Evening star., 1939-11-13
Big Aerial Conflict
Predicted II Nazis
Invade Netherlands
Allies Not Under Some
Handicap as Faced Them
In Aiding Poland
By COL. FREDERICK PALMER.

by COL. r FhEDEn1Ch fALMEn.
Tension lessons, then tightens
then lessons in the Netherlands, but
should the German Army cross the
Dutch border, we shall have such a
mighty, wholesale conflict of air
power as was predicted as its first
action before the war between Ger
many and allied Britain and France
began.
We read of the growing impatience
of the air forces as they mark time.
They are ready and eager to 60, but
wait in vain for the word to 60.
The allied planes which could not
reach Poland can reach Holland.
Far from the huge wastage of
planes predicted, it seems that, in
the 10 weeks of the war, neither side
has yet lost more than 10 per cent
of the number built.
Reliable information that reaches
us across the Atlantic through the
censorship corrects many propa-
gandic reports. No gas bombs were
dropped in Poland. The Germans
used only incendiary bombs in ad-
dition to their main reliance on high
explosive bombs. The incendlary
bombs served their military ends
better than gas-the incendiary be-
ing mistaken for gas bombs on ac-
count of their strong odor.
Germans Used Old Planes.
Apparently no German bomber
has yet flown as far as the west
coast of England. We learn from
inside sources that the German
planes which made the air raids
against British naval bases on the
east coast were not the latest type
of planes, but old types for expert
mental scouting and attack.
Not one of the two British waves
of IL planes each which bombed
Helgoland returned; nor did any OF
two waves of German bombers
which set out for British naval
bases. The pursuit planes got
them.
Since the pursuit planes have, on
an average, about half the radius
of bombers, the bombers cannot be
accompanied by pursuit planes to
protect them on flights to distant
detectives. The trouble with wave
after wave of bombers in quick sue
cession is that the pursuit planes
are bound to be up as hornets
swarming to the attack on the Sec
ond wave.
A snap judgment may conclude
from the air stalemate, which ac-
companies the army stalemate on
the western front, that air power
has been overestimated. In truth,
few tactical conclusions may yet
be framed, except in Poland's fate,
where interception of the German
air force was negligible.
Against a superiority of at least
10 to !, the little air forces of the
Netherlands and Belgium would
soon be driven to earth and the
low countries subject to the same
kind of "blitzkrieg" from the skies
as was Poland.
Allies Cannot Stand BY.
The allies can hardly afford to
stand by as spectators TO see Dutch
or Belgian, infantry and gunners
swept by machine gun fire from
planes and Dutch factories and the
shipping In Dutch ports under
showers of bombs.
It will be up to the allied planes
from England and from the British
and French Army. fronts to rush
instantly to the rescue in an aerial
battle unprecedented in magnitude
and fury. Pursuit planes will be
in reach of the Netherlands and
much easier reach of Belgium. In
both countries, local fields and emer-
gency fields will be available for re-
fueling.
Very probably the Allies will in
clude in their objectives German
Army supply depots and troop
masses and the munition- producing
congested industrial districts in the
Rhine Valley. German civilians will
be killed, and Adolf Hitler, who will
feel justified in his invasion of Hol-
land. will bomb allied cities in re-
prlsal for the allies having begun
the war on women and children.
(Released by the North American
Newspaper Alliance Inc)