Semi-weekly herald., 1917-11-12
AMERICAN AIRMEN WILL
HASTEN END OF WAR

PARIS, Oct. 81 (By Mail.)-Cap-
tain de Kerillis, of tho French air
service, hero of innumerabls air
raids, in an interview with the Uni
ted Press today, pointed out the
great Importance of these enterprises
and predicted that the cooperation of
America in these undertakings would
shake the morals of the German
people and hasten the end of the
war;"
Air bomhardments," said the cap
tain, "are becoming one Of the most
scientific forms of warfare. Every
day they are becoming more compli-
Gated. First of all, one must bear
in mind that the aviation de chassc'
and the aviation de bombardment
are two very different things.
THE business of the former is to
attack, that of the latter to manoeu-
vre. By manoeuvre, l mean that the
function of air bombardments, is,
either to prevent concentration of
enemy aircraft, or to force 1t to
give battle.
"Then Of course, there are reprisal
raids, such as those we have Just
lately carried out. About the ef-
fectiveness of these reprisal raids,
when they arc successful, there Is
10 doubt, and will give you an ex-
ample.
"On June 81 of last year, we un-
dertook raid on Carlshrue as re-
prisal for recent raid on Bar-le-
Due. The effect of the French raid
was so salutary, that for long time
all German raids on French towns
ceased. On German aviators, whom,
we captured we found strict orders
to cease bombarding French towns.
with the German military au-
thorities, it is entirely n question Of
calculating the gain and loss Of an
enterprise. When they decide that
the penalty for a certain enterprise
is too great, they abandon it, at
least temporarily. In the case of
the German nir-raids, which ceased
for a while, such calculation had
certainly been made.
FINALLY, however, the Germans
evidently decided that it was worth
while beginning their terrorizing
system again, so they started their
air raids once more, though mostly
on England.
"one of the principal objects Of
these raids, it must be remembered,
is to keep large portions of the Brit
ish air fleet in England to oppose
the invaders. The same problem 10
involved in big strategic battles,
where the principal aim Of lombard
ing squadrons is to keep the air
forces of the enemy busy and to
disperse them as much as possible.
"The results obtained in aerial war
fare have developed entirely new
tactics which must be learned on the
spot. To train bombarding squad
rons takes time and very careful
preparation.
"One Of the most important things
] is to acquire cohesion, or what you
might call team work. When an air
raid is undertaken the enemy's first
object is to break up the formation
of the attacking squadrons by adroit
manoeuvres. Then, if this succeeds.
and the squadron is scattered, its
isolated members are attacked and
the result is generally disastrous for
the attacking party.
"Our raids into Germany are from
every point of view more formidable
enterprises than the German raids
in France or England. For, ia the
first place, we have TO cover worry
long distances to attain our objec-
i've, and, secondly, we are obliged
10 descend very low when actusliy
launching our bombs, as We have
strict orders to lombard only such
points in the enemy's territory which
are actually Of military imoortance.
such as barracks, stations, etc.
"What we need above all are bonn
harding squadrons, organized on a
large scale which can continually
and Systematically carry out raids in
| to German territory.
with the cooperation of America,
this object should be quickly at
tanned. This will be the quickest
means Of putting stop to German
raids in, France and England It
will also do more than anything else
to shake the morals Of the German
nation and hasten the end Of the
war"