HL Deb 23 September 1943 vol 129 cc161-2
VISCOUNT CRANBORNE

My Lords, I beg to move that the House do now adjourn.

Moved, That the House do now adjourn.—(Viscount Cranborne.)

LORD STRABOLGI

My Lords, on the Motion for the Adjournment I hope your Lordships will forgive me if I take the opportunity for a moment only of making one comment about the question which we have been discussing of the island of Rhodes. I am not saying this in any critical sense, and, like my noble friend Lord Addison, I am very grateful for the very full account which we have been given—I am sure the fullest possible—of the operations in this vital area. The account which I have here, however, is that the fighting went on for a long time before the Italians were overcome, and that what finally decided it was that the Governor, who seems to have been a one hundred per cent. Fascist, was won over by the Germans, who told him that Mussolini had been released and that the Fascist Government had been restored in Italy.

The point that I was trying to make—I have consulted my noble friend Lord Addison about this, and I think that he agrees with me—is this: What counts is not the size of the force which is sent on an occasion of this kind. A hundred British Marines under the White Ensign on the spot would have stiffened the morale of the 20,000 Italian troops—four times as numerous as the Germans—and shown that we were ready to help them. If we could have sent a few fighter aeroplanes to keep off the Stuka dive bombers, so much the better. That is what I meant by the use of a light force and its value when everything is in the balance and nobody knows quite what master to obey. I do not want to risk the lives of British soldiers, but I do want to make that point clear. Like my noble friend, I am most grateful for the very interesting explanation which we have had.

VISCOUNT CRANBORNE

My Lords, I am grateful to the noble Lord for what he has said, and I am also grateful to him for giving notice that he intended to raise this point. I did make most careful inquiries and obtained the fullest and most accurate information available at the time. I cannot add to it now, but no doubt with the progress of events we shall know more.

On Question, Motion agreed to.

House adjourned.