Evening star., 1925-03-16
The War Over the Air
By Viii Ir,cin.
Chapter II-s'Supposing a Case"
By Viii IriUin.

w hateVer soldiers may say, the
ldea that an enemy could, at the be-
ginning of war. invade the United
states with a land force seems to
civilian common sense little fan
tastlc- The experience of the Brit
tsh army at GallipolL goes to prove
that. "A German invasion OF our
Island" said British statesman dur
ing the war. would be lynched out
OF existence" If that applies to the
tight little island, only 500 miles
across and some 20 miles from a
hostile continent, 1t applies with null
tiplted force to these United States,
nearly 5000 miles across and about
| that same distance from the bases
of any nation In our class as a mil
] itary power. OF itself an enemy
naval victory could merely blockade
our coasts and smother our foreign
commerce.. But an air feet, while
1t could not precisely land occupying
| forces, might so bang Up our coun-
try as either to make US acknowl
edge defeat or to prepare the way
| for an army. Let US imagine a sit
uation.
Could Work Harm.
An enemy from Europe prepared
to conquer us with aircraft. Prob
ably no nation in the world has at
present enough airplanes for the job.
But, as compared with battleships
or regiments of artillery, air fleets
are comparatively cheap to build and
equip; the existing factories in sew
eral European countries could be eX-
panded to accomplish this task. We
| must presuppose that the hostile
navy, conveying those fast merchant
men which carry the aircraft and
their munitions, has defeated or
eluded our own battleship feet, and
that we possess only inferior air
forces, incapable of meeting the en-
emy planes in a general engagement
or OF protecting our cities. The
chief problem, then, is to find a
landing place. narrow base of op-
erations. That question of a foothold
presents so many military and naval
considerations, involves so many
things which I have been told in
confidence that l shall not discuss
1t here. The reader will have to take
my not unsupported word that In
certain circumstances such a landing
could be made at spots within bomb
ing range of our great triangle; +;
made and held long enough to work
infinite harm and perhaps to disor-
ganize our whole national life.
The "Great Triangle"
That term great triangle" needs
explaining. Draw a line along the
seaooast from Bangor, Me-, to the
Chesapeake Bay region; another from
Chesapeake Bay to Chicago; another
from Chicago back TO Bangor. Inside
that area you have three-quarters of
our factories, including. Importantly.
almost all our steel works, most of
our national wealth. most OF our coal,
most OF our financial power. With
that region cut off from the rest of
the country externally, thrown into
confusion internally, we should be
paralyzed.
The first objective, probably, would
be the railroad centers. Let US say
that the enemy is based somewhere
near the southeastern corner OF the
triangle. AT present a first-class
bombing plane can go $50 miles. load
ed, before IT exhausts its fuel. 1t
can, therefore, operate - roughly
speaking-350 miles from it's base.
The range of bombers is gradually
increasing. Even If we discover
nothing new in aviation, by refining
the principles we already know we
may extend 1t some 80 per cent. And
as such an attack could not possibly
happen for some years, let US allow
the attacking airplanes a radius of
400 to $50 miles. That puts the
enemy within four-hour reach by air
of every important railroad center in
the East-Buffalo, Syracuse and AL
bany. Philadelphia and Pittsburgh,
Washington, Columbus and Cleve-
land-and, OF course, New York. AT
the rate of two towns or more a
day, he could cut our railway ar
teries. This is a simple military
statement of a gruesome possibility.
Let US be more specific.
Whatever halfinformed apologists
for modern warfare may say to the