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Prime Minister Chamberlain, declaring Britain, itself, may soon face attack “in the most violent form,” sought this day to justify British withdrawals from mid-Norway and announced that Winston Churchill hereafter would supervise military operations from day to day. In a turbulent House of Commons which once forced the Prime to sit down until order was restored, the Labor opposition leader, Celement Attlee, bitterly attacked Chamberlain’s speech as merely “one of excuse and explanation.” Churchill will give “guidance and direction” to the chiefs of staffs of the three fighting services, Chamberlain announced. He will remain as First Lord of the Admiralty, Chamberlain said in an-Central answer to a question by David Lloyd George, World war Prime Minister. Churchill’s appointment assured “that when policies are decided opera-upon they will be followed up with promptness and energy,” Chamberlain said, adding that he relied on Churchill to “let me know” if the burden becomes too heavy. Chamberlain disclosed that under Churchill will be “a small personal staff” under Major General Hastings Lionel lsmay. Previously Churchill had been head of a committee of Defense Ministers in the Cabinet. He was now to work directly with the chiefs of staffs of army, navy and air force.
While Prime Minister Chamberlain made a reference to the possibility and while Italian papers continued to predict that the Germans will attempt an actual Invasion of Great Britain, it was perhaps just as well to bear in mind the comment of the Illustrated London News on the naval fighting off Norway: “Whatever Hitler’s next move may be it must be one in which he needs his naval forces very little. There is not enough of them left even to make up a formidable squadron”. And without adequate naval forces a German Invasion of Britain would be virtually Impossible. Airplanes would not suffice for protection. That lesson was driven home more firmly when it was coupled with the British estimate published this day that since April 1 German losses of merchantman totalled 300000 tons, mostly off the coast of Norway.
Meanwhile: Battle-weary British and French troops disclosed today they were so short of explosives as they retreated tip the Gudbrands Valley in Central Norway that they used depth charges from warships to blow up the bridges behind them and slow the German advance. This side light on “the road back” was unfolded as the thousands of soldiers who landed here from transports yesterday settled in for a proud welcome by Edmund Ironside, chief of the Imperial Defense Staff. After four days’ rest and good food at sea, the morale of the men appeared good and there were no outward signs of recent terror, even on the faces of the youngest troopers. They were all cheerful and some seem were even a bit cocky, but one shook his head and said that battle at Ota below Dombas in the Gudbrands Valley “would have been a massacre if we had stayed there.”
And with continued calls for Chamberlain’s resignation, that’s just a little of what went on this May 7, 1940 as reported by NBC’s News Of The World.
