Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1940-09-22
Central PLANNING
For All Arms Seen
Important in War
AirpIone Has Made
Stoff Work Complex
In Modern Combat

Stoff Work Complex
In Modern Combat
BY COL. FREDERICK PALMER,
Military Expert and Historian.
NEW YORK, Sept. Ala uni
fed air force, a minister of defense
over all, or as we are? Shall we
have central planning or not? In
their studies of the reports of their
attaches abroad, our Army and Navy
stats keep in mind the place air
power shall have in the distribution
of authority to make II most efiec-
tive for our needs in well-timed, CO.
ordinate action.
Enormously complex as stan
preparation and direction had be-
come in the World War, the air.
plane has made both far more COM
pick in this war, which has shown
central planning and control as an
indispensable factor for success.
Where formerly an army was strict
ly on it's own on land and a navy
served by common, connecting
third arm in a tactical revolution
for both
In Europe the air forces OF both
! Germany and Great Britain and the
vanquished nations are or were uni
fed. Results so far have been In
disputably authenticated In main
essentials
Command in Norway.
For the German invasion of Nor
way an airman had supreme COM
mand. but he had all-around staff
/ training and experts in every
/ branch under him. The British
Navy, with its small fleet arm and
home coastal air defense under the
R. A. F., did not get the prompt
emergency aid from the r. A. F. 1t
| called for.
When huge land forces were being
/ pitted against huge land forces IN
| the battles Of Flanders and France,
the German army command was
supreme. One of the group Of Ger
man armies was assigned no planes
/ for its mission at the start. Planes,
tanks and the 20 mechanical Of the
200 German divisions were each
| given tasks, in initial attack or REIN
| forcement, in which they would best
serve the purpose of the whole.
I knew in France at the time-and
evidence supports the same conclu-
sion about the French air force
that Lord Gort, British commander
in chief. complained before the In
vasion Of Belgium and Holland, and
afterward when his army was IN
desperate straits and retreating.
about the tendency o. the striking
force" of the R A. F. in France to
run its own show without co-opera-
tive subordination to the army
command.
Goering in Command.
In what is strictly an air battle
so far for the conquest of Britain,
Reich Marshal Hermann Goering is
in supreme command Of the attack,
and preponderantly the defense is
with the R. A. F. In case of at
tempted invasion, which will mean
land, sea and air fighting, we may
be sure there will be central COM
mand to carry through central
planning.
Some overlapping is inevitably I'M
avoidable with the separate air forces
/ of our Army and Navy. An Army
air base may adjoin a Navy air base,
under different commands. Either
will have to give assent when aid
from it is asked. The command of
the Army G. H. O. Air Force. whose
mission is broad, NAV decide that
it has an emergency OF its own, or it
has to hold its reserves to meet one
which threatens, when it receives
a hurry call from the Navy.
This is not implying that there is
little cooperation between the Army
and Navy. 1t has never been better.
Sitting in staff councils are officers
who were pilots in the early days
of aviation, but now IN middle age,
have won rank and are grounded in
the coordination of all arms.
Why Not an Altman?
In recent times We have had an
neer and an infantryman for chief
of staff of the Army. Why not an
airman who has proved his execu-
tive capacity and broad outlook for
chief of staff?
But spirit of corps would be weak
ened if any member were not nat
urally an enthusiast for his branch
of the service before he has high
command and for his own service,
Army or Navy, even after he has high
command. l have found that vet
eran air officers who see the whole
picture often hesitate about a uni
fled air service because it means a
third service, with time lost in
council in crisis when few min
utes' delay of a decision may be fatal
in modern war.
A cabinet department of defense
generally wins more receptivity, but
is usually dismissed as impracticable
in our country. Just what is the
idea? AS see it civil chief with
a chief of staff of the whole sur
rounded by a staff of experts of all
arms for unified central planning
and execution of unified defense.
This would include industrial pro-
curement and prompt settlement of
priorities in demands for material
in preparation and in war.
War May Bring Change.
We are told that such a bold
innovation in our system might
come with war. 1t did in Britain
under Prime Minister Winston
Churchill, under the pressure of
disaster, with the result Of co-or-
dination and prompt decisions.
How much better a position Brit
ain would be in today if procras-
tinating discussions had been re-
placed by such Capitalization before
the war began!
1t is objected that a ministry of
defense would open the way to more
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