1940-06-19 — Page 6

THE CHINA MAIL, JUNE 19, 1940

Reasonable Hopes Of Final Victory MR. CHURCHILL FULL OF FIGHT

LONDON, TO-DAY.

THE HOUSE OF COMMONS WAS CROWDED YESTERDAY AFTERNOON TO HEAR THE PRIME MINISTER, MR. WINSTON CHURCHILL, MAKE WHAT IS REGARDED AS THE MOST IMPORTANT SPEECH OF THE WAR AND TO GIVE AN ACCOUNT OF THE DRAMATIC EVENTS WHICH LED TO FRANCE'S APPROACH TO GERMANY TO END HOSTILITIES.

Mr. Churchill said: “I spoke the other day of the colossal military disaster which oc- curred when the French High Command failed to withdraw the northern armies from Belgium at a moment when they knew the French front had been decisive- ly broken at Sedan and on the Meuse.

"This delay entailed the loss of 15 or 16 French.divi- |

have relied during many years in re-

whether which

រំខ "But the question there are any methods by these solld assurances can be cir- cumvented.

sions and threw out of action for that critical cent wars. period the whole British Expeditionary Force. "Our army and 120,000 French troops indeed were rescued by the British Navy from Dunkirk but only with the loss of all their cannons, vehicles tion has been given this by the Ad- and modern equipment.

"This loss inevitably took some weeks to repair, and in the first two of those weeks-the-battle of France. was lost.

"Odd as it may seem, some atten-

miralty (laughter) whose prime duty and responsibility is to destroy any large seaborne expedition before it reaches, or at the moment it reaches, these shores.

"It would not be useful to go into

ABILITY STILL TO LAUGH

London, To-day. Members of all parties on the whole gave a good welcome to Mr. Churchill's statement in the Commons as being very substan- tially sound, despite flippancy here and there, says Reuter's lobby correspondent.

It is agreed the Premier dis- played his usual skill in estimat ing the mood of the House—It's concern for the situation, Its un alterable determination to fight on and its ability still to laugh at his disclosure.”—Reuter.

"OPPOSITION" PLEDGES FULL

SUPPORT

London, To-day, Mr. H. B. Lees-Smith (La-

of the country, although our Terrl- torials had only just been called out and were quite untrained. ·

Novel Treacheries. bour) spoke in the House of "Italy is also coming to gain sea

Commons yesterday of the "When we conalder the heroic superiority in these waters. If that resistance made by the French army is seriously intended, I can only say details. They might even suggest unity of the country in sup- at heavy. odda and the evident we shall be delighted to offer Mus-ideas to other people that they hadn't port of the Prime Minister, exhaustion of the enemy, it may solini a safeguarded passage through thought of and they wouldn't be like- adding "We shall carry on well be thought that those 25 divi the Straits of Gibraltar in order that ly to give any of their real ideas in slone of the best troops, the best he may play the part he aspires.

[right to the end.' trained and the best equipped; might have turned the scale. "However, General Weygand had to fight without them.

Fought Well

"Only three British divisions, or their equivalent, were able to stand in the line with their French com- rades.

•

"They have suffered severely but they have fought, well.. (Cheers),

"We sent every man we could to France, as fast as we could re-equip and transport their formations.

"I am not reciting these facts for the purpose of recrimination."

There were now over 1,500,000 men under arms in Britain, as well 500,000 local defence volunteers.

tions, had been saved from France.

as A

Mr. Churchill continued: "Lest the' account I have given of these very large forces should raise the question why they didn't take part in the great Battle of France, I must make it clear that apart from divisions training and organising at home, only 12 were equipped to fight upon a scale which justified their having been sent abroad.

"There is a genuine ouriousity in the British Fleet to find out who- thor the Italians are up to the level at which they were in the last war (Laughter) or whether they have fallen off at all. (Renewed laughter).

"Therefore it seems to me that as far as a seaborne' invasion on a great scale is concerned, we are far more capable of meeting it to-day than we the last were at many periods in war and during the early months of this war, before our other troops were

B.E.F. trained and while the

was already abroad and is still abroad..

Efficacy Of Sea Power

a

exchange.

"All I will say is that untiring vigilance and mind-searching must be devoted to the subject because the enemy is crafty, cunning and full of novel treacherles and stratagems. "The House may be assured that the utmost ingenuity is being displayed and the utmost imagination is being evoked by a large number of com- petent officers, well trained and tho- roughly up to date, to measure and counteract novel possibilities of which many are suggested, some ab- surd but some by no means utterly irrational.

Air Mastery

con-

Sir Percy Harris (Liberal) gratulated Mr. Churchill on his brave speech and the great leadership he has given the country.

Mr. David Lloyd George (Liber- al) assured Mr. Churchill there was no desire merely to waste time upon recriminations about the past but at the secret session on Thursday they ought to have a very frank discussion as to where they stood

now.

"

Mr. Churchill said the debate in

secret session would be on the ad- journment and members would have freedom, but home defence was the··· focus of the debate.-Reuter.

"But we have a very powerful Air cerned. Force which has proved itself far "During the Battle of France we superior in quality, both in men and gave very powerful and continuous in many types of machines, to what ald to the French army both by we have met so far in the numerous fierce air battles which have been fought.

'In France, where we were at a considerable disadvantage to expose many machines on the ground In aerodromes, we were accustomed to infilct a loss of from two to 21⁄2 to

ono,

"In the fighting at Dunkirk, which was a sort of No Man's Land, we un- doubtedly beat the German air force and gained the mastery of the local air, inflicting a loss on the enemy of three or four to one.

fighters and by bombers, but in spite of every kind of pressure we never would allow the entire Metropolitan' strength of the Air Force in fighters to be consumed.

"This decision was painful but it was also right because the fortunes of the battle In France could not. have been decisively affected"even" If we had thrown In Pour entire fighter forces.

"The` battle was lost by the unfor-

"The Navy have never pretended to be able to prevent raids by bodies of great mass of stores, rifles, and muni- five or ten thousand men, flung sud

denly across and thrown ashore, at

coast on several points on the dark night or foggy morning,

"The efficacy of sea power, especi- ally under modern conditions, de- ponds on the Invading, force being of a large size, and it has to be of a large size In view of our mill- tary strength, to be of any use, and when it is of a large size the Navy will have something they can find, something they can meet. "We must remember that even five equipped,

tunate strategie opening, by the extra- divisions, however lightly would require 200 to 250 ships, and

ordinary, unforeseen power of the armoured columns and by the very with modern air reconnaissance and

"Anyone who looks at the photo-great preponderance of the German photography it would not be easy to.

graphs published a week or so ago army in numbers. equip such an armada, marshal "Our forces at-home will of course and conduct it across the sea, with of the embarkation, seeing masses of steadily increase every week. "An invasion of Great Britain out any powerful naval force to troops assembled on the beach, form-

escort it.

*ing an ideal target, for hours at a world require the transportation across

10- "And there would be a very great time, must realise that this the seas of hostile armies upon a very possibility that it would be intercept- embarkation would not have been large scale and after they had been so ed long before it reached the coast, possible unless the enemy had resign- transported they would have to be and that the men would be drowned ed all hope of recovering air superior continually maintained with all the or blown to pieces with their equip-|ity at that point. mass of munitions and supplies re- quired for a continuous battle, as con- tinuous battle it would be.

Up To Expectations "They were fully up to the number which the French had been led to expect would be available in France at the ninth month of the war,

It

ment, while trying to land.

Well-Proved Arguments "We also have a great system of

"In the defence of this faland the advantages of the defence would be very great and we shall hope to im- prove upon the rate of three or four

"Here is where we come to the Navy. After all, we have a Navyl *(Cheers). Some people seem to forget | minefields, recently strongly refrm to one which was realised at Dunkirk.

that. We must be behind them. --- forced, through which we alone know

"For more than 30 years I have bean concerned in discussions about the possibility o

alon,

Invitation To Il Duce

the channels.

"If the chim trên ages through the

be the task

their minesw forces en

"I took the responsibility-on bar this half of the Admiralty at the zba- ginning of the last war of

regular troopa to be sent

Friendly Soll

"In addition, all injured machines

will] and their cre

Friend day,

ase are regular, wall-tested and chine

we total

Air Confidence

"Our fighter air force might easily have been exhausted as a mere inci, dent in that great struggle and we should have found ourselves at the present time in a very serious plight.

-“Ad It_la, 1; am happy to Inform the House that our fighter air strength, le stro ger at the "presant time relatively to the Germans, who have suffered rible losses, than it

has ever been

“Consequently we believe ourselves

to be possessed of continue the war in ter co perienc

to Bat-

pilate,