1940-09-26 — Page 19

'Cher 1948 WE

Thursday,

HONGKONG TELEGRAPH

DONALD DUCK

September 26, 1940.

By Walt Disney

MAGAZINE PAGE

DOUBTS

IN

THE

MEDITERRANEAN

By HILAIRE BELLOC

E are all clear by this

W time on the central point

of

military any

business.

which central point is a know- ledge of the enemy's mind. In proportion as we are right on that we are on the way to victory; in proportion to our error upon the enemy's mind we are on the way to suffering surprise and consequent de- feat.

Now the most important document we have at the moment for discovering the enemy's mind is the declarn- tion issued by him to thr effect that he had abandoned the project of invasion and had fallen back upon a policy of attrition,

He now propones for snys he

wearing proposes) the down of this country by his efforts at blockade and hia attacks on our shipping.

This declaration may have one of two contradictory ol jects, and proceed from one of two opposite motives. It may have for its object a ruse to deceive his opponents and put them off their guard, or it may have for its object the real information which it pur- ports to give.

Its motive may be to de- ceive; or it may be inspired by that strange policy of full atatement to which the enemy has resorted before, and the value and meaning of which will be discussed in a moment. Our frat business, then, is to

decide which of these LWO mutually exclusive characters attaches to this momentous declaration.

For and Against

We cannot be certain of making a right decision upon this. Even if we arrive at a right decision on what the enemy intends by his declara. tion and on what effect he desire to achieve by it, the enemy himself might change hla intention in the future. But what we can do is to weigh the arguments for and against either hypothesis.

The arguments in favour of this public avowal of abandon- ing the project of invasion being ruse are simple and should be clear to ull. Since recorded the beginning of warfare the deception of an opponent with the object of furthering one's chances of surprise has been a ruin part of military policy,

to

The first conclusion which anyone will come on hearing that his enemy has proclaimed such and such an intention is to decide that he does in fact entertain another

In Intention.

words, other the first and most obvious conclusion on this important declaration is to regard it as a blind.

But there are arguments un the other side to be con- sidered. The strongest of these

is the fact that the enemy's

General Staff has, from the time of its founding under Frederick the Great allowed this element of open revelation to play Some part in its scheme side by side with out- ragous lying.

Why does the enemy adopt this orensional policy of re vealing his general plans? His main reason would seem to be the confidence which the carrying out of the plan produces.

It breeds confidence in his own forces, and it makes those apposed to him say to them. selves. "When the enemy told us, on such and such 11 occasion, what he was going to do and the general lines which he proposed to follow. all went according to plan and He succeeded. Therefore, now that he is threatening this or that, he will probably succeed again."

Another motive for this singular method-in the use of which the enemy is unique

in the establishment of a bond between his armed forces and those who command them. Napoleon appreciated that bond-the value of tak- ing his troops into his con- fidence--and more than once, notably during his early career in Italy, it was mainstay.

his

Method of Attrition

Further a decision to aban- don direct attack and rely

my son, my son!

Nellie and I continued to live together in an emotional climate of mutual toleration one of those relationships where deeplying differences are rigidly kept below the sur- face for the sake of the chil- dren, for the sake of appear- ances before others, for the sake of an outwardly orderly existence.

Things were easier when Oliver a couple of years later, went off to public school, and later to Balliol.

and

Nellie withdrew deeper deeper into her religion, while I abandoned myself to my work, producing book after book with one unflagging purpose; to ins crease my artistic standing and fortune by making each book better than the lost.

I decided to do a novel about the Yorkshire coal mining people, and in accordance with my cus- yent into the district to tor

live among the people about whom I intended writing, to observe their lives. and their customs at first hand, to absorb their lan- uage and their ways of thought,

Informing no one of my exact intentions, I secured a job as an ordinary labourer in the mines owned by Pogson, whose son was in clasumate of Oliver'ki

artist.

been who had

commis- make skelches of the sloned to mine and its surroundings, desired to draw me 213 it typical mine worker!

"Would you like to make u shilling?" the young lady asked me brightly.

Carefully keeping in my York- shireman's character, 1 surveyed her deliberately. The head above her shapeless smock was crowned with a mass of Rght yellow bulr, in which the waning sun, peering in through the windows of the rude nine office, made a strange Justre.

•

*

The features were delicate- ly chiseled, the nostrils gen- sitive, the lips somewhat tight but quick to curl up at the corners, the chin delicate- ly pointed and apt to tilt high. I looked, but permit- ted my face to betray nothing

"A bob?" I answered her in

drowl. best Yorkshire

my

might."

"Well, just stand over there by the wall and let me make a sketch of

you."

107"

All of

#Leg,

That would be worth two bob." She acquiesced with a lough, and begun her drawing. I stood sub- missively by the wall while she sketched with rapid, businesslike strokes Just turned, nineteen at the time; a handsome lad of whose win-

Oliver

had

tremendous charm, someness and ready, wit carried him through many a scrape into which his spelled impudence get him bath in and out of

school,

At the end of: my second day's work in the mine, as I was emerg- Ang from the shaft in a lift with,

a.

the

A group of other miners, manager beckoned me salde, In

"What do you do in the mine?" Inquired the artist without look

ing

un

"Oh." She paused, "Do you like your work?”

"Do you mean to keep on asidin'. questions?" I demanded. "I'll cost you another bob if you do."

I'm not that interested, the profile, retorted.

Turn your my rough clothes, countryman's plense. I continued to gaze at cup and smudged face, I must her Side view, please!" have looked convincing miner, for it seemed that a young lady

her side view, please, and she

restaned her sketching "Do you

do that for a living?" I asked her, "ur just to amuse yourself?"

"If I unawer, it'll cost you u bob," she said; then added, her mouth twitching. "I do for à lly- ing"

few minutes mure, and she had Anished, She showed me the drawing, which I praised lavishly: then she pold me my two shill- ings. I deliberately bit at the coin, then rang it on a piece of metal, then pocketed it and walked away without a word,

*

When I had washed up, changed into more livable clothes, and had my supper at the inn, I went for a stroll through the outskirts of the town, meditatively flipping my two-stilling coin.

It cluded my palm and rolled around a bead in the road. When

I caught up with it a slender young Indy with a travelling bag was picking it up from the road. It was my artist friend.

She recognised me, despite my somewhat altered appearance, and heatedly accused me of having de- frauded her by posing as a typical miner.

05

upon attrition would, things now are, be reasonable; the period most favourable for attack is past and the maintenance of enemy com- munications over sea becomes daily more hazardous. Lastly thore is the enormous growth of expenditure and the mennee of such a liability to a com- mercial state,

It may be, then, that the probability lies in favour of this declaration being straight- forward, that the enemy has determined to switch from the aim of invasion to the aim of attrition.

over

our

If this conclusion on ur part prove sound it fol- Jews that his next field of action will be the Meditor- ranean. The enemy calculates minutely, his prolonged and detailed preparation is his principal quality, but it in- volves corresponding defects. the chief of which is great ex- penditure of time.

The delay which has been caused by his experiments and rehearsals (Including, presumably, training in dis- embarkation, such training being carried out at a distance where it cannot easily be watched) has given this coun- try time to organise its de- fence and continually to in- crease its striking power by atr. And, of course, we must not in any way sincken the vigliance of our watch or weaken our preparations for defence because the enemy wishes us to think he will not attack.

The Mediterranean has meant many different things strategically in the course of the 160 years since the "Glorious First of June," and

She, too, seemed to enjoy it enormously,

"I never knew talking to u woman could be like this," I sud- denly exclaimed,

especially since the subne- quent Battle of the Nile.

But its chief strategic mean- ing since the introduction of rapid and certain marine com- munication and the piercing of the Isthmus of Suez has been its function as the High- way to the East and in par ticular to India, whereupon the whole British position, commercial and political, de. pends.

Anyone can see that the whole structure of British power has for its keystone (granted secure possession of the Bab-el-Mandeb at the issue of the Red Sea) the Sucz Canal and its approaches, Egyptian and Syrian. Loosen that keystone and the arch is shaken.

The sea.

the

Lisbon's Influence

Until quie recent times Mediterraneant was strategicully And we still talk and think-in terms of its being one set. But strategically it becomes twa seus so long as the central position of Italy and the Italian islands, In-

Pantelleria cluding

{nuw for- unbroken tilled),

und remains forundable.

This separation of the Eastern from the Western Mediterranean has become more and more evident

new with every

weapon, with every increase of speed, and par- fleularly with every development of modern uir power.

In the old days it used to be said with justice that he who had the use of Lisbon commanded the Mediterranean. It was the know- ledge of this, which gave all its to our Portuguese

For the mouth of the Tagus, with its miles of sheltered inland water, commands the Straits. But to-day

JL

Beet in the Togus, though it en- sures A hold on the Western Mediterranean, does not as fully affect the now acparate Eastern Mediterranean, until the central interruption formed by the Italian possessions ceases to be a menace,

Unconsciously, we both stopped.

I looked at her; ald, said slowly, "I might have once... 1 wouldn't now. Not after to-night. I'd say ---I'd say

Before I knew it my arms were about her, straining her to me. Without hesitation her arms went about my neck. I kissed her

What do you mean?”: "Well, I never knew a wo man who did anything-who, hnd a career, as you call it. 1 didn't know

woman could be beautiful fervently. a and

young

and intelligent all at the same time."

ant

She faltered in her step for a moment and stared at me. In that instant; I think we both protested that I war, a miner realised how tremendously import-. an anxious delver in my own

this

for both mine that yielded an occasional of us, mm R

WAs gem-and sometimes just plain

We walked on, and fell to dis muck.

cussing the current work of authors She had, it seemed, been reading "Every Street", the

the new- est works of one Willum EssCK

I expressed interest, while be traying nothing. While she Droved Essex's writing, she poked fun at his portrayal of feminine characters. This fellow Essex, she bolleved, know nothing at all about women.

"That gives me a clue," she ex- claimed. "You must be a writer" I

a humble acknowledge bowed ment.

"It's all very interesting, I'm sure," said the lady, "but I haven't time to stand hero tolking. I've a train to caich,” ·

I lapsed quickly, into my work Ingman manner and speech. "Carry your bag for a shilling, mum?"

Never in my life had 1 talked so animatedly to any one as we walked to the sta tion, discussing the work we

did.

#p-

But the critics like his lovė scenes.". I protested.

"Oh, my darling!"

It lasted only a moment. Then I withdrew from her embrace and gripped her almost fiercely, by" her shoulders. The words tumbled from my lips.

Y had no right to do that I'm shail love not a tree man. But

It you forever and ever. I knew from the first moment I heard your voice from the first moment I saw your face. No, don't speak. Don't tell me anything about yourself. It isn't suto for: me to know. I must never sce

**** you again."

Her lips trembled, and her eyes

filled with tears. pa

not teara!"

I whispored. "I don't think I can bear that!"

"I shall be in tears when I'm alone!**

"The critics are men," sheI gazed at her for another mo- laughed. Now don't stand ment, then turned abruptly and there and tell me you'd stake

walked away;

love like William Essex 1" z Pola (To be continued)

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