PARACHUTE ATTACK

Evening Post, Volume CXX, Issue 105, 30 October 1935, Page 21

PARACHUTE ATTACK

IN A RUSSIAN "WAR"

DROPPED BEHIND LINES

The Rod Army has revealed a new method of warfare in the shape of a t mass parachute attack from the "Blue" aeroplanes upon the rear of the de- . fending "Red" forces in the Ukranian manoeuvres near Kiev, cables Walter Durauty trom Moscow to the "New York Times." The total force dropped Is not stated, but newspaper reports say "parachutes rj obscured the. sky," and photographs c show upward of 500 men falling from s twelve great bombers of a type from i which forty or more parachutists ,have * done; simultaneous jumping during , exercises at Moscow airfields. The reports state that the parachute j attack was made in broad daylight at j about 9 a.m. upon an aerodrome far j. behind the Red combat lines. Immedi- - ately on landing the parachutists as- j sumed military formation, seized the s aerodrome, and engaged in attacks on projected points of the adversary's s communications. ■ ; The Reds riposted vigorously and a j keen struggle raged all morning, but j it is stated the defence made sufficient- ; ly rapid concentrations to prevent the 0 Blues from mastering the designed objectives before nightfall. Towards \ evening the Reds threw into action , motorised infantry, supported by pow- \ erful tanks and armoured trains. ( The reports further state that the j operations were quiet on the main < "front," which certainly'has not been j the case in real warfare, and it is further noteworthy that the attack car- c ried out in daylight doubtless was ex- < pected by the defendants, although the \ latter may not haye known its actual < locality. •:.. It has long been'known that the new "sport" of parachute-jumping, which is engaging the youth of, both sexes of this country by the tens of thousands, has more than a purely sporting interest. Not long ago the' Communist Youth "Pravda" "announced that parachutists would > not receive diplomas until they had learned foreign language's,'but'this is the first time' military, authorities frankly put their cards on the table. ■ During the World War aeroplanes consistently dropped and picked up spies 'behind enemy lines, and in the •less populated theatres of war, like Palestine, small "forlorn hopes" were sometimes landed by aeroplane to attack enemy communications. But parachute attacks on the new scale will bring a new element into warfare, because the-attacks of 500 or 1000 desperate men armed with grenades and light machine guns might paralyse a whole army. ATTITUDE EXPANDED. An editorial in the newspaper "Pravda" warmly approves Foreign Commissar Maxim LitvinofTs speech at Geneva, but although its comments add little that is substantially new they tend in some measure, to define and develop the Soviet attitude. "Pravda" goes further than earlier comments in the Soviet-Press in emphasising Soviet opposition to "imperialist expansion and extension of colonial in- [ fluence." Apropos of. Mr. Litvinoff's statement ■ that there arc two sorts of "peaceful agreements"—those which are directed ■ against any form of aggression and - those which are intended to obtain ! security for aggression the "Pravda" . voices disapproval of any temporary , settlement in Ethiopia by spheres of influence or a-mandate system arrang- - ed among Britain, France, and Italy. ■ That, in Soviet opinion, would not be a real solution of .'the present crisis, but would merely postpone aridJworsen it. There is also a more definite statement than has appeared heretofore in the Soviet Press, that the Soviet Union is not only with the immediate crisis but with the effects on Germany of an Italo-Ethiopian war. "Even if Italy is successful—which sls more than unlikely—in seizing de- ■ cisive strategic points in Ethiopia in a ; comparatively short time,\ says [ "a war will be exhaustive. •It w.lll ruin the tottering, finances of ; Italy and at the same time encourage : German Fascism in carrying out its , programme of "brigandage." ; He.re clearly enough is the crux of Soviet preoccupations in the present ' juncture, which, perhaps, explains why - the' Red Army.undertook the unusual E step of revealing its new parachute . war method before the eyes of foreign 5 military observers, and also why the r Soviet Government hoped to obtain » from Britain Eastern and Central Euroi pean commitments to guarantee the s status quo in return for Franco-Soviet . support for the British attempt to check Italy even at the eleventh hour.