The Washington times., 1938-03-14
The Cycle of War

The British War Secretary, Leslie HOre- -Belisha an
nounces that England gets tangled up in the next Eu-
ropean war it will not send great of men to be
slaughtered in the deadlock of trench warfare.
Britain. SAYS Hore-Belisha, has much confidence in
Frances Maginot Line. He says this point:
The mower of defense has last
privileged to see the mastery and form
dabe deenses Of the MagFot % ne GTnsTreG on ~ d." "e III
What this British decision indicates 1t seems to u.s. is
that the wheel of military development has come round
full circle.
Weingtons armies were professional armies; 'bIack-
guards officered by gentlemen described but very
able fighting forces for all that Something like the French
Foreign Legion Their business fighting; in peacetme
they habtualy sruted around, Dragging, drinking and
making themselves generally Objectionable to civilians.
Napoleon pulling the French Revolution together to
fight its foreign foes worked out the massevy principle
drafting the mob to fight and bringing war that much
closer home the civil population Evolution of Napoeons
idea went on through the World War So people took
part in that war; in many capacities, that it has often
been predicted that the next big would drag in every
body in the fighting nations in way or another.
It doesn't seem to be working out that way Here
Is Britain making gestures at going back to SMALL pro-
fessonal highly mechanical fighting forces. The man
with the gum backbone of the armies in all the wars
for 1876 years, about to be superseded by the
man in a machine-gun nest buried fort or fast
moving armored
If that happens it will be nothing new. Every new
implement of war has in time met up with newer i'm
plement to counterac it. The Spanish civil war, among
~, ~ other things proving ground or labora-
1"e OP1"''0" tory for the next big war, has demon
A"OU"'"y strated this fact.
According to Major Thomas R. Phillips U. S. A., in
the current Saturday Evening Post the Spanish war
has shown that defense against aircraft is not the
hopeless job the postwar prophets of doom called it
for long. Planes break up and demoralize in
fanry caught open ground But they haven't broken
Madrid in than years trying, or even cut the
roads into Madrid beyond quick repair.
The theory that airplane raids cities smash
civilian morale has been itself smashed in this war.
Such raids only bring reprisa raids from the other
side And antarcraft guns have improved faster since
the World War than any other defense weapon. The
Germans in Frances forces, for example, have had
much luck with robot-operated direction-finder
which sends aiming information electrically to an anti
aircraft gum which in turn has frequently knocked off
planes flying in a straight at 1000 feet.
However, the weapon to counteract the battleship has
not yet appeared according to the weight of postwar
evidence On the elements of victory appear to be
T. cL: what they have been since the ronclads
- first came in during Civil War
~ ships surprising the enemy's ships in
speed, armor, hitting power, maneuverabiy, trained
personnel and tonnage.
The Navy this nation being situated as it is, is our
front line of defense If that front line is in good shape
when war comes mobilize whatever army we
need behind the front line But can't improvse an ade
quate navy overnight-or in three years.
Hence any money spent wisely the Navy in peace
time is good investment And the money we spend
wisely on the Navy in peaceme, the less likely we shall
be ever to have to the Navy for fighting purposes
What we need is the best Navy in the worId-and the
biggernavy bill pending in Congress is aimed at buy
ing us such Navy.
New York Daily NewO