SHOWN TO HITLER

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 6, 7 July 1938, Page 27

SHOWN TO HITLER

ITALIAN AIR POWER

PLANES BOMB TROOPS AND SHIPS

IMPRESSIVE SHOW

The efficiency of the Italian air force and army was successively demonstrated to Chancellor Hitler today in highly realistic displays, respectively, by the sea, some forty miles from Jlome, and in hilly country inland five ftiiles away .from the first demonstration, telegraphed Frederick T. Birchill from Kome to the "New York Times''^ pn May 8. , The air force, after going through ft series of really remarkable acrobatics, bombed, a supposed concentratsoa of troops about to embark, a supfcosed industrial zone, a supposed navy In dock, and two old tramp steamers |n the open sea. These were supposfedly sunk. Actually, although the two ships listed badly, they were moored aver a sand .bank and can easily be raised and repaired. The army afterward staged a sham battle on a hillside in which infantry, ' with the support of artillery, trenchmortar units, and tanks, stormed a series of trenches supposedly manned by the enemy, whose positions were indicated by red flags. Both demonstra- . tions were realistic to the highest degree compatible .with safety. The attacking air force comprised1 some hundreds, of planes of all types from heavy bombers to the fastest pursuit ships. Some of the bombers attained speeds of 250 miles an hour. They carried 150tt machine-guns and several thousand bombs. The total strength of their engines aggregated 800,000 horse-power. SEC THOUSAND MEN. Some 6000 men participated in the Army's sham battle. ' Its' brunt - was [tome by two battalions of , infantry Supported by one' machine-gun company, one- company, of 3/fc-inch trench nortars, six of 2.2 inch anti-tank guns, tod fifty-two pieces of artillery-^, 4, Bad j6inch guns—^and a battalion of, tight' tanks. At both demonstrations flic-noise of exploding" shells was deaf-1 pnittg efreh/to observers a respectable £iisince away. , * horroWof modern, warfare, its letter impersonality, and lack of opporlluhiiy for individual heroics could be .fealisad by the most obtuse. 'Thatthese demonstrations were staged Dn a beautiful Sunday morning at j&'iime when a large part of the world Jfcras at divine service praying for peace ftras due "to their'postponement on the previous "day on account of bad wea;ther. If Providence contrived the postponement, however, as some of the pious suggested, there was not a new indication ojTit. It was an ideal suragneje day. •"■- i" put the'-afr attack was far from be?.Jng as realistically repellent as exjpected. If there was any mimic town to be bombed out of existence, as advance notices indicated, it was not .visible from the roofs of Furbara military -airport, where, the .demonstrationwas staged. Instead of the supposed industrial area to be bombed, the soldiers' encampment and docks, in which Ships were supposedly moored, were 81l merely indicated by what appeared to be, a-series of-white fences. The two old" steamers anchored a short dis- , tance offshore were the most realistic sEeature of the advance view; the rest $vas > imaginary. , • ALMOST NO PUBLIC. ' There was also practically no public fo witness the demonstration.- King -{Victor Emmanual, Crown Prince Humbert, Hitler, and Premier „ Mussolini tend fcheir military and air advisers oc- . kfupied* the roofs of the loftiest buildiilg& in the airport. On the other roofs '.-v^ereoltalian journalists, -foreign correisp'oridentsj and a very few privileged Spectators*'mostly from the military teervices. An, air.force honour guard received the guests. Marshals Emilio de Bono, Pietro Badoglio, and Rodolfo Graziani were prominent in the King's entourage; General Wilhelm Ke&tel, head of the German Suprem^ Command; Foreign Minister Joachim, yon Hibbentrop, Eudolf Hess, Deputy Leader of the Nazi Party; Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels and Dr. Hans-Heinrich Lammers, member of the Privy Councils were in Hitler's entourage. - ' The demonstration began with the appearance, 2000 feet above the airport, of twenty-five planes flying in the form of a perfect swastika. Then came other planes in groups of combinations of seven—an Italian air unit—performing evolutions rarely seen in a public exhibitions With jperfect precision .they made mathematical figures and curves at full speed. They looped in V formations 'several times successively. A particularly daring and skilful .manoeuvre was the weaving of a .squadron of planes in line exactly as a company of soliders performs that evolution on land. Sometimes the stunts brought the planes from far above to within.fifty feet of the ground. THE FASCES APPEARS. After the swastika formation the | same planes appeared in the shape of a j lictor's fasces. All this lasted twenty-, five minutes. The remaining thirty-five minutes of the hour allotted to the whole exhibition was devoted to its military features. These opened with the reconnaissance of the supposed troops' encampment, the seven scouting planes flying, at a great height. They were followed i by..three groups pf bombers,, which peppered the imaginary camp with innumerable two-pound bombs. The site was quickly cpvered by smoke from hundreds of explosions. Anti-aircraft guns lined up along the border opened, up ontheinvaders, apparently without effect. More fast planes appeared, flying low and machine-gunning the camp.. Then- a still more formidable assault from more bombers dropping mediumcalibre bombs followed. The explosions below grew thicker and the smoke* pall heavier, but before reaching gamp these groups were attacked in turn by a squadron 'of pursuit ships dropping special- time bombs of a new type that exploded in the air, leaving scores of puff balls of whitish smoke. ' ? SHIPS BOMBARDED NEXT. , ,T&e bombardment of the' two ships Xt S?a with missiles of medium calibre cams -next.' They rocked under the Jmpi&ot- of the bombs striking home. Onevdi them .seemed to take fire,and all 'Wound geyserrs sprang tip as\ other bombs hit' the "water. The bombardment' of the-, supposed docks arid the moored ships by other squadroris of planes using the same medium-sized

bombs was followed by another bombardment of the anchored ships and docked ships with heavy bombs. • This bombardment was terrific. - The ships staggered and. began to list. Waterspouts around them rose to a height far above the mastheads. Around the imaginary docks the smoke clouds became -impenetrable and, rose to a height of several hundred feet. • All this, it should be recorded, occurred in a period of only thirteen minutes from the opening attack on the encampment. Successive squadrons of planes appeared in the sky, passed over their objectives dropping bombs and went on all within a minute or two. The bombardment of the supposed industrial area by four groups _ of twelve fast planes, each with mediumsized bombs, came next. The number of these bombs that fell from the planes was almost incredible. From a distance it seemed as if scarcely <| yard of surface could have escaped. , Before the smoke could clear away came more squadrons dropping 800----pound bombs; then more planes drppping medium-sized missiles; •..finallye planes using new special delayed action bombs" with time fuses. These bombs penetrate the objective before, exploding. THE DIN TERRIFIC. The din from the explosions had by that time beebme terrific. Around the roofs a quarter of a mile away where the spectators Stood the air reverberated with successive shocks. A cloud of black smoke hundreds of feet high and so thick it seemed as if nothing that breathed could possibly survive in it and no gas mask could possibly be effective against it covered the entire area. It was a climax terrifying beyond description. It brought the bombing attacks to a xslose a half-hour after they had started. The file past of the planes concluded the air demonstrations, but the King, Hitler, and Mussolini remained a few minutes in one building while a new type of' exceedingly fast aeroplane machine-gun firing incendiary shells was demonstrated for them. A few rounds from this gun immediately set' in flames sthe heavy wooden target set up for the test and the target remained burning long after it was over. | A' site near the seaside town of Santa , Marinella, in the hills five miles away from the airport, was the scene of the army's'stfam battle, which was witnessed by the King, Crown Prince, Hit- ' ler, and Mussolini, and the same entourage they had at the air demonstration and by the higher officers of the Italian General Staff. , PENETRATION'BY ENEMY. The action was based on the assumption that two battalions of an attacking army had penetrated enemy territory further than the rest Of the division engaged' in that sector. - About 300 yards' away were enemy - trenches— empty, of course, but marked by red gags—which were to be stormed in order to gain the key position atop the centre hill - dominating the front. The attack was supposed to have been prepared by an intense bombardment by heavy and light artillery. The terrain was rocky and uphill, and on the left side * sparsely covered with low bushes. The battalion of infantry prone on the ground along the centre, across from the stand on which the King, Hitler, and Mussolini stood, faced the enemy uphill, awaiting the hour to advance. Two companies of tanks were hidden in a gorge behind the hill on the left. Far to the right was the artillery, which could be heard but not seen, a ridge concealing the batteries. The artillery opened fire simultaneously on the trenches. The din was terrific. This was supposed to be the final phase of tne long, intense bombardment preparing for the assault by the infantry against the first row of enemy trenches 300 yards ahead. For two minutes the artillery ,played havoc with the defences. Then it lengthened its range to permit the infantry to advance and machine-gun , and trench mortar units came into action protecting: the y attack.■;.: Swiftly the infantry ran forward,.' dropping prone every few yards to protect themselves from enemy fire. Machine-guns sprayed the trenches and the mortars fired luminous 3.7 in shells whose trajectory could easily be seen. HIGH EXPLOSIVE FORCE. 'It was the first time this new type of shell, by the Italian Army less than a year ago, has been shown to civilians., The shell's explosive force is-equal to six inchers. At the height of the action when the enemy was supposed to be retreating to its rear trenches for its last resistance the artillery' threw a smoke curtain before the attacking infantry. The latter, .protected by machineguns, mortars, and smoke * screens, , leaped forwards, storming one trench after another with hand grenades. .. A. line of several hundred soldiers could be seen advancing in a semicircle and hurling hand grenades along a five-mile front until the semicircle gradually became a spearhead. In the last, few minutes, after a half-hour of action, a fleet of light tanks suddenly emerged, mowing down all obstacles. In an incredibly short time the tankS'COvered a mile of rough ground, supporting 'the company on the, left of the advance supposedly meeting stiffer resistance than the rest. •' The purpose of the whole manoeuvre was to show how two battalions of infantry can advance in enemy territory with only\ indirect artillery support. The action was also intended to demonstrate the efficiency of a modern Italian-battalion and the function of the several army units in contact with a strongly-defended position. •- According to watching Italian officers, the synchronisation of movement approached perfection. - With perhaps no intention of irony, a delegation of Ethiopian notables, including Eas Gugsa, Has Hailu, and Abuna Johan, one of the four Coptic Bishops of Addis Ababa, were allowed after the demonstration to leave the' enclosure whence they had witnessed and pay their homage to the King and Mussolini. OTHER FUNCTIONS. The royal party and guests lunched , in the open air at Villa .Sacchetti and . in the early hours of the afternoon ' motored back to Rome. Hitler afterwards made another tour of the city, driving to Pincio—the public gardens ; overlooking Rome—and had tea with ,the Italian Ambassador to Berlin. He was then taken by Prince Colonna, Governor of Rome, and Guiseppe ?6t- • tai, Minister of Public Instruction, to ! the Colosseum, of which he made a i careful inspection. ; He dined with Foreign Minister , Galeazzo Ciano at the Villa Madama, the famous t>ld structure the Government bought for the entertainment of distinguished guests, and then proceeded to his last public function here. ; It was a gymnastic exhibition by the boys and girls of the Fascist Academies of Physical Instruction, followed by the presentation of the second act of "Lohengrin," presented on an enormous stage specially built for the occasion in the stadium of Mussolini Forum. • • ; ■ j This stage is said to be the largest In the world. It is 400 ft long and 90,000 cubic feet of timber, were used in its construction. The lighting effects were so spectacular that it was necessary to raise Rome's supply of electric energy for this one evening" from 8000 to 14,000 kilowatts. The tower of the castle outside which the action in this act of/Lohengrin" .occurs is 130 feet high ,and sixty-five feet in diameter. The orchestra and chorus were recruited from all the principal opera houses in Italy. ,