INVASION BY AIR

Evening Post, Volume CXXIX, Issue 136, 10 June 1940, Page 18

INVASION BY AIR

SYSTEM OF ATTACKS

DEFENCE FORCES NEED ARMAMENT

(By Air Mall, from "The Post's" London Representative.) LONDON, May 18. A former British Army officer who escaped from Holland is of the opinion that -Britain must prepare;, at pnce to >deal w^ith Nazi parachute troops, and that infantry armed with rifles would not be sufficient to deal with them. . .. • . t. Speaking of the fighting in The Hague; he said:— '.'I heard of no case of a genuine Dutchman fighting against his own people. All the fighting was started by local Germans. These, in time, were supported by parachute troops, who had three main functions: .. "To occupy strategic positions, such as the aerodromes, in the teeth of previously organised resistance. . • "To land in the immediate vicinity of already organised bodies of local Germans, as reinforcements. ■! "To divert the attention qi Dutch troops in areas of no apparent strategic importance. "All parachutists were extraordinarily well armed and equipped. They^. carried eight days' rations, sub-machine guns, and even heavier arms, radio equipment, maps,, and ammunition. To dislodge them often required infantry with hand grenades, light guns, and even tanks. • "Close attention was given to the Ume-table by which the parachutists were dropped. In one instance ->a party of 20 was dropped half a mile east of an important military post.. When troops had been drawn away to deal with them a much larger party was dropped to the west of the post. "It should not be difficult to appreciate the possible significance of the landing of large numbers of similarly equipped troops in England or Ireland to pave the way for large-scale c"rect landings by troop-carrying planes. "Such landings could easily create widespread disorganisation and mean, the retention in England at a highly critical moment of reserves whose immediate dispatch abroad was" of the highest importance. "We require, therefore, not only large numbers of observers and riflemen, but also troops, other than those intended for service abroad, well trained in the use of heavier arms, and even armoured cars sufficiently mobile to reach danger points before the German defence. could become consolidated. "I suggest that all able-bodied men not required for service overseas should be mobilised to defend this j country against parachute troops."