The Channel Tunnel : military aspect of the question : important address / by Rt. Hon. Lord Sydenham of Combe.

  • Sydenham of Combe, George Sydenham Clarke, Baron, 1848-1933.
Date:
1914
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The Channel Tunnel : military aspect of the question : important address / by Rt. Hon. Lord Sydenham of Combe. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    all cordially agree with this view. On a declaration of war, the Tunnel traffic would cease, as happens in all cases where railwaj^s cross the common frontiers of belligerents, though mutual arrange- ments might possibly be made to clear off tourists on both sides under special precautions. When the traffic had ceased, the dip in the British end of the Tunnel would be filled up, to give a popular sense of security, and the Tunnel would then be useless until the enemy had captured Dover and, the Generating Station. This filling up would be strictly analogous to the blowing up of one span of the Rhine Bridge at Strasburg, which was one of the first acts of war in 1870 ; but it is a great advantage of the Tunnel that it can be absolutely blocked without causing any serious damage. Driven from one theory, the objector generally takes up another, and if again evicted will re-occupy his original position. That is the difficulty of this controversy. I come to the last military consideration. In a recent letter, a distinguished retired Admiral asks : “ Uas it never occurred to those responsible foi the defence of this country that a descent of some considerable force may simultaneously take place at two or three or more parts of our shores, and by converging on Dover might by a coup de main obtain possession of our end of the Tunnel ? ” This plan of campaign has, of course, often been suggested ; but that it should commend itself to an Admiral of our Navy is a saddening fact. If that Navy, with its enormous superiority over any other Power, with more than 240 destroyers and