Evening star., 1919-10-12

- ERMANY attacked our hospi-
tai ships In order to make us
escort them with destroyers,
and thereby divert these de-
stroyers from the anti-submarine
campaign. And. of course, England
had to do this. Had the Anglo Saxon
mind resembled the Germanic we
should probably have accepted the
logic of the situation. and have re-
fused to be diverted from the great
strate sic purpose which meant win
ming the war-that is. protecting
merchant shipping: we should, there
fore, have left the hospital ships to
principle of the larger good.
But the British and American mind
does not work that way; II was i'm
possible for US to leave sick and
wounded men as prey to submarines
Therefore. after receiving the Ger
man warning, backed up, as It was
by the actual destruction of unpro-
tccted hospital ships. we began pro-
viding them with destroyer escorts.
This greatly embarrassed US in the
anti-submarine campaign. for at
times, especially during the big
drives. we had a large number of
hospital ships to protect. AS soon
as we adopted this policy Germany,
having attained her end, which was
to keep the destroyers out of the
submarine area, stopped attacking
sick and wounded soldiers.
Not only was the British navy at
that time safeguarding the liberties
of mankind at sea. but its army in
France was doing its share in safe
guarding them on land. And the fact
that Britain had to support this
mighty army did its part in making
British shipping at times almost the
free play of the German submarines.
For, next in Importance to maintain
was necessary to keep secure the
channel crossing. Over this little
strip Of water went the men and
supplies from England to France that
kept the German army at bay; to
have suspended this line Of communi-
cation, even for brief period, would
have meant that the Germans would
have captured Paris, overrun the
whole Of France and ended the war
at least, the war on land. In the
course of four years Great Britain
transported about 100000 troops
across the channel without the loss
OF single man. She accomplished
this only by constantly using fifty or
sixty destroyers and other light sur
face craft, based on Harwich, as es-
corts for the transports. But this
was not the only responsibility of
the kind that rested on the already
overburdened British shoulders. There
was another part of the seas in which,
for practical and political reasons,
the British destroyer fleet had to do
protective duty. This was the Med
iterranean. Here lay not only the
trade routes to the east. but also the
lines Of supply to Italy, to Egypt,
to Palestine and to Mesopotamia.
Cutting off Italy's food and materials
would simply have meant that Italy
would have to withdraw from the
war. The German and Austrian sub
marines, escaping from Austria's Ad-
riatic ports, were constantly assail-
ing this commerce. Moreover. the sue
cess Of the German submarine cam
paign in these waters would have
meant that the allies would have to
abandon the Saloniki expedition,
which would have left the central
powers absolute masters of the Bal
kans and the middle east. This created
an additional strain upon the anti
submarine craft of the British navy.
For the British navy it was thus
matter Of choice what areas she would
attempt to protect with her destroyer
forces; the one thing that was pain
fully apparent was that she could not
satisfactorily safeguard all the dan
ger zones. With the inadequate force
at her disposal, certain areas must be
left open to the U-boats: and to de-
eide which ones was simply T. matter
of balancing the several conflicting
interests. In April. 1917, the admiralty
had decided to give the preference to
the grand feet. the hospital ships.
a. ol,o In NJ