MAKING CONTACT

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 59, Issue 4187, 18 September 1939, Page 6

MAKING CONTACT

OPENING PHASE OF WAR. TWO CAMPAIGNS COMPARED. It has been announced" that the French forces have now made contact with the enemy along the whole front of the Western front. The average person may wonder why a report of this nature is necessary in view of the fact that this is exactly what was expected. Actually “making contact” with the enemy is a technical term in military parlance. It comes, perhaps, from the days when armies operated in the open most of the time. Caesar, it will be remembered, only went into winter quarters behind fortified defences when the campaigning season was over. The rest of the time was spent in a war of movement chasing the Gauls. Quite two-thirds of that time was spent in finding the main army of the •enemy. In a very specialised type of warfare that is waged between civilised nations these days a war of movement is not so common. We have, however, a war of movement in Poland, and the very opposite conditions along the Western front.

Whether a war starts off behind fortified lines or starts as a war of movement, contact has to be made with the enemy. It has been laid down on many occasions, and by many military experts, that the task of an army is to seek out the army of the enemy and defeat it. It sounds simple' enough. That happy hunting ground of promotion examinations for army officers, Stonewall Jackson, and his operations give endless examples of a war of movement. In those days there were no aeroplanes and no motorised troops. Making contact with the enemy was, indeed, not unlike finding a needle in a haystack. The opening phases of the Great War in 1914 on the Western front gave an example of a war of movement. The German forces in great strength had violated the neutrality of Belgium and were pushing forward with all speed towards Paris. There were no permanent fortifications of any major extent to oppose them. Defeat or victory depended on the French and British forces making contact with the German forces, defining the extent of their movements and taking steps to stop them. It was the work

of a military genius when a French army collected on the German flank and gave a knock to the German advance which virtually sealed the fate of the war.

When an army advance's toward the enemy, military prudence dictates that, it shall do so cautiously. An army does not come bustling along like an angry bee until suddenly it bumps into the enemy. At least, that does not occur in most cases. The main army puts out feelers' ahead. These feelers, at their extremities, consist of only a handful of men here and there, cavalry maybe, light motorised units, and the like. They advance in a curtain spread in front of the main army. Here and there they may .encounter resistance. If this resistance is small they overcome it

and continue to reconnoitre. There comes a time, however, when the feelers in front of the main army encounter resistance so stiff they cannot brush it aside. The main army sends forward larger forces to do so. Increased pressure sweeps away the resistance. The main army, however, has not yet engaged the enemy. It has, however, made contact with the enemy. As the resistance increases the main army becomes more and more committed, until the two opposing armies may be involved in a pitched battle. This last operation depends on the situation. It may not develop for months.

Conditions on the Western frort are,‘admittedly, somewhat in the category of specialised warfare: Nevertheless, it is essential for the French i forces to make contact with the enemy. The enemy is playing a waiting game 1 holding up the French attacks while operations proceed in Poland. In the case of the Western front it is obvious roughly where the armies of the enemy will be found. The extent of their forward dispositions are, however, not known until the reconnoitring parties have made contact and forced the enemy to show his strength. While this operation is going on the air force, if it has command of the 1 air, maps out the main defences of the enemy. It would seem that the Allies have command of the air on the Western front, and this mapping is now complete. Until this phase has been completed a military commander is working more or less in the dark. These preliminary steps • appear a frightful waste of time to those not experienced in the risks of engaging main armies with no knowledge of the task ahead. A military cliche states, “Time spent in reconnaisance is seldom wasted.”