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(ii) Attacks on assemblies of shipping, troops or
aircraft when they are located, e.g. the attacks on aircraft on the ground at the Rouen, Boos and Glissey aerodromes. In this connection I liked the suggestion in the Intelligence Summary, 4.30 p.m. 20th June, Report No. 45, that in view of the difficulty of obtaining sufficient evidence in German occupied Norwegian and North Sea ports to determine whether they are transports "the only safeguard appears to be to sink all merchant ships in German occupied harbours as soon as they are sighted."
(iii) If enemy transports get to sea, or aircraft into
the air, to attack them mercilessly during their passage.
(iv) If and when they reach our shores or land on
our aerodromes to bomb and machine-gun them to the utmost possible extent.
The Navy's role would seem to differ little from that of the Air. They, too, can carry out a certain amount of reconnaissance by means of submarines, destroyers and cruisers. Their duty also is to attack the transports and their escorts in harbour, if they can get there, or at any time in their passage across the sea, or in the event of their arrival being reported at a port or beach.
as
I am not clear, however, what is the role of our capital ships. The enemy may use his capital ships, in the case of the Norwegian expedition, to draw our main fleet away from the various landings; and in that event the main fleet would, of course, require its proper complement of cruisers or destroyers and the forces available to smash up the enemy's transports would be much reduced. Alternatively, the enemy may use his armoured forces to convoy the most important of the invading forces. Or, if he still has enough surface ships, he will probably adopt both plans. When the question of invasion was raised by the present Prime Minister, the then First Lord, in the early part of the war I somehow or other got the impression that in no circumstances would our larger Naval units (capital ships at any rate) be used in the southern part of the North Sea.
That may have been due to some special conditions at the time. But I feel that this is a point on which the Government and the Services ought to know the position.
The Army's role does not begin until the sea-borne enemy arrives off our coasts, or an air-borne enemy descends on our territory. I think the Army's role has been made absolutely clear, namely to attack the enemy as violently as possible from the moment when he comes within range of whatever weapons are available on the spot.
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