DEFENCE NOTES

Dominion, Volume 30, Issue 154, 27 March 1937, Page X (Supplement)

DEFENCE NOTES

Aspects of the War in Spain

AN OBSERVER’S REPORT (By Liaison.) The following extracts from a report by a trained British observer who has been in Madrid since last September, arc of more than passing interest to New Zealand. "If war is forced upon the British Empire in the near future, and the repercussions include physical attacks on the Dominion, the experiences of Madrid may well be repeated here. “An air raid can only last n few minutes. Then it is over. Artillery bombardment can continue steadily for days. Planes can be seen approaching; there is time Io take shelter: there is even time to move one's position when the bomb is actually in the air, falling. "In a city the danger is greater on account of collapsing masonry. But those who take shelter in underground refuges, or even lie prone in the street,' escape. There is plenty of warning when the planes approach. "Of course, it. is a terrible thing for civilians to have their homes destroyed by aircraft, but what is the military effect? Again and again aircraft have attempted to bomb bridges or destroy ronds.' Invariably they fail. Tbe bombs fall harmlessly. “Rebel aircraft have, of course, been very conspicuous in the siege of Madrid. A large number of houses have been destroyed and civilians killed. But the military effect on military objectives is not vet evident. In spite of intensive air raids and the lack of anti-aircraft defences or precautions to safeguard the civil population, very- little demoralisation or panic has occurred. The life of the city goes on and places of amusement are crowded. Spanish fatalism and contempt bred of familiarity, with air raids may have helped the people to carry on. Tanks. “Bad weather conditions stop flying. Muddy ground has been found to stop another new war engine—the tank. The tank. in fact, has not lived up to expectation. The rebels use two kinds —one fast, low and small, carrying a crew of two and armed with a light double-action machine-gun, the second of medium size, not so fust, -armed with heavier machineguns anil also carrying a crew of two, driver anil gunner. "The small tank travels at 30 miles an hour on roads and 20 across country. It lias six wheels working within a caterpillar belt. It is sd low as to be exceedingly uncomfortable for tbe crew. Its speed makes it almost invulnerable to shell-fire, but the Loyalists have discovered a very simple method of thwarting its approach. They dig a steep-sided shallow trench only a few inches deep and just so wide that the small tank, once having entered it. cannot grip sufliciently to climb out on the other side; onep immobilised, the tank and its crew are (Loomed. “The small tank is useful for reconnaissance; it is faster and more useful than cavalry. But for front-line attacks the medium-size tank is more effective. Armour-plating underneath both types of tank is not always strong enough to withstand the explosion of a hand-grenade crushed in passing. The driver cannot always see or avoid the grenades strewn in his path, with the result that sooner or later the thin plates beneath the tank are blown in and the crew are killed. Once immobilised a tank is blown to pieces with artillery. “The Loyalists use a much larger type of tank that carries a light artillery piece and a small machine-gun. The light gun is automatic and quick-firing. Its loud report as it is advancing is disconcerting to the opponent. There is a crew of four; the tank is amphibious—can cross rivers even if totally submerged—and is surprisingly fast for its size. “Some of the Loyalist tanks are fitted with flame-throwers which shrivel everything which the flames touch, but the designers made an extraordinary error in fitting rubber in the mechanism which propels the tank; the effect of fire on the rubber swiftly immobilises the tank. “Both the Moors and the Carlist volunteers have developed a special technique in’the destruction of tanks by setting lire to them. Drenched with netrol, the tanks will blaze till the interior is a burning furnace, and the crew must either stay in and die or come out and be killed. “l have seen many captured tanks. One or two had been pierced by the shells of anti-tank guns—curiouslyshaned, insect-like contrivances with a thin muzzle from which the little pointed shells are fired. One had been pierced by ordinary rifle bullets; the majority had been set on fire. “Obviously these tanks had been misused. Their object is to cover the ad-, ranee or lead the advance of attacking infantry. but the infantry had wavered and. blind to what was happening behind and on each side of them, the tanks had gone on alone to their doom. “The very high mortality of tanks in the Madrid battles—six tanks put out of action when seven attack is not exceptional —and the dreadful plight of their crews, hail led to pathetic attempts on the naris of waverers in the tank corps to avoid going into action. Petrol is emptied out. wilful damage is done to the machinery, breakdowns are staged on the wav to the front —anything to escape that sudden horror, the tank on fire.”