Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1940-12-07


view in his nght-paneled study in
the British Embassy overlooking
Massachusetts avenue.
IF We can meet the sea offensive
against Britain this winter and
spring" the Ambassador stated, we
feel that the war is won"
He spoke simply and with convic-
ton and with first-hand knowledge
of the actual naval situation gathered
from his recent visit to London. He
said that Hitler was at the peak OF
his air power and that the R. A. F.
was winning the war in the air de-
spite the damage and indignity OF
nightly Nazi bombings with an aver
age toll of 200 dead and 300 wounded
approximately the same as the
average American casualties from
automobiles and industrial acci-
dents.
Unlimited Submarine Warfare.
So the German high command
has fallen back on old Admiral Won
Tirpitzs policy for unlimited sub
marine warfare TO starve out the
BRUSH Isles.
Much of what Lord Lothian told
me was naturally and very emphati-
cally off the record, but it has been
possible for me from other sources
to reconstruct the naval situation as
it appears to well-informed people in
Washington.
British sea power is stretched very
thin as compared TO the last war.
when the Royal Navy was reinforced
by French. Italian, Japanese and
American fleets. The loss of the
French Navy after the bhtZkreig in
Flanders last May and June was
serious blow to control of the seas.
The Italian Navy is against England
and the japanese Navy is believed to
be awaiting signs of British weaken
ing to launch a tWo-ocean war
against the British Empire and the
United States.
Moreover. BY the folly OF the pre-
vious Baldwin and Chamberlain
governments in England. Great
Britain surrendered her rights to
naval bases in the Irish Free State.
This means that, under Irish neu-
trality, British conveys must pass
by the north of Ireland, where they
can be defended from naval and air
bases in Ulster. Negotiations for the
use of bases in the Free State have
been blocked by the religious polit-
ical issue between Ulster and the
rest of Ireland and so the U-boats
nHnroI IA Gnryyror1
| long-range seaplanes operating from
| French Atlantic and Channel bases
locate the conveys and radio their
position to the wolf pack" of Ger
man submarines Until American
policy is cleared up on the issue of
the North Atlantic life line" and
the bridge of boats TO the fringe Of
freedom, it seems impossible short
Of violence for the British to secure
the bases in Southern and Western
Ireland from which to combat this
NaZi attack.
14O L. S. Units in Atlantic.
In the meantime, there are about
l40 American naval units in the
Atlantic, but they are eXerting no
direct influence on the course of the
war. 1t is perhaps significant that
in Junior United States naval circles
it is taken for granted that our ships
will soon be conveying British
freighters across the North Atlantic.
Something of the sort is clearly
indicated by the double-edged Ger
man pressure Attacks on British
conveys are calculated to draw Brit
ish naval units from the Mediter-
ranean. A weakening Of the Royal
Navy in the Mediterranean would
be followed by a Nazi drive through
Spain or the Balkans, with the OBJ
ject of establishing Nazi naval
base at Dakar. on the western bulge
of Africa, and the opening Of the
"two-ocean war" against the Eng
disappearing democracies.
Failure to smash the bastions of
Anglo American sea power would
compel the Germans to sue for
peace within a year. Failure TO hold
those bastions would destroy the
world order and world unity which
have existed since Waterloo, and
would leave America ingloriously
and fatally isolated in totalitarian
world.
incidentally, when you mention
Joe Kennedy at the British Embassy
you had better smile. All in all, 1t
is the feeling of Lord Lothian that
the decision as to whether England
or Hitler shall win the war lies in
the hands, the hearts and the hopes
of the American people.