"As anyone cam see—apart from the question of whether you, have adequate supplies or not—who measures the distance from our airfields in Egypt and compares them with the distances from enemy airfields in Greece and who acquaints himself with the radius of action of dive-bombers and aircraft. I take the fullest personal responsibility for that decision, but the Chiefs of Staff, the Defence Committee, and Gen. Sir Archibald Wavell all not only thought Crete ought to be defended in the cireymstances which were fully before them, but that in spite of the lack of air support we had a good chance of winning the battle, "Nobody had illusions about the scale of the enemy air borne attack. "We knew it would be gigantic and intense. Reconnaissances over Greek aerodromes showed enormous masses of aircraft which were gathering there—many hundreds—and it turned out that the enemy was prepared to pay almost an unlimited price for this conquest and his resources when concentrate? upon any particular point may often be overwhelming at that point."
Referring to statements which have been ascribed to the spokesman of the War Office and Air Ministry, the Prime Minister declared that the officers who gave these broadcasts were not acquainted with the control of affairs and with what is decided or thought or felt in the Chiefs of Staff Committee or the Defence Committee.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.