The Wilmington morning star., 1940-05-07
Editorial Comments
From Other ANGLES
THE VULTURE AND THE WHALE
New York Herald. Tribune

The Norwegians, having been reused to re.
%sistance, have now been abandoned altogether
(save for the few living in the barren north)
and one cannot help thinking Of the Films, the
Poles, the Czechs, even the anti-Nazi Austrians,
ton is that Britain must not "disperse' her
forces but hold them ready for vital emergen-
cies which may at any moment arise" among
which he does not exclude a "largescale attack
on the western front or even a lightning swoop
on this country" Is the latter a possibility? The
idea that Hitler will be driven to an attempt
to end the war this spring by a single supreme
stroke has recently been gaining currency; and
the one way of doing it with certainty is by
smashing Great Britain-the impregnable cita-
del of resistance before which even Napoleon
fell. And Hitler has the air weapon which
Napoleon lacked.
Here is the direct problem or air power
against sea power-of the vulture against the
whale-and the whole Norwegian operation,
aside from it's value in securing further bases
for the attack, could be regarded as a dress re.
hearsal for the larger enterprise. The Germans
have long had a scientific penchant for test
ing out their military plans in minor theatres
(minor, that is, for every one save the unhappy
populations selected as guinea pigs; and Nor
way was an obvious test for many of the prob.
lens that would arise in a direct attack on
England. The coordination of sea, air and land
operations; the transport Ct troops by air; sur.
prise landings at undefended points; effective
ness of bombing against surface war vessels; ef-
fectiveness of surface fleets and submarines
against transports when the latter are conveyed
by alteration all these matters the German
high command now has a mass of valuable
evidence. Assembled and analysed, what answer
will it give to the issue of sea power against
the air?
The crude answer-that the Germans, with
air power, are in Norway, and the British, with
sea power, are not-is doubtless misleading.
Mr.. Edison's suggestion that there will have to
be fundamental changes in the design of future
American war vessels to meet the air menace
probably sounded more portentous than it
really was. If one takes Mr.. Chamberlain's
figures, British ship losses (both Of war ves-
sells and transports) would seem to have been
really very small, even though they were under
the disadvantage of working in narrow waters
or close to shore, while the Germans must have
taken some appalling losses in their transport
fleets in the Skagerrak. Still, it seems to De
a fact that the mightiest sea power in the world
could not close the Skagerrak, could not catch
a lot Of the German naval units which were
out, and did take some Furnishing blows-espe-
cialy If the five British Warshlps which MI.
Chamberlain admits were "damaged' by air at
tack were damaged as badly as German CLAIMS
suggest. .
The vulture has talons. A blitzkrieg against
England still seems fantastic-but would a mass
bombing attack on all centers Of resistance
backed by air-borne troops and sea-borne land
ing parties slipped across under air protection
be utterly out Of the question? The whale
might inflict frightful losses; but Hitler seems
not to mind expanding life (any more than
Napoleon did) if he believes he can buy empire
with it. And what has happened to all those
transports which were reported to be loading in
Baltic ports a week or two ago? The attempt
might be tried. But that is not to say it would
| succeed. Because air power has won a round,
under special circumstances and with many
initial advantages, is far from proving that sea
power is finished.