1939-11-09 — Page 7

THE CHINA MAIL, NOVEMBER 9, 1939

FRANK STATEMENT BY MR. CHURCHILL ON LOSS OF

'ROYAL OAK:" TOO ASSURED

66

London, To-day.

GENERAL

THE NAVY'S BITTER lesson from the sinking of the

"Royal Oak" in Scapa Flow was admitted by the STRATEGY First Lord of the Admiralty, Mr. Winston Chur- chill, in a statement in the Commons last night, OF THE WAR in which he gave further details of the loss of the battleship.

in the course of another statement on the war at sea, Mr. Churchill said it was now established that the "Royal Oak" was sunk by a German U-boat which penetrated the defences of the landlocked anchorage at Scapa Flow.

Neither the physical obstructions, such as nets or patrolling craft, were in that state of strength and efficiency required to make the anchorage absolutely fool-proof, as it should have been, against the attack of a U-boat on the surface, or half-submerged at high water.

the

more

Measures had been taken and were by the Ark Royal which the German being taken to improve the physical Wireless has sunk so many times. obstructions, and it was

"When

recall the necessary, while those defences were

absurd claims that they have shouted to incomplete, that patrolling craft the world, I cannot resist saying should have been particularly num- that we shall be quite content to engage the entire German Navy using only

vessels which they have declared they have destroy: ed.

erous.

But, went on Mr. Churchill, from a variety of causes connected with the movements of the Fleet, those patrol- ling craft were reduced below what was required.

He was unable to enter into details for a full explanation would reveal to the enemy matters which would throw light upon the methods of defence.

"I must content myself by say. ing that the long and famed Im. munity which Scapa Flow had

gained in the last war had led to a too easy valuation of the dangers which were present."

"An undue degree of risk was ac- cepted both at the Admiralty and in the Fleet.

NONE BELIEVED

"No more striking measure of the strong sense of security against U-Boats which covered Scapa Flow can be found than in the fact that after one torpedo had struck the "Royal Oak," none of the vigilant. experienced officers aboard her con- ceived that it could be a torpedo.

"Danger from the air was the first to be apprehended and large numbers of the crew took their air rald stations under armour. and were thereby doomed, while, at the same time, the Captain and Admiral were examining the alternative

of an internal explosion,

posalbilities

"It was in these conditions that a second volley of torpedoes was dis- charged."

the

re-

The Admiralty, upon whom broad responsibility rests are solved to learn this bitter lesson, namely, that in this new war, with its many novel complications, noth- ing must be taken for granted and that every joint in our harness must be tested and strengthened so far as our resources and ingenuity allow.

tons

of

London, To-day.

tion in the war was outlined The general strategic posi- by Mr. Hore-Belisha yester- day at a private joint meet- ing of the Conservative Pri-

BRITAIN AND BULGARIA

London, To-day.

It is officially announced that Notes have been exchanged be- tween Lord Halifax and the But- garian Minister in London am.. bodying an agreement to facili- tate trade between Britain and Bulgaria-Reuter,

CHINA NOTE SEIZURE

ORDER

vate Members' Committee REFUSED

and the Army Committee.

The War Minister emphasised that

SHANGHAI, TO-DAY. THE COMMISSIONER OF THE CHINESE an

MARITIME CUSTOMS DORSE THE ORDER OF LI CHIEN- YESTERDAY REFUSED TO EN-

in addition to the considerable forces already in France, there existed augmented reserve in the Middle East enormous reserve at Home, a largely

and the troops in India.

He also referred to the garrison-

creasing proportion of local troops. ing of overseas stations by an in-

He added: Thirty-two divisions is not the limit of our land forces and we are looking forward to the ar- rival of the Dominions contingents. -Reuter.

HEAVY BAIL

"More than 10 million

Ball in sums totalling $11,750 was cargo has been country in the first

brought into the granted by Mr. Q. A. A. Macfadyen |

eight weeks of this morning to six employees of the war and less than a quarter of a

Kowloon Motor Bus Company and million tons has been lost.

another But over

and a woman when 400,000 tons of cargo consigned to they appeared, on remand, on 18 Germany has been captured.

charges in connection with forged bus tickets.

FIGURES DIFFICULT "Turning to the offensive against U-boats Mr. Churchill said that it was very difficult to give assured figures because many marauders sunk in deep water left no tracé be- hind.

But it would be a fairly sound and conservative estimate to say that the losses of the U-boats had been between two to four in every week.

"We must assume that perhaps two new U-boats have been added to the hostile strength every week and in

-10 weeks of war

this would amount to 20.

expectation is

"At any rate our that we must face 100 U-boats avail- able in January whatever losses have occurred in the interval.

BIG STRUGGLE "It will be seen therefore that a big and unrelenting struggle Hes before us.

man

Mr. C. A. S. Russ and Mr. S. Ng Quinn will appear for accused,

Mr. Poy's car, No. 1923, stolen a' 4 a.m. on Thursday, was recovered at 10.15 p.m. yesterday in Fokfulam Road.

ceeding

on a full scale, but the House would not suppose that losses

the only events

which were taking place at sea.

were

SURFACE RAIDERS In addition to U-boat attacks have to face the menace of raiders.

we

surface

NAN, SUPERINTENDENT OF CUS- TOMS, FOR THE CONFISCATION OF SOME $10,000,000 IN CHINESE NATIONAL CURRENCY WHICH ARRIVED ON BOARD

S.S. PRESIDENT PIERCE FROM HONG KONG.

THE

The Commissioner also stated that the circulars issued to all foreign consuls and businessmen in the city warning them that the Customs De- partment has decided to prohibit the import and export of Chinese nation- al currency were issued without his authority.

1

Yesterday, La Chien-nan attempted to obtain the Commissioner's approval for the confiscation of notes but was unsuccessful. The notes have been safely delivered.-Our Own Corres- pondent.

SECRETS OF BRITISH ARMY

LONDON, TO-DAY. DOMINION MINISTERS AND SIR ZAFRULLAH KHAN, REPRE- SENTING THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA. SAW YESTERDAY, SOME OF THE SECRET OF BRITAIN'S ULTRA-MODERN ARMY.

A

centre and besides being shown some They visited an Army training of the marvels of the chanised units they were given

latest ma-

demonstration of the immense fire power of the infantry.

They watched a mock battle in which a kilted regiment advanced·· with Bren guns and smothered with

It is certain that one, and possibly two, so-called pocket-battleships have been out on the Atlantic trade routes during the last six weeks, but what is remarkable is that although these powerful vessels have being lying in wait for the stream of convoys cross- ing the Atlantic, they have not been preparations are able or have not dared, so far, moving forward on the largest scale make any capture worth considering. a hail of fire targets 500 yards' dis-

to end three times as many hunting An aggregate of 10,000 tons had tant. craft are now at work as at the out-been sunk so far compared with 212,- break of war and very large rein- 000 tons by U-boats. forcements of vessels especially

NOTE OF WARNING adapted for this work will flow in

Mr. Churchill struck a note of increasingly from the Spring of 1940 warning because the element of risk

"For this our

and onwards.

that

"Therefore it would seem judged upon a material basis alone we may face the future with con- fidence.

"We are exposed to a form of attack justly considered abomin able but we are making success. ful headway against it.

continual losses must be

OPENING PHASE

́MORE ASSURANCE **What I told the House under much reserve six weeks ago, I can now repeat with much more assur- "I must warn the House again, that ance, namely that we are gaining a

expected. definite mastery over U-boat attack. No immunity can be guaranteed at

In the second four weeks of the 'any time. war British tonnage lost by enemy action was 72,000 tons, less than half During this opening phase of the the amount lost during the first war, Royal Navy have suffered a weeks, and, against that loss, we may greater loss of life than all the other set 52,000 tons captured from the forces, French and British, on sea, enemy, 27,000 tons purchased from land and air combined. foreigners, and 57,000 tons of newly built ships, leaving, in these four weeks, a net gain of 64,000 tons.

Every loss inflicted on us by the enemy has been at once announced.

In addition, since the outbreaking "During the first eight weeks of of war, one of our submarines, war our net loss in tonnago has been | H.M.S. Oxley, has been destroyed by less than one-thirtieth of 1 per cent. ARK ROYAL'S ANSWER "It is interesting to note that one of the most valuable of the recent prizes was captured from the enemy

an accidental explosion in circume- tances which made its publication inadvisable at the time,

The war at sea, in fact, hus been the only war which has been pro-

was never absent.

In the middle of the demonstra- tion the gas alarm was given and the infantry donned masks and maintained the attack.-Reuter.

PRIME MINISTER AT GUILDHALL TO-DAY

London, To-day. The Prime Minister, who will

be

Hitherto, however, not only had the U-boat campaign bean controlled but also attack by sur- face raider both by warships or armed merchantman have not developed in any serious way, Mr. Churchill spoke of the remark-speaking at the Lord Mayor's luncheon able contribution of the French Navy at the Guildhall to-day will not make and said it seemed a wonderful thing his usual Thursday statement on the when France was making so great an war in the Commons-British Wire- effort upon land that she could at the less, same time offer to the Allied cause so

Mr. W. D. Gardiner, driving in powerful a reinforcement on the sea.

Concluding Mr. Churchill said that King's Road yesterday, accidentally down Poon King-po, 71, after the ninth week of the war that knocked

the east gate of Taikoo as far as the sea was concerned they outside might cherish_good_`hopes that all Dockyard. The man was admitted to

the Queen Mary Hospital. would be well.

Reuter.

ANATOLE ZAITZEFF & Co. FURRIEA8: 14 QUEEN'S ROAD. THE NEWEST THE BEST IN THIS SEASON'S FURS. INSPECTION INVITED.

Alaskan Sea! ***** Lena Equirrat - Ermine

N. A. Skunk?

Aula Lits Bida,