Evening star., 1936-02-09
AMERICAN AIR DEFENSE
TAKING OFFENSIVE FORM
Passive Protective Measures Are Held
Too Expensive for U. S. by Gen.
WestOver, New Corps Chief.

desirable amount of dispersion of the
air units. The fewer the number of
planes located on a given airdrome,
the less remunerative Is the target
they present to enemy air attack.
Base Change Aids Operations.
"A large number of airports avail
able also permits frequent changes In
locations Of the operating units, so
that one day an airport may be occu-
pied and the next day not. This tends
to render extremely difficult the attack
operations of enemy aircraft. This
same multiplicity of airports favors
the third device of defense-conceal-
ment. With q large number of air
ports available, some of which are In
use and some unoccupied, and with
frequent shifts in this status, the con-
cealment Of airplanes is more apt to
succeed. since the enemy may assume
that an airport where airplanes are
well concealed is not in use
THE ability of the defending air
forces to avoid presenting to enemy
aircraft attack targets which will
prove ren1unerative may react to in
troduce a situation Of primary concern
to the civilian population. An enemy
thwarted in his efforts to secure
results in attacks against our air
establishments may turn to other
targets more easily located and offer
ing greater return. Among such tar
gets are aircraft and munitions fac
tories, water supply, gasoline storages,
railroad tunnels and bridges, and elec-
trio power plants. Since most of these
installations were constructed before
the era when air attack was a prime
consideration. the defensive possibil-
tiles in these cases have not been
developed. Perhaps the greatest re-
sources now available in this respect
are camoufiage and other forms OF
concealment from an overhead OBJ
server. From their nature some of
these installations are difficult to
conceal or camouf1age.. 1t will require
intensive study of the possibilities to
arrive at satisfactory solutions to
these problems. However, the i'm
portance of gaining every possible
protection against air attack will war
rant the effort required to arrive at
a satisfactory solution to this problem.
These considerations may arouse in
the minds of civilians thoughts of the
possible consequences to them of a
serious air attack. 1t is true that, due
to our more isolated positions, the ex-
treme measures which we read are
being reSorted to abroad to secure
adequate protection from air attack
may not be demanded in our own
case. However, a certain amount of
training OF the civilian population as
to the nature of aircraft attack and
as to the available means of defense
against the same may greatly mini
mize the effects of such air attacks.
Passive Defense Too Vast.
AT this point the trained student
OF military affairs will pause in de-
spair at the vision of the passive de-
fense measures which may possibly be
demanded by the hundreds Of cities
open to air attack. This vision in
cludes hundreds of set-ups of expen-
sive anti-aircraft guns and machine
guns barrage balloons, smoke -laying
airplanes, bomb and gasproof shell
ters, vast alarm and communication
systems and millions of gas masks
The impracticabiiity of providing
these passive defense measures on
such a huge scale suggests a turn to
the consideration of the offensive
form of defense. In the first place,
if We possess an adequate number of
aircraft for our defense, the enemy
attacks are more apt to be directed
against our air bases than against
cities, since one Of the most important
principles Of war is that an enemy's
main force is the principal objective.
"On the other hand, if we, on the
defensive. operate extensively to de-
stroy the enemy's means of attack,
this is far more effective way Of
reducing the consequences of such at
tack than to employ merely passive
measures to lessen its effects.
1T appears desirable, therefore. to
develop a system of defense against
aircraft attack in which the principal
reliance is placed upon our own air.
craft to destroy the enemy's attacking
forces, rather than upon passive de-
fensive measures to minimize the con-
sequences of air attack. We require
q system wherein soldiers, and not
civilians, will bear the brunt of the
enemy's fire. We should avoid an
unbalanced air defense having too
many purely defensive measures and
too few offensive powers"