Evening star., 1939-10-18
Air BIitzkrieo?

Specifically there is no lack of
evidence to sustain the Berlin boast
that uninterrupted attacks" on the
British fleet during the next ten days
may have sensational effects. Avcw-
edly the Nazi air force has en-
barked upon a series of blitzkrieg
raids to break the blockade and
bring Britain to her knees" The
summarizing of the battleship Royal
Oak has been followed by dramatic,
though not especially destructive,
German air raids on the great Scot
tish naval base in the Firth of Forth,
resulting in direct hits of and dam
age to three or four British warships,
together with slight loss of life.
The implications of these enemy
air sorties thus far outstrip in impor-
tance any actual results attained.
They seem to support the theory,
once so vehemently espoused in this
country by the late General William
Mitchell, that naval surface craft are
doomed" by the development of the
bombing plane. During the World
War no warship of any belligerent
was sunk by air bombs; to date in
this war, such a fate has not over
taken any naval unit. The United
States Navy is not ready to abandon
the view expressed to Congress year
ago by Admiral Leahy, that the mod
ern battleship not only remains the
best defense against air attack at
sea, but is also the best means of
attack against an enemy force, in
Guiding the air arm.
Great Britain is comprehensibly
disturbed, though not panic-stricken,
by Nazi successes in striking his
majesty's fleet from the air. Prime
Minister Chamberlain, First Lord of
the Admiralty Churchill and Minister
for Defense Coordination Lord
Chatheld all discussed the air attacks
in Parliament yesterday along with
disclosure of the governments latest
views on the submarine menace. Nat
urally, the cabinet withheld any in
dicationS of defense measures which,
it must be assumed, have promptly
been invoked, to counteract the new
danger that manifestly confronts the
fleet from the air.
Mr.. Churchill claimed that thir-
teen U-boats have been sunk, five
seriously damaged and possibly sunk
and several others more or less DAM
aged. The first lord called these fig
ures probably an understatement"
when explaining that "one-fourth to
one-third" of the Nazi submarine
fleet had been destroyed since the
beginning of the war. Lord Chatfaeld
conceded that the navy has not yet
determined how the U-boat to which
the Royal Oak fell victim contrived
to penetrate the defenses of Scapa
Flow Marbor. The Minister for
Defense Coordination frankly ac-
knoWledged that the entry must be
considered a remarkable exploit of
professional skill and daring"
Always to be remembered, in the
presence of such reverses to British
arms in the early stages of Hitler's
war, is the fact that they are no
novelty in the annals of almost any
major campaign in which Great
Britain has been engaged. Defeat
dogged the footsteps of his majestys
forces, especially on land, for more
than two and half years of the
World War before the tide of battle
was turned in their favor. Those sad
and costly experiences are repeating
themselves. But no student of Brit
ish character or history will for
moment succumb to the delusion
that Britannia's sun has begun to
set. During the Napoleonic Wars the
French often accused the British OF
not having sense enough to know
when they we're beaten. That the
same tenacious refusal to acknowl-
edge defeat is characteristic Of the
rank and file of the British Army,
Navy and Air Force today cannot be
doubted.