1939-04-28 — Page 18

THE HONGKONG TELEGRAPH, FRIDAY, APRIL 28, 1939.

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One Man's Word

BY TO-MORROW morning the

world will know whether world peace is again to be threatened by the refusal of the German Fuehrer to give the guarantees of non-aggression, against 31 nations requested by President Roosevelt.

President Roosevelt had pre- sented the two Totalitarian dictators with a simple issue, requiring a simple answer. Herr Hitler is at liberty to call the American President a "danger- ous engmy of civilisation", to de- nounce British Imperialism and to storm against the iniquities of democracy. The whole world will concede him the right to an opinion regarding Bolshevism -he may publicly announce that he sees in British Conscription another threat to German security.

The world does not want to hear these tirades, but it will accept them.

What the world wants to hear is a direct "yes" or "no" to President Roosevelt's question: "Are you willing to give assur- ances that your armed forces will not be used in future to at- tack Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Spain, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Luxemburg Po- land, Rumania, Hungary, Yugo- Slavia, Soviet Russin, Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey, Iraq,

the Arabias, Syria, Palestine, Egypt, Iran, Eire, Holland, Belgium, Great Britain, France or Por- tugal ?"

T

CAN HE GET OVER THIS ONE?

IF BRITAIN WERE ATTACKED.

£147,779,000 worth of security

this

HIS year's naval cstl- mates amount to £147,770,000. An increase of about £22,500,000 over 1938, and about three times the naval estimates of seven от eight years ago.

It is an expensive business to build up the fleet after it has been allowed to decline below the danger point. At the end of the war we posseased 49 capital ships, 110 cruisers, and more than 600 destroyers, sicops and patrol boats; these last three clussen being most needed for protecting our shipping against the sub- marine.

Our naval security seemed so ̈com- plete after the surrender of the Ger nan fleet in 1918 that in the folow ing years we broke up 36 capital ships, about 60 cruisers, and more than 500 destroyers, sloops and patrol boats.

It was one of the greatest pieces of mass destruction in our naval history.

THE general European rearmament has showni us that our netion was over-basty, and though in the last few years we have been making strenuous efforts to refill the gaplag ranks of our men-of-war, we can so far produce no more than 15 capital ships, 50 cruisers, 200 destroyers, aloops and patrol boats, in addition to air- craft carriers, aubmarines, gunboats and auxiliaries.

There are, however, nine capital ships. 25 cruisers, 38 destroyers, 22 sloops, six carelers, 20 submarines building or projected; some of which will be delivered this year, some not until 1042 or 1943.

We need a powerful fleet for two very good reasons. One is to keep an invader away from these shores," and the other is to ensure the steady sup

upset every calculation of states- manship. There could be no lessen- Ing of defensive preparations now being made in nearly all the coun- tries of Europe. If peace is desired the signal for peace must be given from the only country that has dis-

That is a simple atraight-turbed it. forward question, requiring a straightforward answer.

д

What is happening in Berlin to- day is being watched not along by The answer can come from one

the peoples of Europe, but by the man, and one man only. He can,

democracies of America and of the if he so desires, speak the word British Dominions and Colonies, that will relieve the tension of the who seo in a negative answer to situation and ease an approach to

President Roosevelt's appeal that enduring peace in Europe for growing challenge to all systems of which he has so often expressed govornment that have not bowed his personal longing. Just as cor-.

the knee to the Nazi ideal. To tainly he can swing the balance to-that, if it were seriously Intended, wards a war of which no man can the world would offer an un- limit the acope. To rant and exampled resistance. That truth temporise, to give an indirect an- swer, would be to intensify the strain to which Europe is now aut fact and increase the danger that sume unanticipated incident might

should be clear in "the mind of Horr Hitler when he speaks in the Reichstag to-night and has the op- portunity of dispelling all appre hensions,

year

ply of imported food and raw materials upon which the country has become increasingly dependent during the Inst hundred years.

Invasion is a very distant peri, so long as we retain the command of the Gen. Large numbers of soldiers were retained in this country in the last war to guard against a German rald estimated at a possible strength of 70,000 men,

Such a raid was about as unlikely as anything could be.. Consider what It would have meant. The transports required for the carriage of such a force would have numbered about 100. to 120,

TO effect a simultaneous landing and to simplify --------- naval.protection....the. have had to sall in one huge convoy, whole of this mass of shipping would protected by the High Seas Fleet.

The concealment of such a vast CX- pedition would have been exceedingly difficult, and if the Orand Plect had come across it on its way, it would have suffered д disaster without parallel in the history of the world.

For either 70,000 German soldiers would have been drowned in the North Sea or they would have ignominiously followed the Grand Fleet into harbour na captives

And if invasion was a remote danger in the last war, it is even more so How that atreraft have immensely in- ereased the possibilities of scouting and observation.

Far more difficult is the Navy's task of protecting the merchant shipping on which the feeding of the popula- tion and the activity of our industries depend

The chief trouble in that whereas invasion can only take place some- where on the comparatively limited coastal areas, the attack on our world- wide shipping can be made at any point on any of the trade routes aù over the world.

In the jost War. for instance,

Berlin®

GERMANY

INCE

ITALY

by Commdr RUSSELL

GRENFELL

scrles of Second in articles on Britain's de- fensive forces and the strategic preoccupations of thelr commanders. Commander Grenfell, a leading authority on naval strategy, was for- merly on the teaching staff of the Royal Naval College at Greenwich, Ad- vocates more commlaglons from the lower deck and beller conditions of pay And service all round for naval ratings.

shipping was attacked in the Indian Ocean by the Emden, in the South Atlantic by the Karlsruhe, off the conats of Africa and in the Eastern Sean by the disguised raiders, and in the Mediterranean and the seas round the British Isles by the U-bosta

So dispersed an attack naturally calls for an equally dispersed defence, which is why the Admiralty is always so persistent in its call for cruisers. For, like hounds in search of a fox which has been eating the chickens, it always takes a number of ships to find one raider.

WE had about twenty cruisers chasing the Emden, and something

ke fly were enraged in the search for Yon Spea's Far Eastern Squadron of five.

What makes even greater demands on the defending Navy is submarino- warfare against commerce,

For protection against this invisible danger in the last war our merchant shipping had to be put into convoy and

•PREUSSEN

AUDIMO

TRA

BLAND

try.

TACT

THE

мар on

the right in published in Schwarze Corps,

newspaper of Miller's Binok Guards. The

white area indi- cates the castern section of the first "German Empire" between 1250 and 1400 AD. It purports to justify Miller's conquests. in “ro- erecting the old historical boun-

daries."

The map is cut off so that li does not show how much of Musollal's Italy is "historically" German.

On the left a sketch map com pletes the picture.

round ench convoy had to be placed enough escorting warships to give a fair chance of hampering the sub- marine in making Its attack, and of having a man-of-war ir a reasonably good position to drop ita depth charges, from whichever direction the Gubmarine made its approach.

The great volume of British slipping requiring anti-submarine protection caused a large number of destroyers, gloops and other small craft to be em- ployed on that duty.

Daring the height of the German 'submarine campaign, we had about 250 of these vessels on convoy escort work in the Channel, the North Ben, and the waters north and south of Ireland; while there were about another 100 in the Mediterranean,

UNFORTUNATELY, inrge numbers of these were broken up after the war, and we can now only produce about 130 as compared with the 350 employed -- in Honio-Waters - and tho Mediterranean last time, There are many who view this deficiency with gravo concern, especially as the addi- tion of air to submarino attack bas Intenslied the protective problem.

In addition to direct protection against raiders, stepa havo tô be taken to prevent an enemy's main fighting feet from taking a hand in the game. That is to any, his battleships" and whatever cruisers, destroyers, sod alre craft carriers they may hayo with them. These have to be matched by 4 watching Beet of corresponding type but superior dimensions.

The strength needed for this pur- pose is therefore directly proportional to the battleship and auxiliary ton- TINKO PICASCASed by the other side. That is why we have had to keep pace with renewed battleship construction by Germany, Italy and Japan.

The provision of the necessary num- ber of ships is, however, only half the battle. Rather less then half, in fact, For the men who man the ships are more important than the ships them- Acives. Good men in poor ships,” as

a famous Bayal historian has said, "will nearly always beat poor men in good ships.'

The recruitment of sufficient person- ne of the requisite quality is there- foro of at least na much importance as the actual construction programmes. Except in certain skilled branches. The Navy is getting all the men it wants.. The number of officers and men has increased from 00,000 to 133,000 in five years, though it is still 12,000 below the Aguro for July, 1914. Certain of the artificer classes are not, however, coming forward in tho numbers desired. The Admiralty's explanation, that the great demand for skilled men in industry is keeping the Navy short carries, however, the obvious corollary that the naval con- . ditions of skilled service are insuffi- ciently attractive.

THE demand for a rapla increase of numbers is almost more dificult to meet in the case of the officers, than in that of the men, chiefly owing to the limited accommodation in the training colleges.

Having filled these to capacity, the Admiralty then turned to the Mer- chant Service, and a number of mer- cantile officers turned over to the Royal Navy.

This step, brought the natural. criticism that in thus ignoring its own non-commisaloned ranks, the Admit alty was bolying its aft-repeated declarations in favour of promotion- from the Lower Deck:

It therefore satisfactory that a recent Admiralty order should haVO announced a considerable increase of numbers to be drawn from this, latter BOTTO