DESTRUCTION OF GUERNICA

Southland Times, Issue 23227, 16 June 1937, Page 5

DESTRUCTION OF GUERNICA

FORETASTE OF AERIAL WARFARE WAR CORRESPONDENT’S CONCLUSIONS Undefended Guernica’s destruction by aerial bombs, which killed 800 of its 3000 citizens, is taken to prove the viewpoint that “shrecklichkeit” (frightfulness) will be employed in the next war to a degree unknown in the last, writes H. R. Knickerbocker in the second of his series of articles on the Spanish civil war. He regards Spain as the proving ground for the fighting aircraft of European nations, and reviews the lessons learned from nine months of aerial warfare on the peninsula.

BY IL R. KNICKERBOCKER (World Copyright! Women, children, and unarmed old men and boys below military age—m short, non-combatants—will be the chief victims in the next war Warplanes destroy, but do not decide the issue. , . , These are the lessons which the Spanish civil war has taught a world which shudders still at the destruction of defenceless Guernica by German bombers. , . . This proof of the part that frightfulr.ess plays in mcdern warfare confirms the theory upon which Britain is rearming in the air with such desperate haste. ■ The ■ theory is that the enemy will attempt to break the spirit of the civilian population by the mass bombing of cities regardless of the immediate military objectives. There will be only one way to protect a nation against such attacks, the possession of adequate means of retaliation. The Basques do not . possess such means because Madrid is keeping its air fleet for its own defence, and this remains substantially true despite the report that 40 Government planes have been sent to Bilbao. To put Guernica in its proper perspective. it must be remarked that the Government as well as the rebels have throughout the war persistently bombed enemy cities. I have .personally taken refuge for hours from Government bombers attacking cities full of civilians, such as Burgos, Salamanca, and Talavera. Nevertheless, these cities each had a military objective, ana civilian casualties could be described to accident The dimensions of the killing at Guernica and the fact that it was without military defence combine to arouse a unique reaction in neutral countries. It is possible now to attempt to review Spanish air warfare. At this moment, judging from what I have been able to observe in the last three weeks in Spain, the Government and rebels have perhaps a total of 400 warplanes apiece, about equally divided between bombers and fighters. Most of the rebel warplanes are concentrated now in northern aerodromes for operations against Bilbao. * I saw 40 at Vittoria and 44 at Burgos, while much larger numbers are flying from positions a few miles behind the lines at Guipuzcoa The majority of rebel bombers are giant tri-motored German Junkers, while the fighters are mostly Italian Fiats. The Germans, however, have a few score Heinkel fighters, while the Italians have a few Savoia-Marchetti Caproni bombers. The Germans and Italians fly their own planes, and have independent organizations operating through liaison officers with Franco. The Germans have done most of the bombing, while the Italians, in their pursuit planes, which appear superior to the German JAGD machines, have done most of the air fighting.

GOVERNMENT FORCE On the Government side virtually every known variety of military aeroplane is used, except German and Italian, but the majority now in service are Russian and French. Simple arithmetic will give an idea ( of what has happened in Spain’s air war, and what may be expected if there is an international war. General Franco’s headquarters officially state that to date they have brought down 355 enemy planes certainly—probably 56 more—while 16 others are doubtful. Official figures are not available from the Government, but unofficial estimates put rebel losses at about an equal number. This means that each side has lost in nine months about the number of planes they now possess—around 400 apiece. Granted that the Spanish conflict is only a “Great War in miniature,” and that the violence of an international conflict may be greater, this result nevertheless shows that within a minimum of nine months belligerent Powers must reckon on losing their whole initial air force. The problem of air replacements, therefore, will take first place in general staff calculations. But there is also the problem of replacing highlytrained men in great numbers. If only half the ’planes shot down in the Spanish war were fighters, it means that 400 expert pursuit pilots are dead, while 400 shot-down bombers represent from 1200 to 2000 dead pilots, bombardiers, and observers, because the big bombers now in use carry crews of from three to five. Twice I saw monster Junkers brought down in flames. Each time, five men bailed out in parachutes, only to be riddled by the machine-guns of enemy fighters. The prospect of mass suffering in an international war becomes clearly intolerable when it is considered that the two Spanish armies have only 400 apiece, while every great Power in Europe boasts today of at least 4000. Since it is inconceivable that any international war in Europe will be limited to two Powers, but it more likely to involve four or more, the destruction wrought in the Spanish war must be multiplied by at least 40 to obtain an idea of what the future holds if Europe succumbs to madness. ' This is why the fate of Guernica brings fresh tremors to mankind. SELASSIE S WORDS If this form of warfare by terror is allowed, it means that the worst fears of the prophets of evil will be fulfilled on this unhappy continent. Haile Selassie foretold it when he exclaimed: — "Europe shrugs its shoulders at Italian bombs upon Ethiopia, but the time is coming when’Europe will cry in agony and desperately lament that nothing was done to check murder from the air before it was too late.” With all this, no air attack has yet won the war in Spain. If the outcry now going up in England against the fate of Guernica is any criterion, it may still transpire that

the mass slaughter of women, children, grandfathers, and boys there may cause the nations to think long before employing aerial frightfulness. (Next Article: Who will win the War?)