The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1946-01-15
Interpreting
The News
BY JAMES D. WHITE
Associated Press Staff Writer


SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. IA. Up
Little has been said about it,
but one of the strongest influences
toward unity in China is the air
plane.
The way it has worked out,
the transport plane probably has
had more to do with pulling China
together than either the bomber or
fighter.
Since Japan surrendered, the
combat plane has been used little
if at all in China. (While the Com
munists charge that Chang Kai-
shek's Central government planes
have bombed and strafed certain
villages, this has not been confirm
ed by any other quarter).
AS the Chinese Communists have
no airforce, Chang Kai-shek thus
enjoys a monopoly of Chinese air
power, both real and potential.
He is credited with not using his
combat planes against the Com
munists since Japan surrendered
tout of Difference to American
public opinion" which presumably
would not sanction the use OF
Americ an-built planes against other
Chinese.
By withholding his combat air.
power, Chang enabled the Com
munists to block and delay his
troops as they tried to reoccupy
Japanese held areas.
But this setback was compensat-
ed for by the use of troop trans
ports which ferried Chiang's armies
to such kew North China cities as
Peiping and Tientsin, and more re-
Gently Mukden and Changchun in
Manchuria.
This ferrying first was done by
American transports, later by
planes turned over to the Chinese
and operated by Chinese crews.
An important principle of mod
ern warfare thus was applied to
the Chinese civil war and the po-
litical disputes behind it. This prin-
ciple-the ability to set down troops
far in the rear of opposing armies
probably was more decisive than
any amount of bombing and STRAIT
ing which Ch'ang's airforce could
have done with combat planes.
China's terrain and economy are
both so dispersed that the .Japa-
nese soon found out that there is a
law of diminishing returns which
sets in early and reigns supreme
in ground warfare in China. Exten-
sive use of their combat airpower
did not gain victory for them. But
if the japanese had been able to
drop armies behind Chinese lines,
the war might have fallen to them
early and easily.
Thus, China's vastness is fading
as an important factor in any kind
of warfare in assuming at
least one side can drop airborne
armies.
From the air, China now is no
bigger than the distance between
airports that can handle transports.
And there are good many of these
airports, including those surrender
ed by the Japanese and those built
by Americans and Chinese during
the war. This network of BIZ fields
spreads important tentacles far
beyond the scattered areas held by
} the Communists. In a big war the
Communists would be hopelessly
ringed in unless they could knock
out these airports.
Chinese ground warfare tradition
ally is one of maneuver and skill
full massing of troops for political
as well as military purposes. In
ject the transport plane and it
means now an early decision to the
side which has some planes, which
Chang Kai-shek has.
Recent purchases of American
planes by the Chinese, their plans
to train and equip bigger air
force, and their ideas about ex-
banded commercial air transports
service, all indicate the clear real
izat;on of this in Chungking.
The recent truce and negotiations
toward settlement indicate a SINH
lar realization in Yenan, the Com
munist capital.