Sra,—In your issue of September 6th you stated in your
Editorial Notes that you believed that a grand-scale military offensive on the Continent of Europe against Germany would be a profound mistake and that our proper policy was to build up an overwhelming Air Force. From what one can gather from speeches by Ministers and Generals and from the Press, the policy that you so strongly deprecate is being adopted, or, at least, the plans for such are being laid. I submit that this is a matter of grave importance. Germany has an enormous unbroken army perfectly trained and led, well fed and clothed. From only December 1st, 1940, our new Air Army Co-opera- tion Command begins to function. We can hardly be so optimistic as to believe that the leaders and the rank and file of the new Army can be trained to take the field before 1942 at the very earliest. I submit that the policy as suggested by you is the only one that can lead to ultimate victory without another bloody sacrifice of the flower of our youth, and to carry it out many men should be released from the Army—half a million if necessary—and these, added to half a million of unemployed, to be put to the production of aeroplanes, &c. There should be no such word as impossible to carry out this policy when one remembers what a struggle Mr. Lloyd George had in the last war to enforce his will for the production of munitions and how tremendously successful he was in his efforts.
But to enable these workers to produce to the utmost limit they must be provided with bomb-proof shelters where they can get real rest and relaxation and the best of food ; the Army in the meantime should be employed to hold the fort and its outposts.
If the enemy's situation is so bad as the Minister of Economic Warfare depicts, then the day must eventually come when the German armed forces and the Gestapo will be suffering from empty bellies ; that will be the moment to give them the knock-out blow with all our combined forces after the ground has been prepared by a vastly superior Air Force and the relentless pressure of the Navy.
Finally, I submit that it is an utter impossibility for Great Britain to maintain a huge Army on the Continental scale and at the same time hope to surpass Germany in production of war material. The losses on land against an unbroken army would be terrific, which would mean a further combing out of essential workers. Let Great Britain stick to her "last "; she has as formerly a supreme Navy, and her Air Force will be, her workshops have been, the envy of the world, and therein lies the absolute secret of our certain victory. There is no need for Great Britain to prove her pugnacity again to a real fighting German ; let Hitler and his fellow-gangsters cut their own throats, and that will be about the only hostile blood they will
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