” Yang Guo originally didn’t want to have anything do
”
Yang Guo originally didn’t want to have anything do with her, but he heard that her words were suspicious and wanted to find out what she wanted so he pretended to be stupid, and looked at the ingots and said, “What use do those shiny rocks have?”
The Taoist priestess smiled and said, “It’s money. If you want new clothes, chickens, rice, you could buy them with this.”
Yang Guo put on a baffled expression and said, “You want to lie to me, I don’t believe you.”
The Taoist priestess laughed and said, “When have I lied to you? Hey, little kid, what is your name?”
Yang Guo said, “Everyone calls me ‘Sha Dan’ (Dumb Egg), don’t you know that? What’s your name?”
The Taoist priestess laughed and said, “Sha Dan, you can call me Angelic Priestess, where’s your mother?”
Yang Guo said, “My mum just scolded me, and went over to the other side of the mountain to chop firewood.”
The Taoist priestess said, “I need a hatchet, go to your home and get one, and then lend it to me.”
Yang Guo was curious, he opened his eyes wide, drooled and made himself look even more like a stupid person, he shook his head incessantly and said, “I can’t; I can’t lend my family’s hatchet. If dad finds out I’ll be punished.”
The Taoist priestess smiled and said, “When your parents see the money, they’ll be too pleased to punish you.” As she said this she passed an ingot in his direction. Yang Guo extended his hand to catch it, and then pretended to miss it, and let the ingot hit his shoulder and when it came down it hit his right foot, he held his right foot with his hands and hopped on his left foot and called out, “Ah, ah, you hit me! I’m going to tell mother!” He called and shouted; he ignored the ingot and ran forward.
The Taoist priestess thought that he was interesting, and smiled. She took off her belt, and waved it at his right foot. Yang Guo heard the wind sound and turned his head around, he was alarmed, and thought, “That’s our Ancient Tomb sect’s kung fu! Isn’t she a disciple of Quanzhen?” He didn’t dodge and let her belt wrap around his right leg, he fell on the ground and relaxed his body, letting her pull him towards her, and secretly feared, “Is she going up the mountain to attack Gu Gu?”
He thought about Xiao Longnu, he didn’t know whether she was dead or alive, he was extremely worri
indispensable. This is being done. But surely effort must be made
to aid Greece directly, even if only with token forces. Quite
understand how everyone with you is fixed on idea of set-piece
battle at Mersa Matruh. For that very reason it is unlikely to
occur. Enemy will await completion pipeline and development of
larger forces than are now concentrated. Your difficulties in
attacking across the desert obvious, but if you have no major
offensive of your own in Libya possible during next two months,
Prime Minister to Mr. Eden [at G.H.Q., Middle Eastwas a clever planner, the third prince Wo Kuo Tai [Ogedaigo down during this process should it result adversely,
but in no conceivable circumstances will we consent to surrender.
If members of the present Administration were finished and
others came in to parley amid the ruins, you must not be blind to
the fact that the sole remaining bargaining counter with Germany
would be the Fleet, and, if this country was left by the United
States to its fate, no one would have the right to blame those
then responsible if they made the best terms they could for the
surviving inhabitants. Excuse me, Mr. President, putting this
nightmare bluntly. Evidently I could not answer for my
successors, who in utter despair and helplessness might well
have to accommodate themselves to the German will. However,
there is happily no need at present to dwell upon such ideas.
Once more thanking you for your good will …
* * * * *
Far-reaching changes were now made by M. Reynaud in the French Cabinet
and High Command. On the 18th Marshal Pétain was appointed Vice -President
of the Council. Reynaud himself, transferring Daladier to Foreign Affairs, took
over the Ministry of National Defence and War. At 7 P.M. on the 19th he
appointed Weygand, who had just arrived from the Levant, to replace General
Gamelin. I had known Weygand when he was the right-hand man of Marshal
Foch, and had admired his masterly intervention in the Battle of Warsaw
against the Bolshevik invasion of Poland in August, 1920 – an event decisive
62
for Europe at that time. He was now seventy-three, but was reported to be
efficient and vigorous in a very high degree. General Gamelin’s final Order
(No. 12), dated 9.45 A.M. on May 19, prescribed that the Northern Armies,
instead of letting themselves be encircled, must at all costs force their way
southward to the Somme, attacking the Panzer divisions which had cut their
communications. At the same time the Second Army and the newly forming
Sixth were to attack northward towards Mézières. These decisions were sound.
Indeed, an order for the general retreat of the Northern Armies southward
was already at least four days overdue. Once the gravity of the breach in the
French centre at Sedan was apparent, the only hope for the Northern Armies
lay in an immediate march to the Somme. Instead, under General Billotte,
they had only made gradual and partial withdrawals to the Scheldt and formed
the defensive flank to the right. Even now there might have been time for the
southward march.
The confusiwas a clever planner, the third prince Wo Kuo Tai [Ogedaiare being employed
on all these [defence
2.XI.40.
529
are reaching you by November 15, which must affect local
situation in Egypt.
During Mr. Eden’s earlier conferences and talks with General Wavell and also
with General Wilson, he posed the question, What action was intended if the
Italian offensive did not develop? He was told in extreme secrecy that a plan
was being made to attack the Italians in the Western Desert instead of waiting
for them to open their offensive against Mersa Matruh. Neither he nor Wavell
imparted these ideas to me or to the Chiefs of Staff. General Wavell begged
the Secretary of State for War not to send any telegram on this subject, but to
tell us verbally about it when he got home. Thus for some weeks we remained
without knowledge of the way their minds were moving. It is clear from my
message of October 26 that any forestalling operation on a large scale in the
Western Desert would command my keen support. We were all, however,
until Mr. Eden’s return left under the impression that Wavell and Wilson were
still wedded to the defensive battle at Mersa Matruh, and would wait there
until they were attacked. The only action they seemed to contemplate in this
extremely serious crisis was to send a battalion or so to Crete, a omega aqua terra watch few air
squadrons to Greece, and make some minor diversions against the
Dodecanese and a small though desirable offensive in the Soudan. This
seemed by no means good enough employment for the very large forces with
which, at great risk, exertion, and cost, we had furnished them.
Our correspondence during this period was thus on both sides based upon
misunderstanding. Wavell and the Secretary of State thought that for the sake
of giving ineffectual aid to Greece we were pressing them to dissipate the
forces they were gathering for an offensive in the Western Desert. We, on the
other hand, not crediting them with offensive intentions, objected to their
standing idle or trifling at such a crucial moment. In fact, as will presently be
seen, we were all agreed. On November 1, indeed, Mr. Eden telegraphed
cryptically:
We cannot from Middle East forces send sufficient air or land
reinforcements to have any decisive influence upon course of
fighting in Greece. To send such forces from here, or to divert
reinforcements now on their way or approved, would imperil our
whole position in the Middle East and jeopardise plans for an
offensive operation now being laid in more than one theatre. 3
530
After much painful effort and afrom Malta will hamper the
sending of further reinforcements – Italian or German – from
Europe into Africa.
18. All this might be put effectively in train by October 1,
provided we are allowed the time. If not, we must do what we
can. All trained or Regular units, whether fully equipped or not,
must be used in defence of the Delta. All armed white men and
also Indian or foreign units must be used for internal security.
The Egyptian Army must be made to play its part in support of
the Delta front, thus leaving only riotous crowds to be dealt with
in Egypt proper.
Pray let the above be implemented and be ready to discuss it in
detail with me at 4.30 P.M., August 16.
With this General Wavell returned to Cairo in the third week of August.
* * * * *
I now have to record a small but at the time vexatious military episode. The
Italians, using vastly superior forces, drove us out of Somaliland. This story
requires to be told.
Until December, 1939, our policy in a war with Italy was to evacuate
Somaliland; but in that month General Ironside, C.I.G.S., declared for defence
of the territory, and in the last resort to hold Berbera. Defences were to be
prepared to defend the Tug Argen Gap through the hills. One British battalion
(the Black Watch), two Indian, and two East African battalions, with the
Somaliland Camel Corps and one African light battery, with small detachments
of anti-tank and anti-aircraft units, were gathered by the beginning of August.
General Wavell on July 21 telegraphed to the War Office that withdrawal
without fighting would be disastrous for our influence, and that Somaliland
might be a valuable base for further offensive action. Fighting began during
his visit to London, and he told the Middle East Ministerial Committee that,
although the strategic disadvantages of the loss of Somaliland would be slight,
it would be a blow to our prestige.
The Italians entered British Somaliland on August 3 with three battalions of
423
Italian infantry, fourteen of colonial infantry, two groups of pack artillery, and
detachments of medium tanks, light tanks, and armoured cars. These large
forces advanced upon us on August 10, and a new British commander,
General Godwin Austen, arrived on the night of the 11th. In his instructions he
had been told, “Your task is to prevent any Italian advance beyond the main
position… . You will take the necessary steps for withdrawal if necessary.”
Fighting took place on the 12th and 13th,and found an air raid in
progress. The day was very cloudy and it was raining hard. The
Queen and I went upstairs to a small sitting-room overlooking the
370
Quadrangle (I could not use my usual sitting-room owing to the
broken windows by former bomb damage). All of a sudden we
heard the zooming noise of a diving aircraft getting louder and
louder, and then saw two bombs falling past the opposite side of
Buckingham Palace into the Quadrangle. We saw the flashes and
heard the detonations as they burst about eighty yards away.
The blast blew in the windows opposite to us, and two great
craters had appeared in the Quadrangle. From one of these
craters water from a burst main was pouring out and flowing into
the passage through the broken windows. The whole thing
happened in a matter of seconds and we were very quickly out
into the passage. There were six bombs: two in the Forecourt,
two in the Quadrangle, one wrecked the Chapel, and one in the
garden.
The King, who as a sub-lieutenant had served in the Battle of Jutland, was
exhilarated by all this, and pleased that he should be sharing the dangers of
his subjects in the capital. I must confess that at the time neither I nor any of
my colleagues were aware of the peril of this particular incident. Had the
windows been closed instead of open, the whole of the glass would have
splintered into the faces of the King and Queen, causing terrible injuries. So
little did they make of it all that even I, who saw them and their entourage so
frequently, only realised long afterwards, when making inquiries for writing
this book, what had actually happened.
In those days we viewed with stern and tranquil gaze the idea of going down
fighting amid the ruins of Whitehall. His Majesty had a shooting-range made
in the Buckingham Palace garden, at which he and other members of his
family and his equerries practised assiduously with pistols and tommy-guns.
Presently I brought the King an American short-range carbine, from a number
which had been sent to me. This was a very good weapon.
About this time the King changed his practice of receiving me in a formal
weekly audience at about five o’clock which had prevailed during my first two
months of office. It was now arranged that I should lunch with him every
Tuesday. This was certainly a very agreeable method of transacting State
business, and sometimes the Queen was present. On several occasions we all
had to take our plates and glasses in ougrievous aggravation [ofwould come to the Admiralty War Room at
12.30 P.M. so that we could look at the maps and talk things over.
British and French advanced forces are already on the Antwerp-
Namur line, and there seem to be very good hopes that this line
will be strongly occupied by the Allied armies before it can be
assailed. This should be achieved in about forty-eight hours, and
might be thought to be very important. Meanwhile the Germans
have not yet forced the Albert Canal, and the Belgians are
reported to be d&g buying fake fighting well. The Dutch also are making a
stubborn resistance.
* * * * *
My experiences in those first days were peculiar. One lived with the battle,
upon which all thoughts were centred and about which nothing could be done.
All the time there was the Government to form and the gentlemen to see and
the party balances to be adjusted. I cannot remember, nor do my records
show, how all the hours were spent. A British Ministry at that time contained
between sixty and seventy Ministers of the Crown, and all these had to be
fitted in like a jigsaw puzzle, in this case having regard to the claims of three
Parties. It was necessary for me to see not only all the principal figures, but,
for a few minutes at least, the crowd of able men who were to be chosen for
important tasks. In forming a Coalition Government the Prime Minister has to
attach due weight to the wishes of the party leaders about whom among their
followers shall have the offices allotted to the Party. By this principle I was
mainly governed. If any who deserved better were left out on the advice of
their party authorities, or even in spite of that advice, I can only express
regret. On the whole, however, the difficulties were few.
22
In Clement Attlee I had a colleague of war experience long versed in the
House of Commons. Our only differences in outlook were about Socialism, but
these were swamped by a war soon to involve the almost complete
subordination of the individual to the State. We worked together with perfect
ease and confidence during the whole period of the Government. Mr. Arthur
Greenwood was a wise counsellor of high courage and a good and helpful
friend.
Sir Archibald Sinclair, as official leader of the Liberal Party, found it
embarrassing to accept the office of Air Minister because his followers felt he
should instead have a seat in the War Cabinet. But this ran contrary to the
principle of a small War Cabinet. I therefore proposed that he should join theupon the enemy communications be
possible? Are the enemy resources sufficient to hold down all the
countries at present conquered as well as a large part of France,
while they are fighting the French Army and Great Britain?
(4) Is it not possible thus to prolong the resistance until the
United States come in?
General weygand, while agreeing with the conception of the counter -stroke on
the lower Seine, said that he had inadequate forces to implement it. He added
that, in his judgment, the Germans had got plenty to spare to hold down all
the countries at present conquered as well as a large part of France. Reynaud
added that the Germans had raised fifty-five divisions and had built four
thousand to five thousand heavy tanks since the outbreak of war. This was of
course an immense exaggeration of what they had built.
In conclusion, I expressed in the most formal manner my hope that if there
was any change in the situation the French Government would let the British
Government know at once, in order that they might come over and see them
at any convenient spot, before they took any final decisions which would
govern their action in the second phase of the war.
We then took leave of Pétain, Weygand, and the staff of G.Q.G., and this was
the last we saw of them. Finally I took Admiral Darlan apart and spoke to him
159
alone. “Darlan, you must never let them get the French Fleet. ” He promised
solemnly that he would never do so.
* * * * *
The morning was cloudy, thus making it impossible for the twelve Hurricanes
to escort us. We had to choose between waiting till it cleared up or taking a
chance in the Flamingo. We were assured that it would be cloudy all the way.
It was urgently necessary to get back home. Accordingly we started alone,
calling for an escort to meet us, if possible, over the Channel. As we
approached the coast, the skies cleared and presently became cloudless. Eight
thousand feet below us on our right hand was Havre, burning. The smoke
drifted away to the eastward. No new escort was to be seen. Presently I
noticed some consultations going on with the captain, and immediately after
we dived to a hundred feet or so above the calm sea, where aeroplanes are
often invisible. What had happened? I learned later that they had seen two
German aircraft below us firing at fishing-boats. We were lucky that their
pilots did not look upward. The new escort met us as we approached the
English shore, and the faithful Flaminduring a most critical
period, without making them available for the Middle East at the
moment when they are most needed there. I must ask the
Admiralty to make further proposals and overcome the
Prime Minister to General Ismay, for C.O.S. Committee. 11.VIII.40.
437
difficulties. If necessary, could not the personnel be distributed
among the destroyers, a larger force of destroyers being sent
through from Force “H” to the Eastern Mediterranean, and
returned thereafter in the same way as the six destroyers are
now being sent westward by Admiral Cunningham?
There is no objection to the 3d Hussars (the personnel of a tank
regiment) going by the Cape, as General Wavell can make
temporary arrangements for manning [the tanksclass vessels
were taken in hand as soon as the invasion situation has cleared
and we get King George V in commission. Meanwhile, material
can be collected and preparations made. This should enable them
to be ready in eighteen months from now – i.e., the summer of
Prime Minister to the Mayor of Tel Aviv, Palestine.
15.IX.40.
Prime Minister to First Lord.
15.IX.40.
677
1942.
3. You should press on with Indefatigable, but we need not
consider an additional aircraft-carrier until early next year. The
drawings can, however, be completed.
4. I suppose you realise that the Belfast type take over three
years to build. Considering a large programme of cruisers is
already under construction, I hope you will not press for these
four to be added to the programme of this year.
5. I am all for building destroyers, and I do not mind how large
they are, or how great their endurance, provided that they can be
constructed in fifteen months. This should be taken as the
absolute limit, to which everything else must be made to
conform. We were making destroyers which took three years to
build, everyone thinking himself very clever in adding one
improvement after another. I should like to discuss the destroyer
designs with the Controller and the Director of Naval
Construction. They must be built only for this war, and have good
protection from aircraft. Extreme speed is not so important. What
you say about the U-boats working continually farther west is no
doubt true, but the corvettes, formerly called whalers, have very
fine j12 chanel white ceramic watch endurance and range.
6. The submarine programme is already very large, and makes
inroads on other forms of war requirements. I think you would be
wise to re-examine the demand for the fourteen additional to the
twenty-four to which the Treasury have agreed.
7. Great efforts should be made to produce the landing-craft as
soon as possible. Are the Joint Planning Committee satisfied that
these numbers are sufficient?
8. I am surprised you ask for only fifty anti-E-boats. Unless this is
the utmost limit of your capacity, one hundred would be more
appropriate.
9. Speaking generally, the speed of construction and early dates
of completion must at this time be considered the greatest virtues
678
in new building. It is no use crowding up the order books of firms
and filling the yards with shipping orders which everyone knows
cannot be completed. You have, I presume, consulted Sir James
Lithgow about this programme, a should the British Government uphold
its new and negative decision concerning direct action upon
Dakar by sea, I request immediate co -operation of British naval
and air forces here present to support and cover an operation
which I personally shall conduct with my own troops against
Dakar from the interior.1
Our commanders now reported: 2
At meeting today de Gaulle insisted upon necessity for early
action at Dakar… . He is advised that substantial support for him
is likely to be found in Dakar if agents are sent to foster it, action
is not unduly deferred, and a too-British complexion of the
operation avoided. His agents are ready at Bathurst and have
their instructions. De Gaulle now proposes original plan to enter
477
harbour unopposed should go forward, but that if this fails, Free
French troops should attempt landing at Rufisque, supported by
naval and air action if necessary, and thence advance on Dakar.
British troops only to be landed in support if called upon after
bridgehead has been established… .
After careful consideration of all factors, we are of the opinion
that the presence of these three cruisers has not sufficiently
increased the risks, which were always accepted, to justify the
abandonment of the enterprise. We accordingly recommend
acceptance of de Gaulle ’s new proposal, and that, should he fail,
landing of British troops should be undertaken to install him as
previously contemplated. Increased strength in [ourdo not want to fight. They try to draw back as
slowly as possible, but they do not want to fight. Our conversations with the
British have ended. Nothing was accomplished. I have telephoned to
Ribbentrop saying it was a fiasco, absolutely innocuous. Chamberlain's eyes
filled with tears as the train started moving and his countrymen started
singing, “For he's a jolly good fellow.” “What is this little song?” asked
Mussolini.
19
Prague, Albania, and the Polish Guarantee
January– April, 1939
259
And then a fortnight later:
Lord Perth has submitted for our approval the outlines of the speech
that Chamberlain will make in the House of Commons in order that
we may suggest changes if necessary. The Duce approved it, and
commented: “I believe this is the first time that the head of the
British Government has submitted to a foreign Government the
outlines of one of his speeches. It's a bad sign for them.” 1
However, in the end it was Ciano and Mussolini who went to their doom.
Meanwhile, on January 18, Ribbentrop was at Warsaw to open the diplomatic offensive
against Poland. The absorption of Czechoslovakia was to be followed by the encirclement of
Poland. The first stage in this operation would be the cutting-off of Poland from the sea by
the assertion of German sovereignty in Danzig and by the prolongation of the German
control of the Baltic to the vital Lithuanian port of Memel. The Polish Government displayed
strong resistance to this pressure, and for a while Hitler watched and waited for the
campaigning season.
During the second week of March, rumours gathered of troop movements in Germany and
Austria, particularly in the Vienna-Salzburg region. Forty German divisions were reported to
be mobilised on a war footing. Confident of German support, the Slovaks were planning the
separation of their territory from the Czechoslovak Republic. Colonel Beck, relieved to see
the Teutonic wind blowing in another direction, declared publicly in Warsaw that his
Government had full sympathy with the aspirations of the Slovaks. Father Tiso, the Slovak
leader, was received by Hitler in Berlin with the honours due to a Prime Minister. On the
twelfth Mr. Chamberlain, questioned in Parliament about the guarantee of the Czechoslovak
frontier, reminded the House that this proposal had been directed against unprovoked
aggression. No such aggression had yet taken place. He did not have long to wait.
* * * * *
A wave of perverse optimism had swephave to keep in
Palestine:
6 battalions of infantry
9 regiments of yeomanry
8 battalions of Australian infantry
– the whole probably more than twenty thousand men. This is
the price we have to pay for the anti-Jewish policy which has
been persisted in for some years. Should the war go heavily into
Egypt, all these troops will have to be withdrawn, and the
position of the Jewish colonists will be one of the greatest
danger. Indeed I am sure that we shall be told we cannot
withdraw these troops, though they include some of our best,
and are vitally needed elsewhere. If the Jews were properly
armed, our forces would become available, and there would be
no danger of the Jews attacking the Arabs, because they are
entirely dependent upon us and upon our command of the seas. I
think it is little less than a scandal that at a time when we are
fighting for our lives these very large forces should be
immobilised in support of a policy which commends itself only to
a section of the Conservative Party.
Prime Minister to Secretary of State for the Colonies (Lord Lloyd). 28.VI.40.
176
I had hoped you would take a broad view of the Palestine
situation, and would make it an earnest objective to set the
British garrison free. I could certainly not associate myself with
such an answer as you have drawn up for me. I do not at all
admit that Arab feeling in the Near East and India would be
prejudiced in the manner you suggest. Now that we have the
Turks in such a friendly relationship, the position is much more
secure.
* * * * *
For the first time in a hundred and twenty-five years a powerful enemy was
now established across the narrow waters of the English Channel. Our reformed
Regular Army, and the larger but less well-trained Territorials, had to
be organised and deployed to create an elaborate system of defences, and to
stand fake gucci tote bag ready, if the invader came, to destroy him – for there could be no
escape. It was for both sides “Kill or Cure.” Already the Home Guard could be
included in the general framework of defence. On June 25, General Ironside,
Commander-in-Chief Home Forces, exposed his plans to the Chiefs of Staff.
They were, of course, scrutinised with anxious care by the experts, and I
examined them myself with no little attention. On the whole they stood
approved. There were three main elements in this early outline of a great
future plan: first, an entrenched “crust” on the probable invasion beaches of
the coast, whose defendhas taken her case before the Court,
and she asks for justice there. If the Court finds that her case is just, but is
unable to offer any satisfaction, the Covenant of the League of Nations will
have been proved a fraud, and collective security a sham. If no means of
lawful redress can be offered to the aggrieved party, the whole doctrine of
international law and co-operation upon which the hopes of the future are
based would lapse ignominiously. It would be replaced immediately by a
system of alliances and groups of nations deprived of all guarantees but
their own right arm. On the other hand, if the League of Nations were able
to enforce its decree upon one of the most powerful countries in the world
found to be an aggressor, then the authority of the League would be set
upon so majestic a pedestal that it must henceforth be the accepted
sovereign authority by which all the quarrels of people can be determined
and controlled. Thus we might upon this occasion reach by one single bound
the realisation of our most cherished dreams.
But the risk! No one must ignore it. How can it be minimised? There is a
simple method: the assembly of an overwhelming force, moral and physical,
in support of international law. If the relative strengths are narrowly
balanced, war may break out in a few weeks, and no one can measure what
the course of war may be, or who will be drawn into its whirlpools, or how, if
ever, they will emerge. But if the forces at the disposal of the League of
Nations are four or five times as strong as those which the aggressor can as
yet command, the chances of a peaceful and friendly solution are very good.
Therefore, every nation, great or small, should play its part according to the
Covenant of the League.
Upon what force can the League of Nations count at this cardinal moment?
Has she sheriffs and constables with whom to sustain her judgments, or is
she left alone, impotent, a hollow mockery amid the lip-serving platitudes of
irresolute or cynical devotees? Strangely enough for the destiny of the
world, there was never a moment or occasion when the League of Nations
could command such overwhelming force. The constabulary of the world is
at hand. On every side of Geneva stand great nations, armed and ready,
whose interests as well as whose obligations bind them to uphold, and in the
last resort enforce, the public law. This may never come to pass again. The
fateful moment has arrived for choice between the New make me anxious to
know how you propose to use these eight fine Regular battalions.
Obviously, they will be a reinforcement for your shock troops.
One would suppose they might make the infantry of two
divisions, with five good Territorial battalions added to each
division, total eighteen. Should they not also yield up a certain
number of officers and N.C.O.’s to stiffen the Territorial battalions
so attached? You would thus have six brigades of infantry quite
soon. Alas, I fear the artillery must lag behind, but not I trust for
long.
As rumours grew of peace proposals and a message was sent to us from the
Vatican through Berne, I thought it right to send the following minute to the
Foreign Secretary:
28.VI.40.
I hope it will be made clear to the Nuncio that we do not desire
to make any inquiries as to terms of peace with Hitler, and that
all our agents are strictly forbidden to entertain any such
suggestions.
But here is the record of a qualm.
While we are hastening our preparations for air mastery, the
Germans will be organising the whole industries of the captured
countries for air production and other war production suitable [for
useis limited, and largely scientific in its character. It is
concerned with the methods which can be invented or adopted or
discovered to enable the earth to control the air, to enable defence from the
ground to exercise control– indeed domination– upon airplanes high above
its surface. My experience is that in these matters, when the need is fully
explained by military and political authorities, Science is always able to
provide something. We were told that it was impossible to grapple with
submarines, but methods were found which enabled us to strangle the
submarines below the surface of the water, a problem not necessarily harder
than that of clawing down marauding airplanes. Many things were adopted
in the war which we were told were technically impossible, but patience,
perseverance, and, above all, the spur of necessity under war conditions,
made men's brains act with greater vigour, and Science responded to the
demands.
It is only in the twentieth century that this hateful conception of inducing
nations to surrender by terrorising the helpless civil population by
massacring the women and children has gained acceptance and
countenance among men. This is not the cause of any one nation. Every
country would feel safer if once it were found that the bombing airplane was
116
at the mercy of appliances directed from the earth, and the haunting fears
and suspicions which are leading nations nearer and nearer to another
catastrophe would be abated. We have not only to fear attacks upon our
civil population in our great cities, in respect of which we are more
vulnerable than any other country in the world, but also attacks upon the
dockyards and other technical establishments without which our Fleet, still
an essential factor in our defence, might be paralysed or even destroyed.
Therefore, it is not only for the sake of a world effort to eliminate one of the
worst causes of suspicion and of war, but as a means of restoring to us here
in Great Britain the old security of our island, that this matter should receive
and command the most vigorous thought of the greatest men in our country
and our Government, and should be pressed forward by every resource that
the science of Britain can apply and the wealth of the country can liberate.
On the very next day, the Ministerial changes recorded in the previous chapter took place
and Mr. Baldwin became Prime Minister. Sir Philip Cunliffe-Lister, Lord Swinton as he soon
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