§ THE EARL OF CORK AND ORRERY asked His Majesty's Government whether their attention had been called to a circular issued to the motor vehicle repair shops by the Minister of War Transport (Gen. A 1/6), which appears to contravene the policy enunciated in this House by Ministers on recent occasions. The noble Earl said: My Lords, the purpose of the question which stands in my name is to draw attention to a circular which has been sent to me by a very dis- 254 tinguished officer holding high command in the Home Guard. This circular was brought to him by an officer on his staff who happens also to be a garage proprietor. With your Lordships' permission I will summarize its contents in order to explain why I am asking the question. Before doing so, however, I would like to take the opportunity of apologizing to the Minister of War Transport for the shortness of the notice which I have given.
§
This circular is headed Denial of Resources to the Enemy. It has been issued to the motor vehicle repair shops and it starts by laying down that:
Motor vehicle repair shops are a valuable national asset
and, addressing the owners, managements and staffs of such establishments, it goes on to state that
if the country is invaded you should in no circumstances destroy your premises, plant, equipment or stores (other than petrol about which separate instructions have been issued). These will all be wanted when the enemy has been driven out.
The pamphlet then goes on to recognize that equally these establishments might prove a valuable asset to the invader for "repairing and servicing his motor transport and armoured fighting vehicles." So it lays down certain measures which are to be taken, if possible, for hiding
any delicate or valuable machinery or parts of such machinery which could not be easily replaced and which he could readily destroy or carry off.
It puts upon the managers of garages and their employees certain duties—upon the managers that of deciding when to take these steps and upon the employees that of knowing what they have to hide. Then after they have hidden these things they have to hide themselves so that it cannot be possible for them to be forced by the enemy to help to bring the garages into working order again.
§ This has all got to be arranged before the enemy reaches the shop. Steps have to be taken when it appears that the enemy is likely to do so. Now this is a very difficult question. To ask a manager of a garage to decide when he has time to carry out all the measures which are laid down, and when there is time also for him and his men to get out before the enemy reach their shop, is to set him a puzzling problem. How can he be expected to know the military situation existing on the 255 outskirts of the town in which his establishment is situated? But the whole crux of the circular is contained in an instruction in capital letters which states: "On no account destroy anything." It is a plausible document, but I would ask whether the policy it lays down is a wise one or one likely to be effective. If it is wise, is the responsibility for carrying out the instructions placed upon the right shoulders? Again, if we do leave these undamaged shops to our enemy, is he likely to do the same for us when we drive him out, and give us this means of expediting our advance? In the lavatories on the Italian railways before the war there used to be notices asking passengers to leave the premises in the same state in which they found them. I suggest that we should borrow some of these notices and put them up in our garages for the enemy's edification. I am sure the result would be exactly the same in both cases.
§ I suggest that the circular should embody the much more robust policy that has recently been laid down in your Lordships' House by the Lord Chancellor and by the noble Duke, the Duke of Devonshire. There is no scorched earth policy about this circular. There is nothing but simple and touching faith in what the enemy will do, and, apparently, a failure to appreciate the rapidity with which events may develop if invasion should take place. In the last war we failed to destroy some harbour works on the Belgian coast because we thought we might require them later on. They remained a thorn in our side for the rest of the war. Is it really necessary in the event of invasion to leave the machinery in these garages in any sort of state in which it could be put into working order by the enemy? Supposing he were to invade the south coast and occupy a considerable area there: if you had destroyed all the repair shops and their contents in that area he would be in difficulties because he would have to bring all the materials for repairing and servicing his transport arid fighting vehicles over here by means of ships. We, on the other hand, would have the whole of the resources of the rest of the country at our backs.
§ Yet we have this order, "On no account destroy anything." I suggest that the circular ought to end by saying: "If time does not permit the adoption of the measures recommended, on no account 256 should anything undamaged fall into the enemy's hands; everything should be destroyed by the readiest means available, and these means should be thought out beforehand." A good deal can be done with a heavy mall on boring machines, and explosives can lift boring machines and lathes out of their seatings. This should go on until the enemy enters the door, and then there will be something better to use a mall on!
§ LORD MOTTISTONEMy Lords, I do not apologize for addressing your Lordships a second time, because this subject is similar to that to which I have already referred. My noble friend Lord Cork and Orrery has left out one salient point, which shocked him So much that he asked me to support him. It is a point which involves the same pestilent doctrine against which I have already protested, and which I will cal the "rabbit" doctrine. There is a paragraph in this document which deals with what is to be done when the enemy comes. It says that on no account are these things to be destroyed, and then it deals with what the man himself is to do, and the statement is, "keep out of the way." The proper thing to do, of course, is to get a big spanner and try to hit the enemy over the head with it. It is an extraordinary thing that this ponderous machine should go on working on the lines of the "rabbit" policy, while the "lion" policy, advocated by the Lord Chancellor, never gets a hearing. This is a very bad case of the continuation of this pacifist, Quisling policy which obsessed us at the beginning of the war. A citizen of this country who asks what he should do if the enemy approaches his garage is not told to use his utmost endeavours to overcome the enemy, which is what the Lord Chancellor told him, but to keep out of the way. This must be put right. I do not apologize for keeping on about this, because I and others will not rest until we have extirpated this foul doctrine of pacifist, Quisling cowardice, which obsessed us until the Lord Chancellor swept it away.
§ LORD SNELLMy Lords, my noble friend Lord Leathers is unfortunately not able to be present to-day, for reasons which have been given to the noble and gallant Earl, Lord Cork and Orrery, and which I think he understands. The answer which my noble friend would have given on the matter of the circular to 257 which attention has been called is that this circular was issued by my noble friend's Department after consultation with the military and with the other Government Departments concerned. He is not aware that it conflicts with general Government policy in any respect.
With regard to the remarks which the noble and gallant Earl has made about the circular, I suggest that the emphasis there is on the need to keep the shop in operation as long as possible, and to avoid precipitate action. The circular issued by the Ministry of War Transport lays on certain interested and responsible individuals definite responsibilities, and tells them how and when to discharge those responsibilities. It emphasizes that nothing should be destroyed, but gives detailed instructions as to how certain important machinery in motor vehicle repair Shops can be rendered useless by the removal of certain small but essential parts. The management is advised to hide these parts, arid the plant can be put into working order again in a very short time if the locality is not in fact invaded by the enemy. I am only able to give, as my noble and gallant friend will realize, an individual interpretation of the effect of this, but I think that that would be the answer of my noble friend Lord Leathers, had he been able to be present.
§ LORD MOTTISTONEWhat about the man keeping out of the way? The man is told to keep out of the way, and that is directly at variance with what the Lord Chancellor said.