§ 17. Lieut.-Commander KENWORTHYasked the Secretary of State for War whether British troops are to be sent to Memel and Dantzig, respectively; if so, for what purpose; and whether young soldiers under the age of twenty and nine teen years, respectively, will accompany these troops?
§ Mr. CHURCHILLThe answer to the first part of the question is in the affirmative. As regards the second part, the Supreme Council decided to send Allied troops to Dantzig, which under the Treaty of Peace becomes a free city, to support the authority of the Temporary Administrator (Sir Reginald Tower) pending the organisation of local forces.
It is essential to guard the docks against damage and to preserve the peace in the area of the new free city. It is also necessary to provide troops to enable the Commission for the delimitation of the frontier of the new free city to carry out its duties.
The same general reasons apply as regards the Memel district. This territory is to be handed over by Germany to the principal Allied and Associated Powers, who will decide as to its ultimate disposal. The proximity of this Memel district to the Baltic States affords an additional reason for its military occupation by Allied troops. The answer to the third part is in the affirmative.
§ Lieut. - Commander KENWORTHYWas not an assurance given by my right hon. Friend that these young soldiers would not be sent further than the Rhine?
§ Mr. CHURCHILLThey might be sent further than the Rhine, but what was said was in order to show that they would not be sent to India or the East. We had it in contemplation, though they might go to Northern Europe, to keep them within the temperate zone in the area responsibly controlled by the Rhine Army.
§ Colonel ASHLEYWho pays for these troops?
§ Mr. CHURCHILLI am not yet convinced whether this will be a charge under the interpretation of the Peace Treaty—against Germany, in the same way as the maintenance of the Army on the Rhine—or whether it will have to be defrayed from some inter-Allied fund.
§ Mr. HOGGEWill the right hon. Gentleman say whether in future these young soldiers under nineteen shall not be sent anywhere in Europe except under one of the immediate commands?
§ Mr. CHURCHILLThat is just what we have been doing. We have not sent any of the young men away from the proper climate in the usual way.
§ Sir S. HOAREThere is, I believe, a good deal of misunderstanding and anxiety on the subject. Cannot the right hon. Gentleman make a public statement as to the proper areas? It would reassure the public.
§ Mr. CHURCHILLThere is certainly no secret about it. If the hon. Gentleman will put down a question to which I can give a written answer, I will give the locations to which British troops have to go in discharge of their share of the inter-Allied obligations.
§ Colonel WEDGWOODHave not some of these men been sent to Silesia?
§ Mr. CHURCHILLIf a question is put down I shall be ready to say exactly where British troops are sent for the purpose of fulfilling our obligations.