The Waterbury Democrat., 1942-07-01
British Minister Is
 Facing Grave Events
tContinued from Page D

we must realize that we are in a most dangerous position and that action will have to be taken, Wardlaw-Milne said. We are not yet getting the continual produc- ton of which this country is capable"
 It was evident that the full dress debate, at first intended to cover only the African campaign, was broadening as expected into one on the whole war.
 Wardlaw-Miln said that his mo- ton was not an attack on officers in the field.
 Tt is a definite attack on the central direction here in London, '' he said.
 "The first mistake we made in this war was to combine the offices of prime minister and minister of defense"
 The late Neville Chamberlain pro- vided for the defense ministry, but Churchill succeeded him, and took it himself, before minister had been named.
 Brother of King Mentioned
 Wardlaw- Milne asked that the Duke of Gloucester, King Georges brother, and former Hussar officer who is now chief liaison officer at general headquarters, home forces, with the rank of lieutenant gen. eral, be made commander in chief of the British army.
 A burst of ironic cheers greeted this suggestion, and from opposi- tion benches came the jibe:
 That's put the lid on it!"
 Following his theme that the all legged misdirection of the war came from London, Wardlaw-Milne con- tinued:
 "The cause of our failure lies more here than in Libya. What is wanted is strong, full time leader in charge of all three branches ot the armed forces of the crown.
 "He should be strong enough to demand the weapons for victory, and see that generals, admirals and air marshals are allowed to do business in their own way and are not unduly@ interfered with from above. Above all he should be a man who, if he did not get what he wanted, would immediately re- sign.
 T believe we lost Singapore on the mistaken idea that American sea power would be available to de- fend our sea positions in the Far East.
 "A series of disasters in the past few years is due to fundamental defects in the central admlnlstra- ton of the war. We have no CO., ordinated effort to work these three arms as one. We have so far falled to get any information from the government regarding the disasters in Malaya and Burma"
 Churchill Attacked
 Wardlaw-Milne attacked Church i'll for allegedly inaccurate state ments.
 NO minister of defense in the full knowledge of the facts as we know them today could possibly have made the statements MT. Churchill made to the effect that we were or equal terms with the enemy 1T Libya," he said adding:
 'They were untrue"
 WardlaW-Milne said he wanted tc find out why Britain was always behind the enemy" and what waS wrong with British strategy ano production.
 "The bulk of our tanks were de- signed before the war;" he said touching 8 point which has been hinted with increasing insisteney "They are unequal to German tanks as they are now. What excuse has the government and the House of Commons for forcing the people ot this country to produce weapons which are already completely out o1 date? What excuse have we fol sending men into battle with the scales continually against them"
 Wardlaw-Milne was cheered al this point.
 Wardlaw-Miln asserted, as have other military critics, that the new" German 3 1-2 inch gun with which British tanks, helpless be- cause they were outranged, were knocked out in Libya actually Was five years old and was used by the Germans against Bilbao in 1887 ir the Spanish civil war.
 Country Not Satisfied
 Frtoa corrfr1y cold MoI1d mi be satisfied with this situation ever if commons was.
 "Who gave the decision for the equalization of Tobruk?' he asked "Who previously had decided tc : hold it?"
 , He said that immediately after Pearl Harbor the United State: held an inquiry and punished those responsible.
 (The commanding chiefs were re- placed before the inquiry. Nobody 1, was "punished.")
 Thai did not upset the (Ameri- can) government or force the peo- pie into panic" he said. He closed by refeating:
 T have no confidence in the cen tral direction of the war"
 Sir Roger Reyes, admiral of thu fleet and another conservative, sec onded the motion.
 Reyes, former commander il chief of the Mediterranean fleet organized the British commandos. His son was killed in a darinl commando raid On the headquarter of Field Marshal Erwin Rommel il Libya. Rommel escaped death onl. because he was absent in Rome. Capt. Oliver Lyttelton, productiol minister in the inner war cabinet then opened for the government He expressed regret that the cen , sure vote had been moved becaus it was widely publicized and lou l, parliamentary procedure is no readily understood in some parts o the world"
 He added that he did not think