WAR SITUATION. (Hansard, 18 October 1939)

§ The Prime Minister (Mr. Chamberlain)
The statement which I made in the House on 12th October was chiefly concerned with the attitude of His Majesty's Government to the speech of the German Chancellor on 6th October. Apart from the comment which has appeared in the German newspapers, there has been no indication from Berlin of the views of the German Government upon the issues which I sought to define. There is, therefore, at present, nothing that I can add to my statement last week.
Meanwhile, opinion in other countries has had an opportunity of finding expression, and German propaganda organs have used all possible ingenuity so to twist foreign comment as to make it somewhat less unfavourable to their own point of view. I should doubt whether this effort has had any success outside Germany itself, for it is difficult to conceal the fact that the vast bulk of comment, of nearly all shades of political colour, in neutral countries, has shown a full appreciation of the attitude of the Allied Governments.
It seems evident that the inconveniences which war inevitably brings for all non-belligerent countries and which, for their part, His Majesty's Government intend to do their best to mitigate, have not obscured the fundamental issues at stake, the determination of which must affect, for good or ill, the moral and material welfare of the neutral peoples no less than that of the belligerents.
Hon. Members are already familiar, from statements made in this House and official communiques, with the main events of the war by land and sea and in the air. On the Western Front the British Expeditionary Force has now finally taken over its allotted sector of the French line and all divisions are in position. We are proud to know that our men are thus standing to arms beside the soldiers of France, for whose patriotism, determination and magnificent fighting qualities we have so deep an admiration. The understanding between the French and British Higher Command is complete. The fact that our Expeditionary Force is 902 under the command of the French Commander-in-Chief, and that unity of command has thus been achieved at so early a stage of the war, is one proof of this accord. Another is to be found in an agreement by which French troops are serving under the orders of the British Commander-in-Chief in France.
Since I last spoke about the progress of the war at sea, activity has been unremitting both in attack and defence. I am sure that the whole nation is grateful to the Royal Navy for their untiring efforts to ward off enemy attack and to remove the menace of the submarine so that the steady flow of trade to and from our shores may remain unbroken. In carrying out its task, the Navy has, during this week, sustained severe losses both in officers and men, and the House will desire to pay their tribute to the memory of all who have given their lives in the defence of their country whether on sea, on land or in the air.
The successes achieved against U-boats have already been referred to by my right hon. Friend in his statement yesterday. A heavy toll has been taken of the U-boats since the war began. The failure of this form of attack to interfere with our trade may be judged when I inform the House that it is estimated that the losses sustained by British shipping entering and leaving our ports during the week ending 17th October, represent only about one-half of 1 per cent. of the total number sailing.
Attacks by enemy aircraft on our Fleet bases have begun. This is a new feature of the war, but one which was fully expected. The extent of the enemy's disappointment at the failure of these attacks to inflict any serious injury upon our ships may be measured by the fantastic nature of the claims which they have felt obliged to invent. It is not true, and I must repeat it once again, though by now the news grows stale through repetition, that neither the "Hood" nor the "Repulse," nor any other capital ship, has suffered the least damage. The same is true of the Ark Royal."
The people of this country are resolute enough to bear bad news, and the Government have not hesitated to publish the full extent of any losses they have sustained. Those imaginary losses, which the German broadcasts have described with such unblushing impudence, may 903 serve for a time to raise their spirits but, in the end, their falsity will be demonstrated and the consequent disappointment will be only the more depressing.
We, on our side, have no intention of claiming successes of which we are not convinced. It is far more important that the world should be able to believe implicitly in the truth of the communiques we issue than that we should reap the short-lived advantages which distortions of the truth may bring. We know that in the air battles which, during the last two days, have, for the first time, been fought over our own coasts, we have destroyed eight enemy aircraft without losing a single machine of our own. We believe that several more German bombers may have failed to reach home. The total number of enemy aircraft taking part in the raids did not exceed 30. The casualties which we have inflicted upon the enemy have thus certainly exceeded 25 per cent. of the attacking forces, and may have been higher.
These results are a splendid tribute to the courage and determination of the officers and men of the Royal Air Force, and the House will be glad to know that the Auxiliary Air Force have won a first and resounding success by bringing down three out of the four German aircraft destroyed in the raid on Rosyth. We may, indeed, be encouraged by the knowledge that our defences have proved so successful in these first tests of their strength and that our fighter aircraft have been shown to possess the excellence of quality for which we had hoped.
In these early days we must not, of course, indulge in foolish boasts. The attacks so far made upon our coasts have been few and on a small scale, and it would be unwise to assume that we shall always be as successful as we have been in these first exchanges. There are many surprises in war and they cannot all be pleasant; but we have at least the satisfaction of knowing that we have made a good beginning.

§ Mr. Attlee
I should like to associate myself and my hon. Friends with the tribute which the Prime Minister has paid to those who have lost their lives by these recent operations, and also to express our admiration of the way in which our Air 904 Force and our Navy have behaved. I do not intend this afternoon to follow the Prime Minister at any length. I would like to make only two points with regard to actual war operations. The first one is that I should like to express the hope that we shall have a very early report of the Court of Inquiry that is sitting to consider the sinking of the "Royal Oak." The second thing is that I think we ought to have some explanation of the reason why, apparently, the attack made by aircraft on the Firth of Forth was only appreciated when the aircraft were already actually over that area. That, I understand, is the reason given as to why there was no air-raid warning. I think that that ought to be cleared up; otherwise it may tend to cause lack of confidence in air-raid warnings.
The specific points I want to refer to very briefly to-day are these: I put some questions to the Prime Minister with regard to our discussions of last night. It does not seem to me that the Government are taking nearly seriously enough the question of the organisation of the Home front and the sustaining of the moral of our people. There is no doubt about it that it is of paramount importance to the efficiency of our fighting Forces that they should know that everything is satisfactory at home with their families. The Debate last night showed that that is not being done at present. I cannot find that there is any member of the War Cabinet who is really charged with this most important matter—the maintenance of the moral of our troops and the general supervision of these questions. Equally we are not in the very least satisfied with regard to the economic side of this country and the economic organisation of this country for war. To that particular point we wish to call attention this afternoon. I do not propose to say anything further on it myself, because my hon. Friend the Member for Seaham (Mr. Shinwell) is to speak on it on behalf of the Opposition.
It is right that this House should discuss the questions of economic warfare, the organisation of the resources of this country for the struggle, and whether we are geting to-day the appropriate ministerial machinery. We are wholly dissatisfied with any suggestion that this difficult matter can be left to the part-time efforts of the Chancellor of the Exchequer 905 and Lord Stanhope. Part-time efforts are not enough. We demand that just as in the War Cabinet the function of defence is fully represented, represented not only by the Defence Minister but by the three Ministers of the Fighting Services, just as the department of finance is represented by the Chancellor of the Exchequer and foreign affairs by the Foreign Secretary, so we ought to have proper representation by someone responsible for the economic organisation of the country, and also someone who is responsible for organisation behind with regard to defence and everything else that appertains to the moral of the nation. On that point of economic organisation I hope we shall get something better than we have had already from the Government.

§ Sir Percy Harris
My right hon. Friend intends to reserve himself for a later part of the Debate, which will be concentrated on economic problems and the planning of our industrial life. I want to associate my friends and myself with the tribute paid by the Prime Minister to the personnel of the three Fighting Services, the men who in the first six weeks of the war have given their lives in the service of the State, particularly as their relations and friends want to know that the House of Commons recognises their sacrifice. It is right and proper that when we deal in the abstract with the Fighting Services we should keep alive our appreciation of the personnel. Only too often names appear in small print in the Press, and it is a right principle that from time to time the House of Commons, through the Prime Minister, should pay tribute to the splendid men who have maintained the best traditions of our Fighting Services. With those few words I shall be content, but I and my friends would like to be associated with and to echo the tribute that has been paid by the Prime Minister.