Evening star., 1944-12-12
Jap Hopes Seen Pinned
On Suicide Bombers

SOPIiOPSS SSSHs HISo
On Suicide Bombers
American Ingenuity Must Find
Defense for Ships, Says Writer
By David Laurence
American ingenuity, which found
way to render the submarine ineffective,
must now develop q defense against the
suicide bomber.
The japanese are building their hopes
on future successes with suicide bombers.
They expect to put most OF our aircraft
carriers out of commission for long
intervals so as to reduce the potentiality
of air power when applied from the sea
approaches to Japan.
The suicide bomber comes plummeting
down on the deck of ship and crashes
there, sometimes with its pilot already
killed while in midair. Sometimes the
plane is in flames and the explosion,
when 1t reaches the deck of a warship,
does more damage than might have
been done with a single bomb hit. 1t
would not be surprising If the japanese
endeavored to perfect the technique Of
suicide bombing 80 that planes would
scrash on the decks Of our warships with
their bombs intact.
Antiaircraft gunfire can frequently de-
fleet the approaching plane and some
times heavier shells are able to explode
the plane before it reaches its target.
But the Japanese suicide bomber ap-
parently comes in from great height and
at such speed that 1t Is questionable
whether antiaircraft fire will be able
reaching their objectives.
Damage to Carriers. :
The percentage of accurate collisions
on the decks of our warships will prob
ably be very small, but with only .
limited number OF naval aircraft car
riers even superficial damage means
delay in the use of such naval aircraft
carriers. A delay OF several weeks might
be enough to cause postponement of
planned operations. All In all, the use
Of suicide bombers is a sign of the des-
peration of the Japanese. But there
will be an increasing amount of this
kind of warfare as the American Fleet
approaches closer and closer to the
Japanese homeland.
Japanese spokesmen have said over the
radio recently that they intend to con-
centrate on suicide bombing of our
ships and undoubtedly squads of these
flyers are being trained in Japan, par,
ticularly for the defense of Japan
against our feet.
The airplane is still an offensive
weapon without a complete defense
against it. Even during the time that
the British and Americans achieved
mastery of the cir in Europe many Ger.
man planes did get through to drop
bombs on Britain.
Both the British and American navies
have improved their antiaircraft FIRE
considerably since the start of the war
1t is not unusual nowadays for 80 or
30 per cent of an approaching group of
airplanes to be knocked out of COM
bat and prevented from reaching their
targets. But it Is the remaining 10 or 20
per cent which do get through and
cause damage.
The inventors genius someday may
devise means of exploding the suicide
bomber long before he reaches the
target though it is dificult to see how
this can be done when the bombers
come directly overhead and from great
height.
Not Yet Serious Factor.
Suicide bombing has not as yet be-
come q serious factor. The laws OF
chance, Of course, operate against the
accuracy of the collision because the
defending ships are constantly maneu-
vering and moving about. But if soma
ingenious person could devise a form
Of air artillery barrage that could be
sent overhead when the dive bombers
or suicide bombers approach, it would
Offset considerably the offensive ad-
vantage which the srplane now pos
sesses in naval warfare
The Army flyers, on the other hand
who depend on land bases, do not suffer
the same disadvantage, because their
planes can be dispersed defensively on
airf1elds and suicide bomber would not
feel it worth while to risk dive just to
get one airplane on the ground.
This is one reason why island hopping
may yet prove to be a much better
strategy than originally believed Ger
tainly as air warfare enables amphibious
troops to take islands which have air.
| fields and to mount repeated sorties
from such airhelds, the chances of
dominating the surrounding seas as
against suicide bombers will be in
! creased.
I To the naval experts, however, the
hazards of suicide bombing are in 4
sense not unlike the torpedoes dropped
| from airplanes or fired by submarines
a certain number get through, but VIC
tories are won and, notwithstanding
such obstacles, the enemyis fleet or air
| forces or airields are eventually neu-
| tralized or destroyed.
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