Evening star., 1940-12-05
By RALPH INGERSOLL.

The most universal answer In
England to my questions, How
do you propose to win the WARP"
was "by mass bombing of German
industrial plants with planes built
In America-mass bombing from
the air behind blockade by sea-"
The reasoning behind these
statements is something like this:
If the British are able to ex-
change bono for bomb with the
Germans, the blockade will decide
the war. For when German in
dustrial capacity is destroyed 1t
cannot be eplaced-whereaS when
British industrial capacity is de-
stroyed the British, with the sea
lanes open, can draw on American
industrial capacity. This, of course,
is an over-simplification, but it
conveys the idea.
I am often asked about the
British bombing of Germany. Is
it effective? I have seen so much
ineffective bombing by the Germans
In England that 1 am very skep-
tical about any claims to industrial
damage wrought by bombs. The
Germans have done little damage
to England's industrial plant be-
cause it is so we'll dispersed, broken
up into small units with no one
plant Indispensable. 1 have no
reason to believe that the Germans
aren't Just as good at this business
of dispersal of industrial equip
ment.
British Concentrate Attack.
There is only this reason to be-
lieve that the English bombing of
the German industrial plant may
be less effective than its opposite
number: The English, possibly be-
cause they have fewer planes, do
not bomb as many objectiveS or
over as wide an area as the Ger
mans. The British theory of bomb
ing is that it should be concen-
trated on the fewest possible num-
Der of key objectiveS and that it
should be practically continuous.
That is, they pick out plant and
bomb it every single night that
they can get to it, week in and
week out.
The Germans, as is easily OBJ
servable from the communiques,
follow the practice of concentrating
on one place one night, another place
another highland mix the bomb
ing of industrial objectiveS with
scatter bombing for the sole pur-
pose of attacking civilian morale
by the destruction of civilian prop
erty and the killing of non-com-
batants. Thus, considering every
thousand bombs dropped by the
Germans as against every thousand
bombs dropped by the English, it
is possible that higher percentage
of the English bombs do damage
TO industrial production than vice
versa.
Berlin Bombing Propaganda.
The English bombing of Berlin
this is my own conclusion-is
propaganda rather than a military
operation. I was not convinced that |
the R. A F. bomber command
thought 1t was doing much damage |
to Berlin or expected to do much !
damage to Berlin. The idea is
simply to keep the Germans in Ber-
lin running in and out of shelters.
The r. A. F. bombing is concen-
rated on the Ruhr and military !
detectives along the coast.
On its present scale, the English |
bombing of Germany must be no
more than a very unpleasant nui-
sance to the Germans. 1t will not |
become more than this until the !
English feet of bombers is enor-
mously increased. And this in
creased fleet will have to be manned !
oy the pilots now training in Can
ada and Australia. The first are
just finishing their courses, but the !
new bombing pilots will not be avail
able in large numbers until late in !
che spring. Bomber crews must be
carefully selected, are highly spe-
eialized and take a long time to |
train. A first-class pilot should have
at least nine months schooling and
practice.
British Build Great Planes.
The British are not relying solely
on our bombing planes to achieve
superiority but have new models of
their own in production. They are |
bigger than any airplanes I have
ever seen, including transatlantic |
clippers, and when you stand be-
low and look up at them and their |
bomb bay is open it's as if the big
gest whale you can conceive of were |
hoisted to the top of Madison Square
Garden and it's belly slit from nose
to tail.
The British are entirely confident |
that with their own production,
American production and pilots
from the empire they will be ready |
to go into Germany en- masse by
spring. Not the least important |
feature of their present bombing
operations over Germany is the
training of crews. Crews are ro-
tated, a bombing pilot being only |
used for a month-after which he
stops fighting and goes back to
school-either to instruct or to
learn another of the varied trades
included in a bomb crews compile
ment of education. For man to be
able to handle any position in a
bomber's crew he must not merely
be an expert heavy plane pilot but
also an expert in machine gunnery |
and In wireless and in navigation.
Air Control Visioned.
Next to the Fire Department in
London, the r. A. F. as a whole is
the best show I saw in England.
Its long-term planning and its eff
cheney are very convincing. My
confidence that England can and
will win is based In important part
on nv confidence that the r. A. F.