Evening star., 1940-12-01
Greece Paves Way for Defeat
OF Italy, Hore~Belisha Declares
Victory Over Fascists Would Enable Fleet to
Protect British Ships From Attacks,
Former War Minister Saws
By Leslie Hore-BeIisha,
Former British Minister Of War.

plies from the other side Of the Adriatic.
Pilots of the Royal Air Force hence
forward will more easily be able to patrol
that sea.
The technique employed by German
aircraft to the west of Ireland can be
exploited-it is true only on q minor
scale-by British aircraft to the east Of
Italy. The real struggle of this war,
however, has yet to come. 1t is between
Britain, the great sea power and Ger
many, the great power on land.
When Italy has been eliminated, the
principal handicap under which Britain
labors. namely the necessity for diverting
from the main objective so much of her
strength, and above all her naval
strength, will be removed 1t is there
fore of paramount Importance for her.
with the least possible delay, to free her
self of her commitments in the Medi-
terranean. Greece has opened the way
and provided her with the means.
Profit and Loss Account.
The most vital threat which Britain
has to meet from Germany is the sink
ing of her ships. Here is her profit and
loss account for the first year of war:
She acquired 6,25o,00o gross tons Of
shipping from her Norwegian, Dutch,
Belgian and Polish allies. She chartered
100000 gross tons of neutral shipping.
Her captures, including French and
Danish ships temporarily taken over.
were 100000 gross tons. She built or
purchased from abroad about 950,000
gross tons.
Out of the total of 9,158,000 tons
assuming it all to be effective-acquired
from all sources by Britain between Sep
tember, 1889, and August, 1910, losses in
CURED amounted to 2,165,000 gross tons.
Thus, at the end of the first year of
war, Britain disposed of about 100000
gross tons more shipping than she had at
the beginning. On first view, therefore,
the shipping position of Britain would
appear to be encouraging.
1t must be remembered, however, that
the supplements which she has obtained
from her allies are non-recurrent. The
most recent of these-and it will be
the last of any significance-has come
from Greece. The gross tonnage which
she controls is 1,780,000, of which Britain
was already chartering 100000 gross
tons.
Further, the average weekly rate of
sinkings, which for the first IL months
of war was 1854 gross tons, has been
running in recent months at more than
twice that figure.
Must Build More Ships.
If the long view be taken-such as
Mr.. Churchill recently enyisaged when
he spoke of 1943 and 1944-it will be
necessary for Britain to expedite the
enlargement of her own shipbuilding
capacity and plan now for the obtain
ing of such reinforcements as the United
States and Canada in particular can
make arrangements to provide.
These countries are at present better
equipped for naval building than for
the construction of merchant vessels.
However, the most welcome relief that
Britain could secure would be the re-
lease from the Mediterranean of that
part of her navy which is needed to
supervise the italian fleet.
If Britain, by defeat of Italy, could
devote the whole of her navy to the
protection of her commerce from Nazi
attacks, and thereby reduce the in
cidence of the present sinkings, she
would not be confronted with the pros
pect of so grave deficiency of shipping
in the years to come.
Further, the opening of the Mediter-
ranean would reduce considerably the
length of voyages, and this in itself
would be the equivalent of great ad-
dition to her merchant tonnage. Ships
conveying cargoes to India, for instance,
via the Cape take II days longer than
would be the case if they could make
the voyage via the Suez Canal. Nine
ships are therefore necessary on the out
ward passage alone to do the work which
five could otherwise accomplish.
There is thus both urgency and ex-
pediency in the supplementing and in
the thrusting home of Greek successes
The order of the day must be-, Sweep
Italy out of the war"
(copyright 1s40)