The Arithmetic Of Invasion

Dominion, Volume 34, Issue 157, 29 March 1941, Page 15

The Arithmetic Of Invasion

THE English Channel, though narrow, still presents a special threat to would-be invaders of England which existed in William the Conqueror’s day, states a National Geographical Society bulletin. Knowing the hazards of a hostile shore, William carried also some lightweight portable units of a medieval Maginot Line small wooden towers to serve as temporary castles for defence. For the heavier, bulkier supplies in almost astronomical quantities . ui a modern mechanized army requires, the Channels choppy waters are an even greater barrier. The American Expeditionary Force in the World M ar was provided with 16,380,068 ship tons of supplies, or more than eight tons for each soldier. A 1940 army requires infinitely more tonnage because of today’s higher proportion of material to personnel (due to the greater speed with which ammunition is used up and to increased use of aeroplanes, tanks and trucks). . Excluding air and tank corps, according to military estimates,- simply to maintain the up-to-date army calls for a ton of supplies per day for each 50 men. In an attack many of the requirements are doubled, such as that for ammunition. Providing such supplies across the English Channel to a mechanized force would present special hazards. Supplies in such bulk would make good targets; while concentrated at points of embarkation in the cluster of France’s Channel ports, while being transported across a minimum of 22 miles of open water, and during debarkation on hostile soil —the last being rated as the.costliest of all warfare’s manoeuvres in terms of human life. The needs of men alone, without reckoning fuel or ammunition, if based on World War experience, would require shipping space for each man’s daily

41b. of food, 41b. of clothing and equipment, jib. of medical supplies and 41b. of radio and signal apparatus. Mere handling of these vast quantities requires extra men in addition to actual combatants. In the World M ar, for every three men moved overseas in the A.E.F., a fourth man went along to attend to supplies.

Invasion, however, can run in manpower for minutes only. Then artillery becomes essential to supplement the machine-guns of landing parties sent ashore in small boats or dropped in parachutes. Thereafter, the requisite stream of supply ships to the invaded spot eould not be inconspicuous. The shells of guns and howitzers weigh from 26 jib. to 4301 b. each, packed. A field gun can fire three tons of ammunition in two active hours. Transporting ammunition and artillery becomes a of space as well as weight. Far from being crated and stowed compactly away in a ship’s hold, guns and shells must reach the invasion point mounted, ready to move into action and arranged for facility' in unloading rather than for space-saving." As a result, an arms shipment which would be one ship’s cargo in peacetime fills a whole procession of ships in “combat loading. After invader troops have established a landing, their needs are further skyrocketed by the demand for supplies to maintain supply lines. Materials to repair docks and build warehouses and cranes to unload cargo must be provided. The A.E.F. built 17 new ship berths in French harbours, adding warehouses and dock equipment. For any inland advance, invading forces must be supplied with road graders and road-mending materials, pontoons and structural steel for bridges, railroad trackage, locomotives and rolling-stock. If air bases are established, the supply stream must further be swollen with fuel and more equipment, with a consequent increase in vulnerability.