NOTES ON THE WAR

Waihi Daily Telegraph, Volume XXXI, Issue 8837, 28 October 1942, Page 2

NOTES ON THE WAR

part of Europe with a good load of bombs.

It is, of course, possible, as Colonel Knox suggests, in an article quoted in the news, that the Germans may also have developed super-bombers capable of raiding North America vi,a the Arctic route, but the Axis Powers have been too busy in Russia to have many available. But there is certainly a possibility that the war may de-! velop more and more into pure ajr! warfare, if there is a stalemate op land and at sea.

AIR FRONT OF FUTURE QUALITY OF THE MACHINES POSSIBLE DEVELOPMENT If the strength of the United Nations is not likely to reach its peak until some time next year, it is not unlikely either that the task before-them will be any the easier after the winter. By that time the Axis in Europe, turning to the defensive, may, and probably will, have strengthened its own position both in the East and in the West. Even if Stalingrad itself does not fill, it is q'uite possible for the Germans to build up a defensive line across Russia that will be very difficult, if not impossible, for the Russians to break. The Axis western front along the shores of Europe is already formidable. Only the air front is open to the Allies.

The conclusion Major Seversky expressed in his “Victory Through Air Power,” discussed some time ago in this column, is shared by other prominent writers. Arn'ong them is William B. Ziff, an aviation authority of some standing in America, who, in his book, “The Coming Battle Of Germany,” a best-seller, presents arguments for building a bombing armada to crush Germany from the air.- He says:

To meet the'German Wehrmacht on its own grounds in combined land and aerial operations is to meet it on its own-terms and on its own picked battlefield. We do not have the trained military strength, machines, or shipping necessities for this task. We lack a safe supply line. We could not bring against the Germans sufficient fighter plane strength to protect our invading force once it had tied in at ports and was seeking to -establish its bridgeheads. The bulk of our fighter planes would have to be transported overseas, whereas the Luftwaffe could immediately centre in full strength from all over Europe on our invading forces, which would in effect be stationary targets. The result would be massacre.

So lie comes to the conclusion—on his own assumption—that the only method to force a decision is through the air ocean which surrounds Germany. “We have absolutely no other way of' directly helping Russia,” he continues. “We have no other way of directly assaulting the German Reich.- We have no other way of preventing the gradual consolidation of all the land surfaces of the Old World under the banner of the Axis.”

Massive Air Assault.

So Mr Ziff is all out for a massive air assault on Germany, and calls for a “revolutionary upheaval in military thinking” and “the reorganisation of all our production lines.” He says: To bomb Germany effectively we must have strongly-armoured, heavily-armed machines carrying demolition loads running all the way from five to twenty tons. He doubts the possibility of “precision bombing” for much the same reasons as those mentioned by “Navator” in “Aeronautics” in an article .summarised recently. He calls then for “not less than 10,000 tons of high-explosive and incendiary charges” to be dropped over the Reich “on each of twenty flying nights a month, with the rate and power of assault rapidly stepped up as American resources are increasingly brought to bear.” Until long-range fighters are fully developed, he says, daylight sorties must be regarded at best as experimental. So, he concludes, “the problem becomes one of ‘saturation’ night bombing assaults, dominated by the pure weight of demolition charges.” Thus Mr Ziff believes in the Douhet theory of" the complete air-blitz. “Navator,” on the other hand, called for a vast extension of precision bombing of military targets. There is little doubt that either plan would be effective, if only it could be carried out as thoroughly as its author demands. Both plans "would involve a greater or less concentration of war effort on the air to the exclusion of land and sea.

The Instruments The actual existing and expected instruments of air power in the hands of the Allies are discussed with remarkable frankness in the long message from Washington yesterday, based on the official statement of the American 0.W.1. (Office of War Information). This, under the direction of Mr Elmer Davis, has already set an example to the rest of the United Nations in the frankness with which it lakes the public into its confidence. The shortcomings of certain types of American fighter aircraft are admitted and the reasons given. The newer types, notably the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt, are equal or rather superior to anything the enemy can put up in the latest Messerschmitts, Foche-Wulfe, and Zeros.

The American P-51, the Mustang, although nob a high-flyer, like the forementioned, is proving extremely useful in medium altitude fighting and ground-strafing over Western Europe. The longest-range fighter is still the Japanese Zero, but range is achieved by the sacrifice of protection for the pilot and self-sealing fuel tanks.

Super-Bombers The chief American big bombers, the Fortress and the Liberator, have advantages of high ceiling and long range over their British opposite numbers, the Lancaster the Stirling and the Halifax, but do not carry the .same bomb load.

But it is understood that America has some super-bombers nearly ready, of great size, long range, high speed, (' and big bomb loads, with superior armour and armament. These, with pressure cabins, will be able to fly in the stratosphere and cover almost any (Continued in preceding column)