198 AWARDED FOR VALOUR
in Bergen Harbor by Skua dive bombers. The squadron leaders, Captain
R. T. Partridge (Royal Marines) and Lieutenant W. P. Lucy (Royal Navy)
both received the DSO.^53 Why, then, did a futile gesture in February 1942
win the highest accolades of heroism? The answer may lie in the political
response to the cruiser sortie from Brest.
The winter of 1941–42 was a rough time for the Churchill War Cabinet.
Criticism of the Churchill government had been growing throughout 1941,
although initially most had been directed at allegedly incompetent lesser
lights in the administration. After the fall of Crete, however, criticism became
increasingly focused on the prime minister himself.^54
Japanese entry into the war provided the opportunity for both friends
and foes of the government to re-examine the management of the war
effort to date. Chamberlainite backbenchers rallied around Alexander Erskine
Hill, Tory MP for Edinburgh North, demanding reform of the govern-
ment’s structure.^55 The center of discussion was the amount of authority
in the hands of the prime minister. At this same time the govern-
ment was in the midst of reorganization, contemplating the creation
of a new cabinet-level position for a Minister of Production. Churchill
responded to the military reverses and the criticism stemming from them
by turning parliamentary debate at the end of January on the management
of the war into a vote of confidence in the ministry. He was vindic-
ated after three days of debate with a substantial division in favor of the
government.^56
With the vote of confidence won, Churchill reshuffled his ministry. In the
midst of this process, however, word arrived of reverses in North Africa and
the Far East. Before the month was out Singapore fell, Auchinleck was pushed
back to Gazala, and, embarrassingly close to home, theKriegsmarinesailed
three capital ships the length of the English Channel apparently unscathed.^57
Public confidence in the ministry wavered, despite its official endorsement
by the House of Commons.^58
A storm of criticism washed over the ministry for the apparent impotence
of the British response to the enemy trailing its coat along the coast.^59 Both
in the streets and in the House of Commons angry questions were asked.^60
Sir Alexander Cadogan, Permanent Under-Secretary at the Foreign Office
despaired to his diary:
So far I have been unable to hear that we have been able to knock any
paint off of them. We are nothing but failure and inefficiency everywhere
and the Japs are murdering our men and raping our women in Hong
KongI am running out of whisky.^61
lily
(lily)
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