to Norway's ald given by Sir Samuel Hoare, Mr. for other purposes.
Mr. Churchill added that If not satisfied with the explanations and mobilizing shipping required They all had one purpos
winning the War. If it was, at to and that no controlled "mine-a landing in the face of the
and at her airports at the dis-Oliver Stanley and the informa-
any time, thought that other felds had been laid in the fjord enemy air superiority.
posal of the RAF a different tion given by the Government of
men could do the job better. and that no destroyer was lurking in some narrow angle to fire its Chiefs of Staffs, and the Vice-position might have been estab- the German intentions prior to the
then any member of the Goy- chiefs, without the slightest dif
lished
invasion of Norway.
ernment, as far as he was bouquet of torpedoes.
ference of opinion, advised that
aware, would be willing to be would be less costly and easier t
relieved of a responsibility convert the diversionary landings
that could bring no personal. Into the main attack,
satisfaction but which would be only a burden.
Things are very different when looked at beforehand. 'and looked at afterwards. What would have been said if the Warsplte had been sunk? It was madness to send one of our most valued ships into narrow and congested waters. If you dare and the forfeit is exacted, it is murder of your sallors, and I prudence with- holds, you are craven, coward- 1y. Inept and timid.
AIR ARM WORK
Int those circumstances,
tne
L
* DID NOT WITHDRAW Nobody has the right to suggest that the Navy withdrew from their undertaking, or that politicians over-ruled the Admiralty.
500 no
Government
Told Get On Not Get Out
"LONDON, May 9 (Reuter) = The lipportance of the fact that the two-day debate in the House of Commons and the House of Lords was held despite opposition by the military was stressed in a talk from Daventry yesterday by Mr. Cyrl) Laklu, amistant editor of the Sunday Times.
+
"I am convinced that our deci- sion was right,” he said. "and it made no difference."
"In restating the evil trinity of
no parties or divisions.”
NOT A DISASTER Lord Birdwood" said that it was wrong to describe the evacuation of Central Norway as a disaster It would not influence our final victory and he regarded the eva cuation as a definite achievement of valour, but very different from what happened in Gallipoli where our troops were taken right away from the theatre of war, while t Norway's decision placed us un-
Norway they are being retained
· UNNECESSARY STRAIN der a grave disadvantage at all
Nobody who was doing his best for such operations as might be stages of the affair.
would have the right to mind batsultation with the Staff.
thought advisable, after full con- Without preliminary conversa ought to welcome being told of tions no plans could be concerted his mistakes
He submitted that a plan of 'campaign was as good as could be devised without previous consul- tation with Norway to which, for reasons well known. Norway had been unable to agree..
to forestall the kind of aggression Lord Halifax sald
did not mat which. the Germans carried out.
ter from the point of view of the We were not sumciently inform-Government that a large percen- military dispositions,
He trusted the Government in future the would agree that whole object will be to strike hard, might and day, Irresistibly. He hoped that Brash and French
There has been a good deal of able about Mr. Churchill's "newed about the Norwegian plans ortage of the criticism was bound to troops will be employed in never-
3
I take full responsibility, together witha the Primme Minister and other Ministers, for having accepted unani- mously the view of our uneasiness at the Norweglad set- appointment, in which he will
be only partially informed and at We were asked why did we not
expert advisers✈ I
bäck, he said. "Criticism cagie be responsible for the supervision
A DIFFICULT" TASK
the same time based on failer ending mida on the whole German go into Bergen, Trondheim and
reason to alter my view by
communications. from both the Opposition" and of all military operations. There It was very difficult going to knowledge than was available to other ports in the first few hours." what I have learned dince,. Government benches. Looking is only the fear lest this should help a country against audden at- the Government when they took If troops had not been landed the
However, the situation may back at it and taking into con- be too heavy a load even for him, tack if one was unable to concert their action. "But when the effect -only object of going up the fjords rapidly become worse. The Ger-sideration yesterday's press com- but that has been provided for. arrangements beforehand, .
of"the criticism was to suggest to would be to destroy such edemy man thrust to North Oslo has ment, Mr. Lakin felt that all this The general impression is that We were forestalled in Norwe-the country that its war effort was destroyers as were there. These developed at an enormous pace. showed the mind and temper of the Prime Minister was rather on sian ports because the enemy was misconceived and misapplied by were largely destroyed from the The Norwegians were not able to both Parliament and the nation the defensive but Mr. Lakin not bound by any scruples, cor- those responsible for its own ends, air by the Fleet Air Arm.
hold the mountain passes and they that they are saying to the Gor-pointed out that it is worth re-responding to those binding us. It could only add unnecessarily There is no dispute that our did not destroy the roads and ernment to get on and, not get calling that Mr. Chamberlain had DANGEROUS. CHALLENGE. and unprofitably to the inevitable duty was to do our best to help railways: "
said that his military advisors
Lord Halifax dealt with the cri- strain of war. the Norwegians, and for that the Mr. Churchill added that on Apr, Everyone realises that it is un-were against any debate on Norticism that we were not bringing No division was taken in the capture of Trondheim was the 25 or 28 the possibility of the ar- fair and futile to form judgment way on the ground that it might effective and timely help to the House of Lords. best way. My thoughts had always rival in the regions sovh of on the debate when we know give information to the enemy, neutrals.
NO LACK OF VIGOUR been fixed on Narvik, for there, it Trondheim of very large German that, the defence, in this case the but the "debate was held. The He said that If the Alles won Lord Hankey declared that no seems, is the path which might forces had been foreseen. At the Government, could not reveal all allies are not only defending de- the war there were certain as- charge of lack of viggur for decl- lead to some deëlsive achievement same.time intense and continuous the facts.
mocracy but they are defending. Itsurances for those endaved by son could be sustained in respect in the war.
bombing of the bases at Namisos Comment has been very favour:| democratically.
Nazi tyranny.
of the Navy or Air Force.
ין
out.
The small, German detach÷ ments should be absolutely wiped out and the Norwegian people should be behind them in that.
LORD TRENCHARD Lord Trenchard said that it was extremely doubtful whether the capture of Trondheim would have given us air superiority. It might have made things a thousand times more dangerous.
RESPONSIBILITY SHARED Lord Halifax, replying to the Debate, said: "It is not possible Continued on Back Pate