Evening star., 1943-05-09
Allies Not Relying
on Bombing Alone
By ODen L. Scott.

AAloA4A CAAOlU WILL NC 1llduC W SlGl6dU JIC
Germans in Europe. AS result, there
will be time for the British and Amer
lean Air Forces to demonstrate whether
or not bombing alone can win or almost
win war.
Before an all-out military assault can
attackers must be assured that their
lines of supply are safe and must be
prepared on bases that permit attack
from any of several directions. The
earliest that the navies of Britain and
the United States can promise fairly
safe Atlantic supply route is September
of this year. Then it is taking longer
than anticipated to clear Africa and
get that base set for offensive use i'll
Europe itself.
The British Isles now are ready as
an offensive base, but it still is true
that our side lacks a base of operations
from the north that could be provided
by hold in the Scandinavian countries.
Then there is this other consideration
that points to delayed action in forcing
war showdown: The fact that Germany
now is cornered. There no longer is
real danger that the German armies
can break out of Europe in any direc-
ton. German industry is finding it
more and more difficult to operate eff
GENTLY. There is an acute shortage of
oil and gasoline that is beginning to have
an effect on operations of the German
air force and that is limiting the use
of German mechanized forces. Further
more, transport in Europe is very much
strained.
AS result, everything is to be gained
by use of attrition and strangulation
of Germany before undertaking an as
sault that could be disastrous if urder-
taken before full preparation and before
the German forces are dispersed and
weakened as much as possible.
1t is at this point that bombing enters
the picture
The bomber serves the purpose Of
artillery that can reach and destroy the
heart of the enemy's power, if it can
be used with full effect. Air power
enthusiasts insist that 40 to 60 raids of
1000 bombers each, if directed against
key factories, power plants and trans
portation centers, can so paralyze Ger
many that her defeat would be a matter
largely of formality.
However, the problem is to organize
those raids and to get them to the speci-
fled targets where their bombs can be
dropped with maximum effect.
To date, only the British have made
air raids Of that size and these raids
have been few and far between. Raids
made at night do not always bring a
maximum concentration of bombs on
specific targets. Then losses, of late,
have been increasing in relation to
bombers involved so that the problem
of replacement is growing.
The American bombing effort has been
on a scale far less impressive than the
British. American daylight raids have
only once or twice involved as many
as 100 planes. Those raids have been
either over France or Belgium or on the
fringes of Germany. On recent raid,
losses in relation to planes involved were
very high.
AS a result there really has been no
thorough test of what bombing can do
If it is carried out on a scale and with
the consistency that Air Force officials
believe necessary if maximum effects are
to be had. Big bombers have not been
available in sufficient numbers yet. This
country has nots solved the problem of
large-scale production of four -motored
bombers, as it has of some types OF
fighters and of Wo-engined bombers
A delay in the final showdown with
Germany is going to give time, however,
to build bombers in big numbers and
to concentrate on the use of those
bombers to hit at Germany from several
sides. BY the time next fall comes
around both the British and Americans
should be set for nearly full-scale air
attack that can reach its peak in the
spring of 1914. The Germans then will
be able to decide whether or not bombing
alone is decisive.
1t is determined that both night bomb
ing and daylight bombing are necessary
to the best effect from air attack. The
British for time were hostile to Amer
lean daytime bombing on the ground
that in Europe the weather limited
severely the number of days on which
bombs could be dropped with any pre-
cision and that it was impossible to fight
across Europe to reach the prime targets
in Germany. American flyers demon
strated, however, that they can get re-
suits and can penetrate to targets long
way from home if provided with enough
planes so that best defensive results can
be achieved.
When the big bombing assault does
come it will be both in daylight and in
the dark. 1t will be a sustained attack
carried out according to a plan that is
designed to have the most Gripping
effect.
There is beginning to be some ques-
tion, however, whether the Germans
are not catching up in their defenses
against bombing and if the big blow,
when 1t does come, can achieve the re-
suits now expected of it. That explains
why military commands are going ahead
with plans for all-out invasion of
Europe by mass armies of men who not
only can carry artillery with them but
can occupy ground.