Evening star., 1939-09-24
Terrific Air Attack
By Nazis Seen as
Next War Move
Hitler Holds Planes
In West as Trump
Card for Peace
Nv COL. FREDERICK PALMER.

BY COL. FKEDEHlCA FALMEn.
As a relief from the concealments
Of the censorship and the confusion
of propaganda handouts, have
some confidential information from
private sources that illumines the
present situation and outlook. The
first signal that the war is hitting
Its full stride this side of the Rhine
promises to be a burst of fright
fulness showered from German
planes.
Massing his planes In the West,
Adolf Hitler holds them as q trump
card for peace which will confirm
him in his victories in Poland with
out further fighting.
If the lesson his aviators have
given the Poles is not convincing
enough, he will drive one of the
same kind home to the allies. It
is evident that any British or French
government which attempted any
compromise would be overthrown.
Once Hitler fully realizes this, he
will place the guilt for further
bloodshed on the allies before his
people and galvanize them in out
ragged appeal to heroic self defense.
Then he will loose his bombers on
allied airfields, munition plants and
railroad and urban centers.
Shadow Boxing in Air.
So far, aviation combat on the
western front, according to the
ofiicial communicates, has been little
more than dog-fights between indi-
vidual planes, with which we were
familiar over the trench lines in
France in the World War. A kind
st shadow boxing in the air has
marked time until the mass plane
action begins. Together, the allies
about match the Germans in the air.
Once Hitler finds that he must
1See it through" to = finish, he will
strike with fanatic determination
and futhleSsness. He will forget
any promises about bombing open
cities, and he will have shown the
allies the way to follow suit. No ma
ton fighting for its life handicaps
itself by long refusing to utilize the
Gnemy's weapons. Suffering in
humane blows, it will reply in kind.
.After the German poison gas at
Tack in the World War, the allies
aprepared to answer gas with gas.
The Anglo-French air forces In
France are nearly in as close bomb
ing range of Berlin as the German
forces on the Rhine are of Paris and
London. They are very near the
big German industrial cities in the
thickly populated Rhine Valley,
nearer than German airfields to the
French industrial cities and much
nearer than the German airfields
to the British industrial centers.
Asset of Initiative.
Very largely, the important mill
tary asset of initiative has been
with the Germans so far. They
took 1t in their sudden attack on
Poland without formal warning.
They had it in the undisclosed hand
Of Mussolini, forcing the French
to give up their plan to strike Italy
or even to force her into the war.
Concern lest the Anglo-French mis-
sion IN their Moscow talks may have
given away allied plans was an
other disturbing factor for the
French.
The French had a limited initia-
tive in their advance against the
German West Wall Carrying the
war to German soil cheered the
French, who had the Germans deep
on their soil in the World War. In
an important strategic sector, they
have chiseled their way up to
the fortified line, either for a bet
ter jumping off place for an attack
Or a better defensive position.
But the Germans have recovered
the Initiative in the sense that their
plan is undisclosed as they mass
the divisions freed from Poland on
the western front. Where will thev
attack If they attack? Unless gun
: nre can successfully smash the con-
crete Notifications to clear the way
Tor the infantry, frontal attack
by either side will be a failure at
the cost OF gigantic losses. The only
alternative may be the slow, arduous,
mucky old process of digging under
ground tunnels for mining. The
rodent workers, with all their care
to make no noise, may be dis
covered and countermined before
they are able to lay their explosives
at the right spot.
Time for Transfers.
1t will take time to transfer the
divisions from Poland, the best in
the German army; more time to
prepare for an offensive, and the
German staff always prepares
thoroughly and strikes swiftly. The
drive may be through Belgium again
or through the gap on the Swiss
border, partly over Swiss soil, or
Just to throw the French back out
OF positions they have gained.
The British and French armies
must be on guard against any emer-
gency. They must hold France and
the channel ports. It would be sur
prising if the British have as many
as 100000 men in France as their
present nucleus. The French army
counting all classes, numbers 6.OOG,-
OOO. larger than the German, which
is handicapped by the fact that,
having had CONSUMPTION for only
four years, it has not a full roster
OF trained men of all classes, as it
had in 1914.
The Germans have the political
initiative, too, in the prestige of
their sweep through Poland, in it's
impression on the Balkan states, all
the way to Turkey. But Joseph
Stain also has an injtiotiva r,ha,