1940-09-26 — Page 3

27-28-

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DONALD DUCK

Coer. 1940, Wah hariy Productieve World Fisher Red

14/18-20

W

September 26, 1940.

By Walt Disney

MAGAZINE PAGE

DOUBTS

IN THE

MEDITERRANEAN

By HILAIRE BELLOC

7E are all clear by this

time on the central point. of

milltary 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 wo have at the moment for discovering the enemy'a mind is the declara tion issued by him to the effect that he had abandoned the project of invasion and had fallen back upon a policy of attrition.

lie we proposes for says he

The proposes)

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

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

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

may

be to de

decide which of these 1wo 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 declaru- tion and on what effect he fesire to achieve by it, the enemy himself might change his intention in the future But what we VAD to is to weigh the arguments for and against either hypothesİN.

The arguments in favour of this public avowal of abandon- ing the project of invasion being a ruse are simple and should be clear to all.

Siner

the beginning of recorded warfare the deception of an opponent with the object of furthering one's chances of surprise has been a main port of military policy.

10

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

Iu other intention.

words. the first and most obvious conclusion on this important declaration is to regard Ras a blind.

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

·

is the fact that the enemy's General Stall has, from the time of its founding under Frederick the Grent allowed this element of open revelation to play BODO part in scheme side by side with aut rngous lying.

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

I breeds confidence in his own forces, and it makes those opposed to him say to them. selves. "When the enemy told

Much 148, 01

and such 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 succced again."

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

is 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 mainstay 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 mutusi toleration -one of those relationships where deeplying differences ure 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 easler 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_10 my work, producing book after book with to in- one unflagging

purpose; crease my artistic standing and my fortune by making each book better than the last.

at

I decided to do a novel about the Yorkshire coal mining people, and in accordance with my cus- tom I, vent into the district to live among the people about whom I Intended writing, to observe their lives and their customs 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 a classmate of Oliver's.

Oliver had just turned nineteen at the time; a handsome lad of tremendous charm, whose win. someness and ready wit carried him through many a scrape into which his spoiled impudence get him both in and out of school.

Q

At the end of my second day's work in the mine, as I was emerg jog, from the shaft in & lift with

of other

the #group

miners, manager beckoned me aside. In my rough clothes, countryman's cap and smudged face, I must have looked a convincing miner, for it seemed that a young lady

ht

il

who had been Commis- arust. sioned to make sketches of the mine and is surroundings, desired to draw

typical mize worket!

"Would you

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

1

Carefully keeping in my York- alireman's churneter. surveyed her deliberately. The heud above her shapeless amock was crowned with a mass of fight yellow hair, In which the waning sun, peering in through the windows of the strange rude mine offee, made a lustre.

榴

•

The features were delicate- ly chiseled, the nostrils sen- 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

drawl. my best Yorkshire might."

"I

Well, Just stand over there by the wall and let me make a sketch

of you.

All of me?" "Yes,"

That would be worth two bob." She acquiesced with a laugh, and began her drawing. I stood sub- missively by the wall while she, sketched with rapid, businesslike strokes.

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

ing

"Dig

up... "Oh." She paused. “Do you like our work?" your

"Do you mean to keep on askin' questions?" I demanded. "Il cost you another bab if you do."

"I'm not that interested," she retorted. Turn

profile, please." I continued to gaze at

"Side view, please}", "", hor.

presented my profile, and she resumed her sketching. "Do you

I

your.

WUN

bin

do that for a living?" I asked her, “or just to amuse your P

1 answer, bob," she sald; then mouth vestehung. "I d

t

added, beg

for a fey

A few minutes TOKA But the had finished. She showed ine the drawing, which I praised lux.:By: then she paid me my two clad- Ings. I debberately local the confi. then wing it on a pitcr af metal, then pocketed it nau 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-shilling coin.

It eluded my palm and rolled around a berd in the road. When

I caught up with it a slender young lady 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 typicul miner.

1 protested that I was a miner an anxious delver in my own mine that yielded un vecusional gem-and sometimes just plain muck.

"That gives me a clue," she, ex-

You must be writer!!"

ced a humble acknowledge-

ment.

"It's all very interesting, I'm sure," said the lady, "but I Haven't time to stand here talking.. I've a train to catch.”

lapsed quickly into my work- Ingman manner and speech. "Carry' your bug for a shilling, mum?"*

"Never, in my life had I talked so animatedly to any- one as we walked to the sta- tion, discussing the work we did.

would,

льн

upon attrition 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 there is the enormous growth of expenditure and the menace of Auch a liability to a comi- mercial state.

It may be. then, that the probability lies in favour of this declaration being straight- forward, that the enemy has

to determined switch over from the aim of invasion to the aim of attrition.

Our

If this conclusion on our part prove sound it fol lows that his next field of action will Be the Mediter. The enemy calculates PADBAN minutely, his prolonged and detailed

preparation principal quality, but it in- volves corresponding defects. the chief of which is great ex- penditure of time,

א!

his

The delay which has been caused by his experiments and rehearsals (including. presumably, training In dis- embarkation, Buch training being carried out at a distance where it cannot easily bo watched) has given this coun- try time to organise its de- fence and continually to in- crease its striking power by air.

And, of course, we must not in any way slacken the vigilance of our watch or weaken our preparations for defence because the enemy wishes us to think he will not attack.

I

especially since the subse- 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 lathmus 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 a keystone (granted secure possession of the Bab-el-Mandeb at The issue of the Red Sea) the Suez Canal and its approaches, Egyptian and Syrian. Loosen that keystone and the arch is shaken.

Lisbon's Influence

Until quite recent Umes the Mediterranean Was strategienly

we And

All talk คว think in krme of its being une seu But strategically it becomes tv.o seas so long as the central position Italy and the Italian islands, in- cluding Pantellurfa tined).

(now

remains unbroken

formidable.

fur- und

This separation of the Eastern from the Western Mediterraneon has become more and inore evident with

every

weapon. with new every increase of speed, and par- ticularly with every developinen! of modern air power.

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

neoning

our Portuguese

For the mouth of the Tagus, with As miles of sheltered inland water, romunands the Straits. But to-day fleet in the Tagus, though it en- The Mediterranean

sul has

hold on the Western Mediterranean, does not meant many different things

as fully affect the now separate Eastern strategically in the course of

Mediterranean, un!!! the central 150 years since the

interrantion formed by the Italian "Glorious First of June," and

possessions ceases to be a menace.

the

She, too, seemed to enjoy. it enormously.

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

"What do you mean?”

"Well, I never knew a wd- mon who did anything-who had a career, as you call it. I didn't know a woman could be beautiful and young and intelligent-all at the same time."

She foltered in her step for a moment and stared at me. In that instant, I think, we both realised how tromendously import- ant was this meeting for both

of

us.

Unconsciously, we both stopped.

I looked at her, ald 'said slowly,

1 might have once.

I wouldn't now. Not after to-night. I'd say

l'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 fervently,

"Oh, my darling!"

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

We walked on, and fell to dis- cussing the current workc Of you

7 authors. She had, it seemed, been reading "Every Street", the new- est work of one William Essex.

I expressed interest, while be traying nothing. While she ap- proved Essex's writing, she poked fun at his portrayal of feminine characters. This fellow Essex, she belleved, knew nothing at all about women.

"But the critics like his love scenes," I protested.

*

"The critics are, mon," she laughed. "Now don't stand there and tell me you'd make love like William Essex ??

I'm "I had no right to do that.

But I shall love not a free man ΠΟΙ you forever and over. 1 knew it from the first moment I heard your voice-from the first moment I saw your face

Na don't tell me anything speak. ubout mne to you again."

Her lips trembled, and her eyes. filled with tears. "Please, please

Be it isn't safe for

I must never, see

not tears!"

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

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

I gazed at her for another mo ment, then turned abruptly and walked away, lingk

(To be continued)

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