Evening star., 1942-01-22
Continental Offensive
Army's Chief Task,
Commons Is Told
New Airdrcme Defense
Unit to Be Second to None,
Sinclair Declares
BY the Associated Press.

LONDON, Jan. 22.-The Brit
iSh Army's main task is to organ
ize a continental offensive, Air
Minister Sir Archibald Sinclair
told the House Of Commons to-
day in opening debate on the
adequacy of British airfield de-
fense against invasion of the
British Isles.
He said the r. A. F.'s new air
drome defense regiment would be
second to none" In British usage
the regiment is not a fixed num-
Der Of men, but includes variable
number Of battalions. The new air.
field defense units are spoken OF
as regiment
Explaining that the r. A. r. had
formed its new airdrome defense
units to relieve the army OF that
generous" protection job, Mr.. Sin
clair, as Government spokesman in
the debate, said:
"The main task of the army Is
not defense, but to organize from
its strictly limited manpower re-
sources the greatest possible strik-
ing force for offensive operations on
the continent"
Army Keeps Responsibility.
He added that the responsibility
for ground defense of airfields re-
manned, as before, with the army.
but that the r. A. F. had assumed
command under army direction of
forces stationed on the fields them
selves.
But Mr.. Sinclair's description of
the newly conceived defense units
which would be managed by the
r. A. F. under army direction ap-
parently failed to satisfy critics who
recently have been crying alarm over
losses OF airfields in the war so far.
The new scheme is complicated
and based on muddled thinking" de-
clared Col. Arthur Evans, Conserva-
tive, who said he could not agree
with Mr. Sinclair that responsible
ity between the r. A. F. and the
army was 'clearcut and defined"
George M. Garro-Jones, Laborite,
eisoSl Wv lA1dS IllC OlNldSd
still was the curse of the military
system.
I'VE must get mobile air units
consisting of troop carriers, light
tank carriers, parachute carriers and
even gliders distributed all over the
country in small units so that not
one of our vital airdromes is more
fhon TX y,oip,,toc ou,ov froy,, q efrorC
counterattacking air-borne force"
he said.
Before Mr.. Sinclair spoke, Prime
Minister Churchill indicated that
the debate would be conducted In
secret as soon as it entered opera
tional phases.
Warmup for General Debate.
Today's debate was but the warm
up for the forthcoming three-day
general debate which Mr.. Churchill
himself will open with probably the
longest statement of his career.
While no possibility appeared that
the government could be defeated,
political observers regarded it ex-
tremely likely that the government
would be compelled TO call for the
vote Of confidence which Mr..
Churchill has said he would ask II
the debate became challenging.
Responding to criticism over re-
peated losses of landing fields in
Greece, Crete and now Malaga, Mr..
Sinclair denied that efforts to deal
with the problem had been
"hindered or at all affected by any
service jealousies which are being
alleged in some quarters to exist"
He said the Air Ministry had
created a directorate of ground de-
fense to study the matter as early as
June, 1910, and added:
Probably few people realize how
far we have already travelled from
the extraordinarily and even alarm
ingly low standard of airdrome de-
fense which existed in this country
oftar the hotflA nf Franco