17 NOVEMBER 1944, Page 4

Mr. Churchill's assertion in an interview with a Paris paper

that if the Germans had landed in Great Britain in 1940 we should have been beaten is the most categorical statement I have seen on that subject yet. " That," the P.M. added, " was General Hitler's first mistake. This error cost him the war." But was it, after all, merely an error? Had the Germans the power to invade Britain after the fall of France? That it was an egregious mistake not to try may be conceded. But it has always been assumed that for a successful invasion by sea the invading force would need both air supremacy and naval supremacy. For Hitler to count on air supremacy would not have been unreasonable ; his defeat in the Battle of Britain was not what paper-calculations pointed to. But naval supremacy was something Germany never had the remotest hope of enjoying. Transport of troops by air was not sufficiently developed in 1940 to make a purely air-borne invasion, supported by purely air-borne supplies, practicable. So at least it would seem ; but Mr. Churchill, after all, has been twice First Lord of the Admiralty and once Secretary of State for Air. If anyone can speak with authority

on the conditions of air-borne invasion he can.