Evening star., 1941-10-17
By the Associated Press.


LONDON, Oct. 1.-THE grim in.
side story of British failure in the
battle of Flanders was told today ir
publication of the official report OF
the British commander, Lord Gort
and sect ,ons of the press pointed to
1t as moral against sending any in
vasion force to the continent unless
1t is fully trained and equipped.
Lord Gort reported shortages OF
equipment and failure of co-ordina-
ton among the Allied armies.
The Daily Express said the report
ought to be enough to stop the in
vasionists, shouting and bawling for
immediate action before we make
tanks to do it with. Brave men
must never be sacrificed again by
being sent to war without proper
weapons"
Lord Gort revealed that the gov
.ernment made him sole judge" on
the question of the surrender Of the
British Expeditionary Force in the
event the Germans cut off the troops
from the beach head at Dunkerque.
Faulty Information Blamed.
Lord Gort related for the first time
how Allied GeneralisSimo Maxine
Weygand called for a counterattack
by the British even as they were
being taken from the beaches of
DunkerQue,
He also said that in another in
stance the British War Office
iordered an attack which had become
impractical before the order was
issued. He blamed that on faulty
information received from the
French.
AT another time, he said. French
general failed to appear at a con-
terence at which a counterattack
was to be arranged. so the British
had to go ahead alone.
The former commander said the
French persisted in refusing to with
draw to cover of the Dunkerque
evacuation until the final moment.
When they Joined the movement,
Lord Gort's dispatches reported, the
French nearly caused chaos by
blocking roads with useless equip
ment.
He said British forces embarked
at DunkerQue were made up of 21l,- =
532 fit men and 1903 casualties and
112,546 Allied troops, most of them
French, also were rescued.
The day is past" Lord Gort said.
when armies can be hurriedly
raised, equipped and placed in the
field for modern war demands the
ever-increasing use of complicated
material"
10 Nazi Armored Divisions.
In the battle of Flanders, he said,
the Germans were able to place
10 armored divisions in the area
( they selected and to employ at least
five of them against the British
rearWard defenses.
"On the other hand" he said. the
British armored forces in the theater
Of war amounted to seven divisional
cavalry regiments equipped with
light tanks, one regiment of
armored cars of an obsolete pattern.
and two battalionS of infantry tanks.
the latter, except for % mark II
tanks, being armed each with one
machine gun only"
Lord Gort told in solemn military
detail of the arrival of the B. E. F.
In France and its evacuation. even
though the French failed to provide
transport for them.
so ended campaign of % days
which has proved that the offensive
once more gained ascendancy in
modern war when undertaken with
an army equipped with greatly su-
perior material power in the shape
of air forces and armored fighting
vehicles" Lord Gort wrote.
Lost All of Artillery.
THE series of situations which the
B E. F. had to face was not brought
about by failure on their part to
withstand enemy attacks when hold
ing position of their own choosing;
It was caused by the enemy breaking
through completely on front many
ihAlco away 44oiil Iildt 1Ielu ny IIle
B. E. F. Nevertheless this break
through, once 1t began, was destined
to involve in its Inflated conse-
quences both the French 1st Army
and the B. z. F. In the withdrawal
which ensued both these armies lost
the whole of their artillery and
transport.
"Our anti-tank armament was
more ample than that Of the French,