"We are lying back on our fertile which, incidentally, is the yround for armoured' vehicles, of the sea, and confronted in Africa with problems far more difeult than any they have solved. Thisis alt the more true while we are defending, as We intend to defend to the death Without any thought of retirement, the highly defensive outposts of Crete snd Tobrure, "crete has not yet been attacked. The strategic significance of Tobruk was obvious from the first, and. any one can see how irresistibly it has Imposed itself on the enemy. We Intend fo fight with all our strength for the Nile valley and the command of the Mediterranean. Our troops and resources will give a good uc-Count of themselves. Therefore, Tet There be no. feather-headed or defeatist {alle about cutting our losses inthe Middle East.
situation in Egypt was' far, more naa said In, December, when our rilieal than nov, itis a ense of deeds words, Our generals on the spot believed that no. superior German force could advance effectively across the desert as sven or as quickly as they. did, and that i€ they did" ode vance téy woul not be able {0 est fblish themselves.
That was a mistake, but anyone who supposes there will not be mis-Vakes in" war is very unreal and foolish, It has yet to be seen how the forces that have advanced will fare in the heavy fighting with all the hazards which still lie befor. them at no great distance, "When your enemy hay five or six es the regular army that you have, When he {s more adequately equipped and is much stronger in the air and in tanks, and when he lies in the centro of the war scene and can ftelke out in one, two or three direc lions' simultaneously out of a.choice of seven or eight, It is evident that your problem becomes rather difficult,
rebuifs and. misfortunes, and these ils nol possible to avoid repeated we shall very likely have to 0 through for quite a long time, Our Intelligence service was thought be the. best in the world in the fast war, and itis certainly, not the wordt in the world today, As long ago as last May the Foreign OMe began to ask for troops to be sent to Iraq to guard the lines of communication, But all the troops we. hed got had to go to the Nile valley, In default of troops it was dimcuit to make headway against the pro-Axis intrigues of Raschid Ah, whose object obviously was to have everything ready for the Germans 2s soon as they could reach Iraq accord ing to plan, "therefore, the til-informed, slothful, kid-gloved British Government vetually forestalled this plot. Strong British' forces landed and. assumed control of a highly important bridsehead. in the east—Basra—for which we shall doubtless have to ght hard and long.
Raschid Ah was led into more violent courses. For several days we were very anxious about our position there. Yesterday, the garrison at Habbantyah sallied out and com. pletely routed the besiegers and put them to flight. 26 Iraqi officers and 408 men were taken prisoner and the total enemy casualties are estimated 1,000.
"Possibly. the Germans will arrive before we have crushed the revolt, in which case our task will become more dificult. Possibly the revolt went off at half cock. We intend to assist the Traqis to get rid of Rasehid All and his military dictatorship at the earliest possible moment.
I have never promised anything Dut blood, tears, toll and sweat, to which T will add our full share of mistakes, shortcomings and dis~ appointments, and also that this may 0 on for a' very long time, at the fond of which T firmly believe there will be a complete and final victory.
"it is a mistake to say that the Battle of the Auantic is won, Our test is the number of tons of imports brought in, "At present, we are maintaining the rate of traMe with heavy losses. We are trying to meet those losses by building new ships, repairing damaged ships, and accelerating the turning round of our ships in ports. We have made great progress in all these spheres, bub there Is mauch more to With the continued flow of assis tance already given us by the United States, we can'probably maintain our minimum essential traMe during 1941, For 1942 we must look to an immense construction of merchantmen in the United States, I have received the assurance of construction by the United States, which, added to our own large programme, should see us through that year. Maybe 1943, 1f we have to endure it as @ year of war, will present easier problems.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.