LESSON OF CRETE

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 78, 26 June 1943, Page 6

LESSON OF CRETE

“The Battle of Crete may well serve as a model for- future operations in the Pacillc. Air borne troops clearly will be of special value in combination with naval forces. Thus, when the time comes for recapturing the islands and bases which the Allies have lost in the Pacific, they will be extensively used. It is they who will have to fight actions on the ground, while naval and air forces provide transport and support. “When such immense distances artinvolved as those in the Pacific, aircraft, at least in part, must be based on aircraft-carriers, which may even form the nucleus of the navy of the future. In that case a number of these carriers would transport troop-carry-ing planes to the sphere of action; a second group would provide bomber support; a third group would carry fighter planes, whose main duty would be the protection of this great transport fleet against air attack. “Naval forces in co-operation with air forces would have the task of protecting the carriers and their cargoes of planes from attack by enemy naval forces.”—Captain F. O. Miksche, a Czech serving with the Fighting French, in “Paratroops: The History, Organisation, and Tactical Use of Air-borne Formations.” His “Blitzkrieg” was acclaimed by “The Times” as “the best work on modern tactics which the present war has produced.”