SINCE Tuesday the House of Commons has been debating war production, and the statements make disquieting reading for the public.
It is perfectly obvious that our organisation is far from being satisfactory, and it is equally clear that after twenty-two months of war we are a long way from achieving full and efficient production.
The evidence of Lieutenant Brabner, fresh from his experiences in Greece and Crete, and that of Mr. Henderson Stewart was an indictment of our production methods, or the lack of them. Lieut. Brabner declares that our tanks in Greece broke down before going into action, and that our lack of heavy anti-aircraft guns in Crete was a large contributory factor in making a withdrawal inevitable.
The Prime Minister, it will be recalled, stressed our lack of equipment at the time he made his statement on the Mediterranean position. What the public wants to know is who is responsible for the muddle? It is not the majority of men in the factories and the foundries, neither is it the majority of the employers engaged on Government contracts. It is more likely that the muddle arises from the Service and Supply departments being unable to make up their minds what it is they do want.
Russia has been effectively re-arming since 1933. Germany began with the Goering drive for aircraft in 1936. Britain made a half-hearted attempt in 1938, but it was handicapped by Chamberlain’s continued attachment to a policy of appeasement. By the autumn of 1939 we knew that we must get moving, and we urged at that time appointment of a Minister equivalent in scope and authority to the Minister of Munitions in the last war. Instead of that we have, always with the best intentions in the world, extemporised in the organisation of production for war purposes with reswis that have been patently apparent for a long time.
The whole unfortunate affair needs tackling realistically, and there is yet time to appoint a Minister of War Production with absolute power to take up the slack wherever it is to be found, and to get a move on in the direction of giving us in the shortest space of time more tanks, guns and aeroplanes than it is possible for the Axis war machine to produce. That is the only way to victory.
Liverpool Evening Express, Liverpool, England, July 10, 1941
