Evening star. [volume], March 24, 1940, Page A-16, Image 16

About Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972

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First Major Use
Df Air Power Seen
jUnder Way by Eliot
■ Attacks on Scapa Flow
And Sylt Declared
r Probable Start
ft
By MAJ. GEORGE
FIELDING ELIOT.
i, As suggested in the preceding
Article of this series, the German
Bombing attack on Scapa Flow and
|he British attack on Sylt are im
portant. not for the results actually
accomplished, but because they dif
fered in character—especially the
jBylt attack—from any previous oper
ations conducted in this theater.
JThe damage achieved by both is
ftill a matter of dispute; what is
«iot a dispute is that these were
Attacks for effect, and not primarily
for experiment or reconnaissance.
§fet they may have borne also an
experimental character; indeed,
♦very operation of war should teach
fts lesson, should be weighed and
ftudied for improving its successors.
Particularly is this true of modem
fir operations, for they belong to
• branch of war of which compara
tively little is known.
| The employment of air power as
f battle agency is as yet in its in
fancy. We have only the experience
Bf the World War, in which tech
nical development started from
♦cratch and the employment of air
forces as an independent striking
fe rm was only beginning as the war
closed; the fragmentary experiences
Of Spain, China and Ethiopia, in
which but small forces were em
ployed under conditions peculiar to
each locale, and Anally the Polish
fend Finnish wars and the compara
tively minor air operations over the
North Sea during the past fall and
Winter.
As spring opens, it is, therefore,
with grim interest that we observe
also the beginning of more serious
air attacks by both sides; and it is
not from the results of these initial
operations that our interest arises,
but rather from the fact that for
the first time in history we are see
ing what may be the opening of
major aerial warfare between really
first-rate powers.
Lessons Incomplete.
Always before there has been some
Qualifying factor. In China and
Ethiopia there was no effective op
position; in Spain the forces were
small and diversely constituted and
equipped; in Poland a small air
force was utterly overwhelmed at
the outset by one far superior; in
Finland a large air force was so
poorly led and technically so de
ficient. and the weather in general
bo unfavorable, as to render only
Incomplete lessons. Always, when
proponents of air power have been
challenged on the results obtained
in any of these wars, their answer
has been: ‘'Ah, yes. But wait until
great air forces, fully equipped, com
petently commanded, thoroughly
trained, really clash in Western Eu
rope. Then we shall see.”
Perhaps we are about to see.
Meanwhile, to assess the expe
riences of the last few months may
not be unprofitable.
The Polish campaign showed that
—other factors being equal—great
numerical superiority of one air
force over the other at the outset
may quickly be converted into per
manent command of the air, and
that this command in turn conveys
such advantages to its possessor in
his land operations as to amount,
.In itself, almost to an assurance of
victory. Air attack on communica
tions—notably on railways, bridges
and road junctions—were shown to
be most effective in the absence of
6erious opposition, but to require con
siderable continuity of effort in or
der really to interrupt transit. The
practicability of the overwhelming
attack from the air, destroying the
enemy air force and then breaking
up his mobilization and concentra
tion on the ground, was proven prac
ticable against a weak foe. Its pos
sibilities as against a major foe
remain, for this war, in the realm"
of academic consideration unless
Borne new belligerent is so attacked,
iBince those now participating have
passed through the mobilization
Btaee.
But the greatest air lesson of the
Polish war which is of immediate
interest in other theaters was the
Use of air power in co-operation
with ground forces. In this highly
mobile campaign, air-ground co
operation was particularly notable
in reconnaissance, in pursuit and
in the detached operations of mech
anized forces. The all but perfect
Information which, in the compara
•tively open country and good weath
*r, the German air force was able
ito afford its ground troops was one
»f the principal ingredients of vic
tory.
Pursuit Value Proved.
[ In pursuit the air force proved
!*>nce again its very great value.
[The fruits of many well-earned vic
tories have been wholly or partly
lost through failure to pursue, which
fias sometimes been due to lack of
4nergy on the part of command
rs but more often to lack of fresh
♦nd available troops in position to
Carry on the pursuit. Indeed, it has
Song been recognized that a well
•Iponducted pursuit was itself amongst
the most difficult operations’ of war
fare, and it has not often been the
Case in modern times that victory
*as been possible of achievement
jikith troops still in hand available
for the follow-up.
But it is now clear that air
forces afford the arm of pursuit par
Excellence. This wras foreshadowed
Jn Palestine, Macedonia and Italy
JJust at the close of the World War,
[When, in all three theaters, the most
•decisive and indeed terrible re
sults were obtained by air forces
{pursuing beaten armies. Now their
Combination with fast - moving
■mechanized columns on the ground
jepens up still further the possibili
ties of exploitation of victory. As
for the independent use of mech
anized troops on deep raids into
[enemy territory, these are possible
jtt all only by the use of close air
•iupport, and even then would be
if
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j»HS. r\
TUCSON, ARIZ. —STAY
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extremely risky against a properly
organized foe. ‘‘Absolute mastery
of the air,” writes Gen. Boucherie
of the French Army in the current
National Defense Review, “and the
close combination of ground and
air operations are shown by the
Polish campaigin to be the prime
conditions of success in the em
ployment of large mechanized units
for the execution of swift-moving :
long-range missions.1’
But the Polish war affords us few
lessons regarding position warfare,
instructive as it is with regard to
mobile operations. The Finnish
campaign has been more useful in
the former respect, though by no
means lacking in the latter. To
begin with, the Russian air force
showed little evidence of being
capably commanded or possessing
a first-class personnel, though its
material on the whole appeared
good. There was no complete over
whelming of the greatly outnum
bered Finnish air force, which con
tinued to operate, though under in
creasing difficulties, right to the
end of the war. Finnish rail and
sea communications were attacked,
damaged, but not completely par
alyzed as in Poland. Particularly
instructive to the British, however,
must have been the very serious
damage inflicted by repeated attacks
on the port facilities of Hanko,
Turku, Viipurl and other coastal
points; these, had they been con
ducted by the German air force
which attacked Poland, would as
suredly have put an end to all mari
time traffic through those ports, and
Great Britain’s utter dependence
on sea communications includes de
pendence not only on the movement
of ships, but on the ability to load
and land cargoes.
Spanish War Lessons Applied.
In the field of air-ground co
operation the Finnish war, as the
Polish, was most impressive. Here
Interest centers on the Russian em
ployment of their air forces in sup
port of their series of attacks on
the Mannerheim Line, especially the
successful attacks of February.
Since there is_every reason to be
lieve that these February attacks
had the benefit of the advice if not
the day-to-day direction of Ger
man staff officers, the use made of
air power in their conduct is of
especial interest in forecasting the
nature of war in other parts of
Europe. The Russians appear to
have applied to their problem the
lessons of the Spanish civil war,
where this technique was developed
by Gen. Franco, notably in his
assault on the iron ring of Bilbao.
During the World War the general
course of many attacks was first a
local penetration, narrowing its
front and slowing its advance as it
went deeper because of increased
pressure on the flanks, finally com
ing to a standstill as it outran the
range of its supporting artillery;
there followed a pause in which the
supporting artillery was being dis
placed forward and reserves brought
up to widen the front of penetration.
This was usually the moment for
the counter-attack, which frequently
deprived the assailant of all that he
had gained at the cost of so much
blood and effort.
The intervention of strong air sup
port for the attacker at this point
is obviously a most useful if not
wholly adequate substitute for artil
lery; if his air power can slow
down or destroy the counter-attack,
it will render him a still more valu
able service. In more distant areas
the assailant’s air force can check
the assembling of enemy reserves
and the arrival of supplies nnd rein
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for cements, it has been said that
mechanisation and motorization
afford equal advantages for attack
and defense, since if they enable
attack to go forward quickly and
under some protection, they also en
able the defender to assemble his
reserves quickly to meet the threat.
But it is to the air that the assailant
must look to prevent this, and hence
it may now be laid down as a rule
as absolute as any rule of ever
varying war may become, that air
superiority is essential to successful
attack. It may be only a local or
temporary superiority, but it must
be possessed (other factors, of course,
being reasonably balanced) if the
attack hopes to succeed against the
tremendous fire power of modern
defensive weapons. Moreoverjunless
the attacker does have air superi
ority, he will himself be so harassed
and badgered by the defending avi
ation as to greatly diminish his
chances.
Artillery Accuracy Better.
On both sides of the North Sea
we have as yet seen so little real air
action that we can draw only tenta
tive and fragmentary lessons there
from. Anti-aircraft artillery ap
pears much more accurate than in
the World War, but still requires a
considerable warning period for the
best results, which is rarely afforded
it in defending coastal positions. It
is seriously handicapped at night,
despite Improvements in search
lights.
There have been few, if any, in
stances of attempts to attack gun
positions by aircraft. Pursuit avia
tion has shown that, given a reas
onable opportunity, it is a most
formidable foe of the bomber, and
the Helgoland raid suggested that
the defensive flre-power of bomb
ing formations as against properly
handled and armed pursuit has per
haps been over-rated. This raid,
and some of the smaller German
raids which preceded it, were so
badly handled by the defending pur
suit aviation as to suggest the ne
cessity of daylight bombing attacks
being accompanied by a pursuit
escort—an opinion also held bv some
observers of the Spanish Civil War.
This would tend to limit the radius
of action of bombing forces in day
time to that of their accompanying
escort—just as surface fleets are
limited by the radius of action of
their destroyers—and if generally
accepted will have two results, de
velopment of long-range escorting
planes and an increase in night
bombing operations. The Germans
in their Scapa Flo attack di<^ in
deed take the precaution of bomb
ing the airdrome of the defending
British fighters, using the advantage
of seaward approach—hence, sur
prise—to do so. But this will hardly
be the rule in such matters. The
British attack on Sylt was by night,
and demonstrated what was well
known In the World War, that at
night pursuit aviation can accom
plish very little against bombers save
under unusual conditions of visi
bility.
Thus, slowly, we are learning a
little more about the new and ter
rible weapon of air power, and what
we know suggests that, like all other
weapons, It has its own virtues and
its own defects, and will be the
more formidable when it Is used by
those who understand both what It
can do and what it cannot do, and
employ it in close co-ordination with
other fighting force?. Yet of Its true
qualities we know as yet but little;
we are probably standing on the
threshold of a wider experience.
[Copyrltht, 1940, by New York Tribune, Inc.)
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