UNITED STATES
New Light Ray
New York Herald Tribune, December 15. — Production of a light ray with a wave length which does not vary by more than one fifty-billionth of an inch—a beam which may give the world a new and finer standard for the measurement of length— was reported Friday by two University of California scientists.
This light, given off by a particular kind of mercury atom, is rated as being less than half as variable as the wave length now commonly used. Its development means that scientists can line up processions of these light waves alongside something to be measured and determine the lengths with greater accuracy than before. With instruments they can determine the number of waves in a procession. Thus they may be able to measure distances to within a few fifty-billionths of an inch rather than within a few twenty-five-billionths, as heretofore. This doesn’t mean much in everyday life, but is important to science. When small measures of length are used repeatedly to determine distance, errors develop because of crude markings. A person trying to measure the length of a football field with a foot rule would never get the same result twice. Measured in wave lengths of light, the job could be done within a few billionths of an inch. This new ray comes from a special kind of mercury whose atoms all have exactly the same weight. The mercury is unlike any found in nature. It was made out of gold, in the university’s atom-smashing cyclotron, by Jacob Wiens and Dr. Luis W. Alvarez. Its uniformity of wave length was determined with a spectroscope.
The official international unit for lineal measurement is the meter, a metal rod carefully preserved at the Bureau of Weights and Measures in Paris. On it are two lines, supposedly 39.37 inches apart. This is the legal length of the meter. But each of these lines is perhaps one twenty- five hundredth of an inch wide. Any one who undertook to measure off 1,000 meters with this rod would be in the same fix as the man on the football field with the foot rule.
With the light-wave system, said associates of Mr. Wiens and Dr. Alvarez, it would be possible to designate the length of the master meter as a specified number of wave lengths from the mercury vapor beam. An official kilometer, or about five- eighths of a mile, then would be 1,000 times the number of wave lengths in the official meter, and would be accurate to within a few billionths of an inch.
Civilian Police Corps
Navy Department Release, December 9. —The Acting Secretary of the Navy, Honorable James Forrestal, announced today the creation of a Civilian Police Corps to take over the police duties now being performed by the U. S. Marines in navy yards and establishments. This Police Corps will relieve the Marine Corps personnel of these duties and the Marines will be released for military activities. Mr. Forrestal said that it was estimated at this time that the Civilian Police Corps will be manned by a force of approximately 2,500 men selected from the Civil Service list. This force will have as its head Mr. Jerome Doyle, who has been appointed to the office of the Assistant Secretary of the Navy as director of the Civilian Police Force. Mr. Doyle is a former agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, who at the time of his appointment was an assistant on the Staff of John T. Cahill, United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York. Mr. Doyle is a graduate of Boston College and the School of Law of Yale University.
GREAT BRITAIN
Singapore
The London Times, October 14. —The announcement by the Officer Administering the Government of the Straits Settlements (Mr. S. W. Jones) that the plans drawn up 3 or 4 years ago by the Imperial Government for the defense of Malaya have now been carried out is welcomed as confirmation of the belief that the Singapore plan is now complete. The foresight of those who, 20 years ago, decided to establish a great naval base at Singapore has never been more apparent than it is today when the island, at the southernmost point of continental Asia, is the cornerstone of British strategy over a wide area in East Asia, the western Pacific, and the Indian Ocean. The defenses of Singapore are in perfect trim and fully prepared for any emergency. It is not always realized that Singapore is much more than a naval base, although that is its primary function in the scheme of Empire defense. It is no less important as an air base, while the troops and fortifications which defend the naval and air bases make it a fortress of the first order.
Less has been heard in recent years of the supposed “menace” of Singapore to the Japanese Empire. The Japanese have evidently come to realize that a base which is as far from Yokohama as Gibraltar is from New York could not seriously threaten their home coast line. That it could be used to very good purpose in operations in the China Sea and beyond cannot be doubted. It has been remarked that a naval base is never really “completed,” since changes in naval practice are always making new demands on a repair and refitting station, but it can be said that the Singapore naval base is complete in the sense that it can carry out all the tasks assigned to it. Since the King George VI graving dock, one of the biggest of its kind in the world, was officially opened two years ago, work has been continuing at the base unceasingly. Much has been spent in finishing the workshops in the dockyard area, improving the facilities for warships using the base, increasing the accommodation available, and providing the Admiralty with a powerful and up-to-date radio station.
Although Singapore is primarily a base for warships operating in Far Eastern waters and the Indian Ocean, there is no reason why it should not be used for repairing, overhauling, and refitting vessels from greater distances. The Navy has its bases in the Mediterranean sufficient for all purposes, but in certain circumstances it might be convenient to send a ship all the way to Singapore, which has so far been entirely free from any danger of enemy action. The same applies to merchant shipping, and the Singapore Harbor Board has very adequate dry-docking accommodation which would supplement the naval facilities. The fact that Singapore has a floating dock and graving dock both capable of taking the biggest vessels afloat means that there is no limit to the work which can be carried out here.
[MAP-MALAY PENINSULA]
While the Navy preserves its customary and necessary silence regarding its operations, it is possible to refer to some aspects of the work of the Straits Settlements R.N.V.R. and the shore establishment which is training Malays for service with the Navy. The R.N.V.R. are chiefly responsible for mine sweeping trade routes leading to and from Singapore. The Colony’s own R.N.V.R. also mans patrol vessels which operate in Malayan waters. These ships and the mine sweepers are manned by Malay ratings with European officers. The Malays are by tradition a seafaring race, and there has been no lack of the right material for recruits. Training has now been going on for more than 6 months, and these men, who are enlisted for service in local waters only, are proud to be serving in what they hope may one day develop into a Royal Navy to assist in local defense.
Singapore is not so well known to the outside world as an air center, although some writers have suggested that it may one day become even more important for its air strength than as a naval station. Be that as it may, the Royal Air Force is at present busy in all parts of the Malay Peninsula. There are several service aerodromes on Singapore island, and the civil airport, one of the most modern east of Suez, is also at the disposal of the R.A.F. Up country the R.A.F. have available both their own aerodromes and those originally built for civil purposes. Malaya is not a large country, but is very well provided with aerodromes, from Alor Star and Kota Bahru in the north to Singapore in the south, and these provide the R.A.F. not only with good operational centers, but would naturally be invaluable in facilitating the dispersal of the air forces attached to the R.A.F. Far East Command. From Singapore the R.A.F. looks out across the South China Sea to Hongkong, and southeast to Borneo and Sarawak, west to Ceylon, and south to Port Darwin and Australia. Its duties in war time would be similar in some respects to those of the Coastal Command in Great Britain. The Sunderland flying boats for reconnaissance work are well known in Singapore, as are the Blenheim bombers, local photographs of which have appeared in the Malayan newspapers. The R.A.F. units in Malaya have a large area to patrol, and the long coast line of the Malay Peninsula would need to be constantly watched if there were ever a threat to this country. Apart from the normal R.A.F. activities, the air defenses of Malaya are being strengthened by the resuscitation of the Volunteer Air Force in the Colony. The new organization embraces the flying clubs, whose aircraft will be available for training and other duties. Another activity of the Volunteer Air Force, financed by the Malayan Governments, is the formation of a flying school where potential R.A.F. pilots are given preliminary training until ready to proceed oversea for intermediate and advanced service training. As the existing cadets pass out into the R.A.F. others will be enrolled. All British subjects are eligible, whether European or non-European. The Air Force is making the maximum possible use of the local-born population of Malaya, and a technical corps of artisans and other non-flying personnel has been formed for ground crews, M.T. drivers, and motor-launch crews. The Air Ministry is organizing a special one-year training course with the co-operation of the Department of Education.
Singapore is immensely strong in fortifications. The coastal batteries have tremendous range and protect all sea approaches to the naval base. The advantage held by land batteries in an encounter with warships was shown in the Norwegian campaign, and there is every reason to believe that any hostile vessels approaching Singapore would receive a very warm reception. The garrison includes British, Indian, and Malay soldiers, who are all by now fully acquainted with their roles in the defense of Singapore and the Malay Peninsula. The defense of the “back door” approaches to Singapore, via the east coast, presents a special problem and training in “jungle warfare” tactics has been given to all units likely to be affected. The jungles are one of the natural defenses of Singapore, for, although there is no virgin jungle on the island, the approaches to south Malaya through Johore, and many square miles of country farther north, are covered with thick wooded territory through which a hostile force could not hope to advance. The additional fact that there are comparatively few roads on the east of the peninsula considerably simplifies the defense problem.
The Malaya Command includes several thousand volunteer troops, Europeans and non-Europeans in civilian life, whose training has recently been completed at camps lasting two months. These units are being reinforced by Europeans called up under the Compulsory Training Ordinance. The Militia has been working extremely hard and will soon be fully trained. The Army makes good use of the non-European man power in the country. There is the well- known Malay Regiment raised a few years ago and now at full strength, Malay units in the Royal Engineers, Malays in the R.A.S.C., and other ancillary units, and Eurasians have been recruited for an antiaircraft regiment and the Royal Corps of Signals.
Problems of internal security were studied long before the Fifth Column menace became apparent in Europe. A strict control over aliens is maintained and in an emergency forces are available for guarding strategic buildings. These arrangements will be supplemented in the near future by the formation of a Local Defense Corps, similar to the Home Guard in Great Britain, with branches in every part of the country. The men enlisted will be principally those who are over military age.
Singapore’s food control arrangements are chiefly concerned with ensuring the maintenance of adequate stocks of rice in the Colony. The Government has instituted a pooling system by means of which the emergency stocks are constantly turned over to prevent deterioration. A modified plan for individual rationing, to be enforced only in the event of shipping routes being seriously disturbed, is being tried, and rice consumers are required to register with their usual dealers. The food control department also fixes maximum prices for a number of other essential commodities, including flour, milk, and sugar, and there has been remarkably little food profiteering during the past 12 months.
Watchers of the Skies
The London Times, October 17. —Not so very long before war started the men who gave up some of their leisure time to watch and listen for aircraft were regarded as slightly eccentric, overgrown schoolboys whose refusal to grow up took the form of liking to “play at war.” Their activities were smiled at with the superior tolerance of grown-ups for adolescent pastimes. Now the whole country has reason to be grateful for the foresight which these men displayed, for they have emerged as the eyes and ears of Britain’s defenses against air attack.
Without the Observer Corps our fighters, anti-aircraft guns, searchlights, and balloons would be working largely in the dark; their counterblows would be more or less guesswork. Thanks to the existence of this splendid organization no German aircraft can cross any part of our coast by day or night without being seen or heard, its direction and height known, and its progress and activities reported from second to second. It may fly high or low, it may twist and turn and steer a crazy course, but always its presence remains known to the defense centers. The idea existed in embryo towards the end of the last war, when men stood on high ground here and there in the areas which enemy aircraft were known to cross, binoculars to their eyes. If an airplane approached they rang up the police station and reported it. But after the Armistice there followed a period in which it was regarded as almost indelicate to think about the country’s defense. Little was done until 1922, when a few stalwarts got together under the leadership of Major General E. B. Ashmore, who had directed London’s air defense during the last war. By 1925 the Observer Corps in its present form was under way. During the years of uneasy peace, when preparations for war were still frowned upon, recruits for the Observer Corps were sworn in as special constables. While people sneered, smiled, or ignored them, according to how they felt about things, the spotters put in hours of practice. By the Munich crisis week of September, 1938, most of the posts could have been fully manned. A month before war broke out the Air Ministry gave the corps official recognition and took it under its wing. It sanctioned payment of Is. 3d. a working hour for all volunteers. Most of the men did not take the money; they had volunteered out of a sense of duty and not to find themselves a war-time job. Many still do not accept payment, or if they do they devote the money to a Spitfire fund or some war charity.
Today there are between 1,000 and 2,000 special posts, covering Great Britain and Northern Ireland, manned by more than 40,000 trained watchers. These posts are in constant direct telephonic communication with area centers, which in turn are linked, directly or indirectly, with the R.A.F. fighters, the anti-aircraft guns, searchlights, balloons, police, and fire brigades. Each of the posts has been placed at a spot where the men can command an uninterrupted view for miles. Directly they see or hear an airplane they report to the center its nationality, type, location, direction, and height, and they follow it until it is outside their area, by which time the center is getting similar information from the next post. In this way the movements of our own aircraft are checked and the raiders’ routes are plotted until they return home or are shot down. The watchers also keep a lookout for fires, and report where bombs are dropped. Occasionally they give news of black-out offenses, burglaries, or suspicious acts. Sometimes they report aerial battles and crashes, or tell the center that airmen have baled out.
The scene at a center suggests a giant game of halma. Most of the space is occupied by a table which is covered by a chart representing the whole of the area under the center’s control. The chart is subdivided into hundreds of small, numbered squares. Around the table sit a dozen men wearing headphones, each listening to three posts. When a post reports the presence of an enemy aircraft a colored counter is put into the appropriate square. As the aircraft moves, so the counter follows it. The “plotters,” as they are called, go on listening and moving the counters for four hours without a break; then they are replaced by new arrivals. On a raised platform around the room, where they can see any part of the chart, are men known as tellers. They report the movements of aircraft to fighter groups, aerodromes, and other defense centers.
Different colored counters represent British fighters. From a glance at the chart one can see when they have made contact with the enemy, and the posts give a running commentary on the progress of the battle. As the raiders move away the centers whose areas adjoin are warned that enemy aircraft are approaching; and they hand on the information to their posts. Should the direct telephone lines be damaged or destroyed there are alternative methods of communication. The London and Southeast England centers are naturally the busiest these days (and nights). In a recent night period of 4 hours a London center recorded the movements of 103 enemy aircraft. Eighty to 90 is a normal number for this period. Each center keeps an accurate chart record of the activities of every quarter of an hour. At the end of the war it will be possible to compile a complete history of the raids on this country from these records.
The posts are manned by two classes of spotters, A and B members, all of whom, like the center staffs, are volunteers. The A members do a 48-hour week, generally split up into 6 days of 8 hours each, while the B members give what time they can spare from their normal work. Many of the spotters have been training for years and are expert in aircraft identification and in estimating heights; all of them have received a thorough and special training. They wear civilian clothes, with an arm band bearing the words “Observer Corps,” and a black-beret in which is pinned the corps badge. By a happy choice the badge illustrates the beacons lit at the time of the Spanish Armada, over which is the appropriate inscription “Forewarned is Forearmed.”
The men work in pairs. One of them wears headphones, with a mouthpiece strapped over his chest, and reports the movements of aircraft to the center. The other manipulates what is known as the plotter instrument, which stands on a tripod in the center of the post. It consists of a round dial, marked to correspond with a section of the big chart at the center. On top of this is a height corrector and a telescope. Each of the spotters is also equipped with powerful binoculars. Some of the posts are connected by buzzers to factories near by, but this is merely a local arrangement and capable of considerable expansion. When the details of an aircraft have been obtained the information is handed on to the center something like this: “Three Me. 109s approaching Hendon at 12,000 ft., flying northwest,” or “A large formation of Heinkel Ills overhead our post; height 16,000 ft., heading due south.” Often the information concerns friendly aircraft, but reports are made just the same. At night the plotting is done by sound. After months of constant practice the spotters can identify almost all types of aircraft at a single glance, and their accuracy in estimating heights is almost uncanny. Many of them have learned a good deal about astronomy, which assists the accuracy of their night observations. The post crews come from almost all walks of life. It would be difficult to find a more democratic organization. Here are the actual staffs of two posts not far from London: (1) Local sub-postmaster (head observer), builder, artist, retired Army officer, two grocers, dentist, advertising manager, landowner, publican, game-keeper, farmer, two farm laborers, carpenter, and three shopkeepers; (2) Architect (head observer), several masters at a famous public school, solicitor, a well-known B.B.C. singer, bank manager, three bank clerks, insurance agent, organist, journalist, factory owner, and laundry manager. The nature of their work prevents them from taking shelter, however cold or wet the weather, and they cannot have a fire, for this would be visible from the air. All they can do is to muffle up in warm clothes, wearing a tin hat to protect them from the shell splinters which often fall in showers. Yet the men say that they never catch colds; they soon get hardened to standing out in the open for 4 or even 8 hours at a stretch.
The posts themselves are all very similar, somewhat resembling a crow’s-nest on a ship. Many are protected by sandbags, and underneath is a bedroom-cum-kitchen where men can have a nap before coming on duty, can cook a meal, or make a cup of tea. The crews often cultivate allotments alongside their posts. They not only “dig for victory” but to get warm after their spells of duty. At one post which the writer visited recently the spotters had raised carrots, tomatoes, lettuce, cabbages, and 2 cwt. of potatoes.
Nearly all the observer posts keep a logbook recording the events of each day and night period. Last winter it was usually a recital of boring inactivity. Nowadays a duty period without sight or hearing of a German airplane would be worthy of note in the log of any post in the busy areas, though there are still many in other parts where it is the exception rather than the rule to record any enemy air activity. Often the records contain exciting accounts of fights between R.A.F. fighters and Heinkels, Dorniers, Junkers, or Messerschmitts. One Scottish coastal post has an unusual entry. The spotters saw a strange seaplane approaching and reported it to the center. A few minutes later the seaplane alighted at a Scottish port. It was the first Norwegian aircraft to escape to Britain from the Nazi invaders. In whatever part of the country their posts are situated the men of the Observer Corps are enthusiastic about their work. They are very proud of this message which Sir Archibald Sinclair, the Air Minister, sent them last month: “By your vigilance and faithful devotion to duty you are making an indispensable contribution to the achievements of our fighter pilots. Their victories are your victories, too.” That is not an overstatement.
Hearkers’ Bulletin
The Aeroplane, October 18. —Since writing our last Bulletin we have met the commandant and deputy commandant. Many points were discussed. Among them were the questions of establishing a network of clubs throughout the country, of encouraging observers to attain a definite standard of proficiency, of transport facilities and of the issue of proficiency badges. We are unable, at the moment, to publish details of the final recommendations, but members may be assured that the commandant is anxious to give the club every possible assistance.
The Hearkers’ Club is the only organization in the country issuing certificates of proficiency on aircraft identification. The subject is one of vital national importance and, in order that the club’s certificate may be recognized as the hallmark of efficiency, the council requests all affiliated clubs to give careful attention to the conditions governing these awards.
Third Grade Certificate. —Examinations for the Third Grade Certificate will be taken in conjunction with the usual monthly competition. Thirty-one different aircraft to be used and the candidate must score not fewer than 25 points. The examination must be based on silhouettes (plan and side elevation) selected from the following machines:
British Airplanes. —Single-seat fighters. —Gladiator, Hurricane, Spitfire, Mk. 1. Army Co-operation. —Lysander. Multiseat fighters. —Defiant, Blenheim, Bombers. —Whitley IV, Blenheim Mk. IV., Hampden, Wellington Mk la. General Reconnaissance bombers. —Anson, Beaufort, Hudson. Troop Transports. —Bombay, Hertfordshire. Flying-boats. —Consolidated 18-5, Lerwick, London Mk. II, Singapore III, Sunderland, Stranraer, Trainers. —Oxford, Tiger Moth, Battle Trainer, Audax Trainer, Harvard, Magister, Master. Seaplanes. —Seafox, Walrus.
German Airplanes: —Single-seat fighters. —He 113, Me 109. Multi-seat fighters. — Me 110. Army Co-operation. —He 126. Dive-bomber. —Ju 87 b. Bombers—Do 17, Do 215, He 111, Mk. Ha, He 111 Mk. Va, Ju 88 K, Jaguar. Troop Transports. — Focke-Wulf Condor, Ju 52, Ju 86K.
Second Grade Certificate. —The examination for Second Grade Certificates must be based on 63 silhouettes (plan, side or head-on elevation) selected from the machines included for Third Grade examinations, plus all other British military aircraft and the following German machines:
Troop Transports. —Bv 142, Ju G-38, Ju 90. Float Seaplanes and Flying-boats. —Ha 139, Ha 140, Do 18K, Do 24, He 115, Ha 138, Do 26, He 59, He 60. The candidate must score not fewer than 50 points.
First Grade Certificate. —Examinations for First Grade Certificates must be based on 125 silhouettes selected from those published in the official handbooks and the candidate must score 100 points. The selection may vary according to the locality in which the examination is held, and local committees should use their discretion to make the tests as practical as possible. The silhouettes must be shown on the screen for 20 seconds.
Points. —One point is awarded for every correct identification. In cases where there is a marked similarity between machines of the same class (example—side elevation of Heinkel 11 IK Mk. IIa and Heinkel 111 Mk. V), half a mark should be awarded if the candidate identifies the machine as Heinkel IIIK. Committees should use their discretion to make all examinations as practical as possible. In order that candidates may have access to silhouettes for private study, all machines included in the Third Grade examination have been selected from Aircraft Identification, Parts I and II, published by Temple Press Ltd.
Army and Air Force Co-operation
The London Times, November 26. —A1- though the creation of an Army Co-operation Command of the R.A.F. was announced only a week ago, much important preparatory work has already been carried out, which should ensure speedy and effective collaboration between the two services when British land forces once more go into action.
The new command has been created with the object of developing every modern means of close co-operation, so that aircraft—fighters and bombers as well as reconnaissance machines—will be immediately available at any time and in any place that the Army in the field requires. Army co-operation squadrons are already attached to all Army Commands at home, and these are being trained for their special work. Half of the officers in these squadrons are Army officers. They are eligible for promotion in the ordinary way; in fact, some of the squadrons are under the command of an Army man. They wear the blue uniform and take an Air Force rank, but they do not lose their Army identity, as their names appear in both the Army and Air Force lists. At every Army Command or Corps H.Q. there is an air intelligence liaison officer. Everything possible is being done to enable each service to understand the working of the other, and for this purpose one department of the new command deals entirely with training. Experience gained in the campaign in France will be reflected in the type of air equipment provided.
A number of problems, such as bomber support for the Army, have been investigated and developed. The German dive- bomber, the Junkers 87, proved very vulnerable to attack by fighters and by ground forces equipped with anti-aircraft weapons. For co-operation with the Army a new type of bomber, considerably less vulnerable, will be used. Aircraft used for tactical reconnaissance are also being replaced by new types.
Cannon for Fighters
The London Times, December 4. —It may now be revealed that British fighter aircraft are being equipped with cannon. The change over has been going on for some time, but until now no statement could be made on the subject. The chief advantages of the cannon over the rifle- bore machine gun are its longer range and greater damaging power. Beyond a strictly limited range the trajectory of the machine guns, such as have been used in the Hurricanes and Spitfires, drops sharply. Since the Luftwaffe put more powerful armor plating on their aircraft British fighters equipped with machine guns have found it increasingly difficult to shoot them down. A number of the raiders accounted for recently have been shot down by R.A.F. fighters armed with cannon.
The French found that the Hispano- Suiza gun could be extremely effective against tanks during the German advance. The armor plating was easily pierced by the shells. In the event of a stoppage of the loading magazine a pilot using the Hispano-Suiza gun has only to switch on the pipe for compressed air, as the supercharger of the motor is used to cock the gun.
It is not permissible at this stage to state how many cannon R.A.F. fighters are carrying, nor may the effective range of the gun be stated, but it can safely be said that the new armament should prove considerably more effective than the eight Browning machine guns. The weight of the Hispano-Suiza gun, including a drum of 60 rounds of ammunition, is 73 kilogrammes (161 lb.). The gun is mounted on the engine in such a way that the shell is fired through the airscrew hub, thus avoiding the additional weight of synchronizing gear. It has frequently been reported that Britain is to have the use of the formidable American 37-mm. long-barrel type of cannon, which has been fitted to the much- publicized Bell Airacobra fighter for which the remarkable speed of over 500 miles an hour is claimed. Rumor has it that the R.A.F. is to have supplies of this fighter. Recently it underwent successful firing trials over Lake Ontario, Canada.
Other well-known types of shell-firing guns are the Danish Madsen, which has a caliber of 23 mm., and fires between 360 and 400 rounds a minute, and the Swiss Oerlikon. The Hispano-Suiza moteur-canon is of Oerlikon construction. None of these guns are cannon in the technical sense, though they are always referred to as such. No country in the world possesses aircraft fitted with true cannon. Those in German machines are nearly always mass-produced Rheinmetall-Borsig 20-mm. shell-firing guns or machine guns.
Various Notes
If the invention can be developed, a model steam engine, built by a London engineer, may have far-reaching results on the future of aviation. It has not yet been proved capable of use in aircraft, but the model itself works most effectively. The inventor is Mr. Ernest Clarkson, aged 75, and for more than a year he has been busy at his workshop near Portman Square developing the generator from a model only 8 in. long. The system employed differs from that of the usual steam engine in that it relies on fine sprays of water injected on to red-hot copper tubes running almost the full length of the generator. At one end is a paraffin blow-lamp, which heats a series of straight copper tubes. Inside each tube is a much smaller one, with holes at intervals along the length. Between the two tubes is a metal substance, the identity of which is Mr. Clarkson’s secret. Water for the steam generation is contained in a brass tank underneath, holding a quart. As the copper tubes become heated the water inside the inner tubes is forced through the holes and, on encountering the red-hot copper, evaporates into steam. —The London Times, November 23.
A custom which had prevailed in the British Navy for more than 200 years has been terminated by an Order in Council, the London radio announced yesterday in a broadcast heard in the New York Herald Tribune radio room. The order confirmed a decision by the Admiralty that powers to appoint naval officers to the rank of rear admiral should be so widened as to allow selections for that rank to be made from the upper part of the list of captains. Since about the year 1718, it had been the custom, so well established as to amount to a law, that the half-yearly appointments of rear admirals were made by seniority only, from the captains list. It had been the practice to place on the retired list officers so promoted when it was not intended to appoint them to flag command, and an establishment of nine rear admirals thus used to be obtained. Under the new arrangement, appointments of rear admirals will be made from among captains on the upper five years of their list—for example, those promoted to captain’s rank between 1930 and 1935—with the result that young captains having the qualifications and experience necessary to fit them for flag appointments afloat will be eligible for promotion to such rank.
The decision will take effect at the time of the next batch of appointments of rear admirals, early in 1941. —New York Herald Tribune, December 14.
FRANCE
Martinique
New York Herald Tribune, December 3. —Thorough inspection of Martinique’s defenses and the 65 American-made fighter planes parked in a field has convinced me that the French are not engaged in frenzied preparations to fight any one, least of all the United States. The authorities permitted me to visit the fortifications, all the interior points of the island, the roads which would normally be used for troop movements and the American planes, and I can report that not a hand has been turned since July to increase the island’s defensive power except for the raising of several thousand levies for military training. The 65 American-made planes brought to Martinique by the aircraft carrier Bearn after the armistice are parked today in a fenced-in field at Pointe des Sables and for the most part cannot take to the air because the authorities have removed their vital instruments, batteries, machine guns, and the fabric-covered gas and instrument tubes and coils. Moreover, the high octane gas has been drained off to prevent the lead contents from eating away the metal tanks.
The planes are in relatively good condition, but the fabric ailerons, rudders, and tails have deteriorated from the exposure to the tropical rains and blistering sun, and it is doubtful whether these parts could withstand heavy flying strain.
The planes include six Brewster 339 chasers ordered by Belgium and painted with the Belgian colors. They were equipped originally with two 40-mm. machine guns firing through the propeller, and two 30- mm. machine guns fixed in the wings. A second group of planes is composed of 15 Curtiss monoplane chasers of the CHT- 51C1 class, model 92. Their equipment consisted of 6 machine guns, of which two 50 mm.’s fired through the propeller, and two 30 mm.’s from each wing.
There are also 44 Curtiss NXCH naval biplane dive bombers with an original armament of three 50-mm. guns, two of which fired through the propeller and one from a moving turret in the rear observer’s seat. This type of plane is equipped to carry one 500-lb. bomb under the fuselage and one 250-lb. bomb under each wing. There are, in addition to these fighting planes, 25 Stinson tourist training ships, which were dismounted soon after their arrival two months ago, They are stored in the French Line’s hangars near the naval basin.
The French naval forces have been reduced to the Bearn, the light cruiser Emile Bertin, and the armed auxiliary Barfleur. The former auxiliary vessels Quercy and Esterel were disarmed some time ago and have left for Casablanca, Morocco, to be converted into banana transports.
On my tour, I failed to encounter any of the frequently reported mobile coastal artillery. Although some batteries probably do exist, I could find no evidence of them. Fort de Seix and Fort St. Louis appear to be the only good-sized fortifications guarding Fort de France. They are equipped with heavy guns. There are three other forts in the district, but none appeared to have important garrisons. There were no airfields in evidence throughout my entire tour of inspection. Several could be built at suitable sites, but there was no construction work in evidence. The coastal road, of vital importance to the island’s defense, was completely washed out and made impassable by recent tropical rains. An inland road was blocked by avalanches. The main highway through the center of the island, which is well surfaced but handicapped by hairpin turns and 30 per cent grades, was blocked recently at four points by landslides, but has been sufficiently cleared to allow one automobile to pass at a time.
A trip over this island’s road system gives the impression that the French troops would have a difficult time rushing to any point where invaders might debark.
JAPAN
Macao as Base
Baltimore Sun, December 8. —This tiny remaining unit of the once vast Portuguese empire in the Orient is now to all intents and purposes dominated by the Japanese, and in the event of further hostilities involving Japan will be occupied without resistance from the possessors.
Macao is on a small peninsula attached to the mainland by so narrow a neck as almost to be an island. The Chinese gave it to Portugal more than 300 years ago, and it is said to be the only part of what was once China ever to be voluntarily ceded to a Western power. The ceding was done in appreciation of the action of Portuguese men-of-war in chastising the hordes of pirates who infested the coast in junks. The population is mainly Chinese. Most of the inhabitants engage in fishing for a living. Some hundreds, however, operate hotels of various kinds, shops, fan-tan houses, and other establishments. There is no let or hindrance to indulgence of every kind, from roulette to opium-smoking.
The purveyors of all this pay large sums to the Colonial Government for the privileges. Until the Salazar regime in Portugal little of it ever reached the home country. Now, although that regime has in no way altered moral conditions, it has in large measure ended the rampant official corruption. It has also expanded the colony economically. Several square miles of land have been reclaimed out of salt flats and marshes and modern buildings put on it. In the city itself, several modern hotels and office buildings 10 or 12 stories high are being erected by Chinese.
Macao has been for a good many years both a refuge for discredited and fleeing Chinese war lords and militarists, and the place of the extra-domestic establishments of many wealthy Chinese of the British Hongkong colony. All these are now being compelled to pay a liberal regular “squeeze” to the Japanese, in addition to the usual “taxes” to the Portuguese authorities.
On the island of Lappa, which lies in a strategic position hard by both Macao and Hongkong—the latter is only 30 miles from Macao—the Japanese are maintaining a considerable garrison of Formosan and Chinese puppet troops. In Macao itself lives a high Japanese military officer in some state. He is a kind of liaison officer between the regular Japanese army and the Portuguese, and it is said his authority in Macao is now quite as great as theirs. However, the strong Axis sympathy common in Portuguese official circles everywhere is equally apparent in the remnants of the Portuguese East. It is significant that at every kind of function, military or civil, where the Colonial Governor has occasion to “take the salute,” that salute is distinctly in the Nazi or Fascist manner. Moreover, the leading Portuguese here, civil and military alike, make no secret whatever of their Axis sympathies. The $75,000 which the merchants of Macao contribute monthly to the Japanese is represented as having nothing to do with the Colonial Government. There are, naturally, quite other rumors about, and certainly the Portuguese officials live on the highest scale possible in this particular place. And at every function of any consequence the aforesaid Japanese military officer is an important guest.
The real significance of Macao at the moment is its strategic position. If the Japanese undertake a complete sea blockade of Hongkong, the Portuguese settlement will constitute a very excellent base, indeed. While it lacks a protected harbor for large ships, it has ample smooth space for airplane landing fields and room for the erection of barracks and all military arrangements. Especially as an air base, it would be of incalculable value for attacks upon Hongkong. Puppet troops and Formosans also occupy the mainland adjacent to Macao. These are armed solely with rifles, for the Japanese have from the outset followed the policy of permitting their puppet and colonial soldiers no machine guns or other modern equipment than rifles and small arms. They are not now and have not been at any time by any means certain of the loyalty of these auxiliaries. This is especially true of the Chinese puppet units, many of which have gone over to their own countrymen from time to time. As a matter of fact, it was not long ago that an attempt at mutiny was made right on the aforesaid Lappa Island. The Japanese, of course, took drastic measures to quell it. After their loyal troops had been withdrawn, they shelled and bombed the island, killing many civilians.
In the neighborhood of Hongkong and off the coast of South China generally Japanese terrorist methods have extended to the destruction of innocent fishing junks. Large numbers of Chinese from Macao are said to have lost their lives in this warfare.
Among so many islands and headlands it is difficult to determine the exact location of the bounds of British territorial waters within which junks are supposed to be safe. So there is no doubt whatever that many have been destroyed actually within those waters.
The Portuguese colony, however, is far enough from Hongkong to be well without British jurisdiction, yet close enough to be an inestimable menace in the hands of an enemy. And, to all intents and purposes, it is already in the hands of Japan.
New Admirals
The Japan Times and Advertiser, November 16. —Three new full Admirals were created yesterday, according to an announcement by the Navy Office. In addition numerous high command changes were announced. They are Admiral Zengo Yoshida, former Navy Minister, Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, commander of the combined fleet, and Admiral Shigetaro Shimada, commander of the fleet in China, who thus are promoted to the rank of full Admirals. The ceremony of investing the new Admirals was held in the presence of His Majesty the Emperor in the Phoenix Hall of the Imperial Palace at two o’clock yesterday afternoon. Premier Prince Konoe was present at the ceremony. When the ceremony of investiture was completed the Emperor installed Admiral Yoshida as a member of the War Council, and His Majesty further installed Vice Admiral Marquis Teruhisahisa Komatsu and Vice Admiral Seikichi Okuma as commanders, respectively, of Port Arthur, and Ominato, naval ports.
Admiral Yoshida, who is 55 years of age, was born in Saga Prefecture in Kyushu. Graduating from the Naval Academy in 1904 he was given a post as a naval cadet on the warship Ksauga and later, in 1913, he graduated from the Naval Staff College. With the rank of Captain he held the commandership first of the Kongo and afterwards the Mutsu. In 1929, after serving some time on the naval general staff, he was raised to the rank of Rear Admiral and given the post of Chief of Staff of the combined fleet. He was head of the naval affairs bureau of the Navy Office during the second naval disarmament conference in London. Having performed his functions as head of the naval affairs bureau with distinction he was raised in 1934 to the rank of Vice Admiral. In 1937 he was appointed commander of the combined fleet, a post which he held for two years until, in 1939, he became Navy Minister in the cabinet organized by General Nobumasa Abe. He continued to serve as Navy Minister through several successive cabinets, the Abe, Yonai and Konoe, and only resigned from the Konoe Cabinet last September in order to recover from a serious illness. According to Domei, Japan has few Admirals who have so full and varied an experience of matters connected with the Navy as Admiral Yoshida.
Admiral Yamamoto, 56 years of age, comes from Niigata prefecture, and graduated from the Naval Academy at Etajima in 1904 in the same class as Admiral Yoshida, Admiral Shimada, and Admiral Koichi Shiozawa. As a naval cadet he served on the warship Nisshin, and on this vessel participated in the Russo- Japanese War. In a fight off Oki Island in the famous Battle of the Japan Sea, he was severely wounded, having the second and third fingers of his left hand blown away by stray enemy bullets. After graduating from the Naval Staff College in 1914, he was sent to the United States, and following this to several European capitals. Returning home from these duties he was raised to the rank of Captain and was appointed chief instructor at the Kasumigaura naval air corps. While in this position he made a great contribution to the development of the naval air force remaining in it long enough to see the groundwork accomplished for establishing the position of supremacy the air arm has now achieved. He returned to the United States in the capacity of naval attaché to the Embassy at Washington, and on his return home was appointed commander of the warship Akagi. In 1929 with the rank of Rear Admiral he was put in charge of the technical department of the naval aviation headquarters. In 1933, while holding the post of commander of a naval air corps, he was chosen as one of the representatives of his country at the preliminary negotiations of the second disarmament conference. In these negotiations he excelled in the tenacity and skill with which he fought for the acceptance of the principle of giving Japan parity with Great Britain and the United States. It is well known that the ability he displayed in fighting for Japan’s claims excited the admiration of Admiral Chatfield, chief of the British naval staff. While still in London in connection with the naval conference he was promoted to the rank of Vice Admiral and on his return home was appointed commander of the naval aviation headquarters. Later he left that position to become Navy Vice-Minister. Some time ago he was appointed to his present post of commander of the combined fleet in succession to Admiral Yoshida.
Admiral Shimada, aged 57, is a son of Tokyo, and following his graduation at the Naval Academy he first saw service on the warship Imumo. He graduated from the Naval Staff College in 1913, and was then sent to Rome where he remained for some time attached to the Japanese Embassy there. On his return home, he became instructor at the Naval Staff College, and then was appointed commander of the ships Tama and Hie, successively. Having attained the rank of Rear Admiral in 1929, he held various posts, namely, chief of staff of the combined fleet, governor of the submarine school, and chief of staff of the third fleet. While attached to the third fleet, the Shanghai incident occurred, and the role he played in disposing of it is still well remembered by the Japanese people. Raised in 1934 to the rank of Vice Admiral he was little later appointed vice-chief of the naval general staff, and in 1936 was given the commandership of the second fleet. Subsequently he became commander of the Kure naval station, and in May of this year was appointed to his present post of commander of the fleet in China waters.
In addition to the three new full Admirals already referred to, the Navy Office yesterday announced the following naval shifts, chief among them being the promotion of His Highness Prince Takamatsu, brother of His Majesty the Emperor, to the rank of Commander. Graduating from the Naval Academy in 1924, His Highness was commissioned in the following year, and promoted to the rank of First Lieutenant in December, 1930. His Highness was admitted to the Naval Staff College in 1934 and after graduation was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Commander in 1935 and in December, 1937, was assigned to the naval general staff. Prince Takamatsu was sent to China on two occasions between January and March, 1939, and has been chief gunner of the warship Hie since July last. Other important changes were the appointments of Vice Admiral Ishichi Tsutsuku and Vice Admiral Tsunejiro Ishii to be heads, respectively, of the naval arsenals at Yokosuka and Maizuru, while Vice Admiral Y. Nikaido was promoted to be chief of the Naval Technical Department.
Other changes and promotion were: Rear Admiral Minoru Tamusubi as Principal of the Naval Aviation School; Rear Admiral Mitsuru Yamada as naval attaché to the Japanese Embassy in Manchukuo; Rear Admiral Yoshisuke Abe as head instructor of the Naval Staff College; Rear Admiral Jin Kimura as head of the Naval Construction Bureau; Rear Admiral Kimpei Teraoka as head instructor of the Naval Academy; Rear Admiral T. Ohno as chief inspector of the Naval Construction Bureau; Rear Admiral Saichiro Tomonari as head of the Yokosuka Naval Station Personnel Bureau; Rear Admiral Naosaburo Irifune as head of the Naval Gunnery School; Rear Admiral Seiichi Harada as head of the Personnel Bureau of the Sasebo Naval Base; Rear Admiral Mitsuharu Matsuyama as Commandant of the Naval Barracks at Maizuru; Rear Admiral Sakae Tanekoda as head of the Naval Fuel Bureau; Rear Admiral Shinsaburo Hosoya as head of the General Department of the Naval Construction Bureau; Rear Admiral Matsuo Morizume as chief inspector of the Naval Construction Bureau stationed at Kobe; Rear Admiral Masaru Nagasumi as head of the Naval Construction Affairs Department at Sasebo Naval Station; Surgeon Rear Admiral Chiaki Imokawa as Head of the Naval Hospital at Maizuru; Surgeon Rear Admiral Ryoho Wakao as head of the Naval Hospital at Sasebo; Surgeon Rear Admiral Sukezo Tagawa as head instructor at the Naval Medical College and Surgeon Rear Admiral Yoshiharu Kambayashi as head of the Naval Hospital at Beppu.
ITALY
Mediterranean Outlook
[MAP-GREECE]
The London Times, November 30. —; Italy’s wanton aggression against Greece had an immediate influence upon the strategic conditions at sea in the Mediterranean. Mussolini’s hope, no doubt, was that a Greek surrender to the mere threat of war would give him the use of airfields on the mainland of Greece—even he can hardly have hoped for the use of the islands while the British Fleet remains in the Mediterranean—wherewith to overawe Turkey and so eventually to extend his sway round the shores of the Middle Sea. No hope could have proved more vain, for Greece’s reaction to the threat has been the very reverse of surrender. It is British aircraft which now fly from the airfields of Greece, not Italian. But Mussolini’s miscalculation went deeper than that; for even if Greece had yielded to the threat to the extent of allowing an Italian occupation of the mainland, the immediate effect oversea would still have been what it was in the event—the establishment of British forces in Crete. That would have given Admiral Sir Andrew Cunningham the use of the harbor of Suda Bay, an excellent harbor with a narrow entrance that lends itself to defense from attack by sea.
A very brief glance at the distances by sea in the Mediterranean is sufficient to show the great improvement that this development has brought about in the strategic conditions in which the British Fleet is operating. The vital areas for Italy are those of the Central Mediterranean through which run her communications between the mainland and the two areas in which her armies are operating—Libya and Albania. From the one, Sir Andrew Cunningham’s chief base at Alexandria was distant some 800 miles; from the other, slightly more.
The fuel endurance of men-of-war is limited, and hitherto the enemy has always known, when the British Fleet has been operating for some days in the central area of the Mediterranean, that the time has arrived when it must perforce go 800 miles away and back before its operations can be resumed. It had no surplus strength which would enable it to refuel by relays, except at the cost of dangerously depleting the strength of the force in enemy waters. Though it was the Italian policy to avoid joining action at sea, and to use the Italian fleet merely as a bait to draw Sir Andrew Cunningham within the range of the metropolitan Air Force, the Italian command could thus be assured periodically of intervals in which their movements in the central area would be immune from interruption.
Italy, however, by her declaration of war on Greece, has presented the British Fleet with the use of the Greek harbors, many of which are among the best in the world. Suda Bay, fine harbor as it is, is by no means the best of them, for much of the great area of water it contains is too deep for convenient anchorage; and although it is the only one of which the British use has been made generally known, for all the public—or the enemy—knows, there may well be others from time to time. But Suda Bay, as an example to compare with Alexandria, is nearer by some 400 miles to the localities in which operations against the enemy can be most effectual. A circle of 500 miles radius from Suda Bay passes through, or close to, Brindisi Taranto, Messina, Syracuse, and Malta. The Libyan ports, with the exception of Tripoli itself, lie on or about the 250-mile circle centered on the west end of Crete. The British Fleet, that is to say, now possesses at least one base—a secondary base at least, affording secure anchorage though devoid of equipment except such as the Fleet has been able to improvise there in the short space it has had the use of it—lying on the flank of Italy’s principal lines of sea communication at what may be called convenient operational range from them.
The situation with respect to Italy’s outlying possessions in the Mediterranean is even more improved by recent developments. Alexandria is 300 miles from the nearest of the Dodecanese Islands, which lie on the flank of the British trade route to and from the Dardanelles. The ports of Cyprus, which are on the eastern shore of that island, are the same distance from those “mosquito bases” of the enemy. The distance between Crete and the nearest point in the Dodecanese is no more than 30 miles; all the islands of the group are within 200 miles from Suda Bay. It is obvious that the task of supervision of such enemy forces as may be based in the Italian islands—even though those forces seem to have evinced no great activity since the Italian declaration of war against this country—is immensely facilitated now that British forces have the use of Crete. British forces, in short, are now as firmly established between Italy and the Dodecanese as they already were between her and her Red Sea colonies and Abyssinia.
Italy still possesses a back-door, as it were, to Libya in the route which runs from the ports on her mainland, west of Sicily, and so to the port of Tripoli. Malta lies like Cerberus in the path, of course, but being so close to Italian territory it is subject to a higher intensity of air attack than is convenient for an operational base. It is true that Italian air raids have not succeeded so far in either damping the spirits of the stalwart islanders, in doing any substantial material damage, or in interfering with the British Fleet’s free use of the harbor when it has had occasion to go there. It is not so easy for Sir Andrew Cunningham to keep a close supervision over Italian communications with Tripoli as with the other trans-Mediterranean or trans-Adriatic ports to which enemy supplies must go. But if the Italian Command had any thought that that difficulty ensured them a constant free passage by the westabout route, they must have been rudely disillusioned by Admiral Sir James Somerville on Wednesday. All these considerations are important, but they are not conclusive. Wars are not won by geography but by fighting, and geographical advantages are only real so far as they are turned to account in forwarding the attack on the enemy whenever it is possible to get at him. So far all the advantages of position have been on the side of the enemy in the Mediterranean; but the advantages accruing from a full endowment of determination, the offensive spirit, and the will to victory have lain with the British Fleet. The latter it still possesses, as the events of the last few days have once again proved.
Navy’s Plight
The Aeroplane, December 6. —Torpedo dropping from the air has now established itself as an even more deadly menace than it appeared at Taranto. There, the targets of the Fairey Swordfish were stationary; off Sardinia the targets were moving at high speed and presumably were maneuvering to avoid the torpedoes as they were sighted. Possibly the Italian ships were faced with the double difficulty of dodging bombs from the Blackburn Skuas and torpedoes from the Swordfish while trying at the same time to get out of range of the British guns—an undesirable predicament. Whatever the mixture of handicaps under which the Italians labored, the Fleet Air Arm showed that its torpedoes can strike as shrewdly at moving ships as at ships in harbor. That is a sobering thought for the Italian Navy, which, lacking aircraft carriers, can never feel safe against such attack whenever it ventures out of range of its shore-based airplanes. It is a matter of some significance to the Air Forces of Germany and Italy, which have tended to look to the dive bomber to do the work of the torpedo-bomber as well as its own in relation to shipping. Several of the Heinkel float seaplanes are capable of carrying torpedoes, but little use has been made of them on the occasions when the Luftwaffe has come into conflict with the British Navy. The same is true of the big float seaplanes of the Regia Aeronautica. Neither force seems to have developed the torpedo technique to the same extent as the Fleet Air Arm, carrying on the long tradition of the Royal Air Force in this respect. The result may well be disastrous to Italian hopes in the Mediterranean.
In failures, the Italian Navy has already fared badly. It has taken no step to challenge the British occupation of Crete or to relieve the isolation of the Dodecanese Islands. It has given no support to its hard-pressed land forces on the Greek coast, shelled by hostile naval forces as well as by Greek artillery. It has offered no resistance to British naval forces in their periodical bombardment of the Italian coastal flank in Libya. It has failed to preserve itself intact for the serious conflict which may affect Italian existence in the Adriatic if the Greeks ultimately secure possession of the port of Valona. For that failure it has largely to thank the torpedo launched from relatively slow- moving airplanes. In suffering its casualties, it has not even taken heavy toll of those slow-moving craft. From appearances we might conclude that Italian neglect of torpedo dropping has left the Italian Navy unskilled, for want of practice, in meeting such an attack. The shore- based aircraft could neither protect their fleet at Taranto or off Sardinia, nor inflict losses on the British Fleet after the event. The Italian theory of making good any discrepancy in sea power by air power seems for the present to have broken down. If ever the port of Valona should come into Allied hands and British and Greek airplanes could operate across the 50 miles of the Straits of Otranto, the Italian Navy in those circumstances would not be able to find refuge even in the Adriatic. Its most sheltered bases would be denied it, and, elsewhere in the Mediterranean, there is not another harbor where it could feel safe from the depredations of the torpedo bomber on any moonlit night.
Various Notes
Italy’s air force either has adopted or is ready to introduce a new type of plane, the Italian press indicated today, and the Turin newspaper Gazetla de Popolo said it would “bring a revolution” in air fighting. II Popolo di Roma described it as a motorless, propellerless craft driven through the air by gas. For testing the new plane, Colonel Mario de Bernardi, 1927 Schneider Cup and Harmon Trophy winner, received a gold medal last September. II Popolo di Roma described it as an “all-metal machine with retractable carriage, moving only by internal reaction.” Others said it was driven by compressed gas which would lift as well as propel it. Otherwise, the plane was said to retain other characteristics of modern aircraft, such as wings, rudders, and fuselage. — New York Herald Tribune, December 2.
Porto Edda, the placid town of 2,000 population which the Greeks occupied yesterday, is the principal sea gateway into the southern part of Albania and ranks among that country’s four chief seaports, the Associated Press notes. Known for centuries as Santi Quaranta (Forty Saints), it was renamed Porto Edda in honor of Italian Premier Benito Mussolini’s daughter, Countess Edda Ciano, in June, 1939, two months after the Italian occupation of Albania. During its more than 2,000 years of existence, Porto Edda has been, at various times, a Phoenician port, a Byzantine outpost, a Turkish garrison town, and a Venetian stronghold, but it became significant in modern times only with the outbreak of the World War. Between 1915 and 1918 it was a naval base for Italian operations, and was one of the guard posts from which Allied ships were able to enforce the blockade against Austria when that Central Power was bottled up in the Adriatic. Porto Edda is less than 10 miles northeast of the Island of Corfu and is about 85 miles east of the heel of the Italian boot. While only small vessels can tie up at its wharves, the port is on a deep, protected bay which affords anchorage to large ships.
The old name of the town was derived from an ancient Byzantine church in whose monastery, according to legend, 40 monks lived. —New York Herald Tribune, December 7.
U.S.S.R.
Stalin’s Lieutenant
Baltimore Sun, December 8. —The star of Lazar M. Kaganovich, Russia’s greatest organizer and trouble-shooter No. 1, is rising once more as the Soviet Union is taking advantage of her neutrality to build up her war potential. Until the purge of 1936-38, Kaganovich was second to Joseph Stalin alone in popularity and influence, but the period of wholesale arrests brought new men to the foreground. Actually he never lost his share in determining Russia’s courses—the privilege of the 11 members of the all-powerful Political Bureau of the Communist party, headed by Stalin.
It is popularly believed among the Russians that Kaganovich shares with Andrei Zhdanoff the distinction of pinch- hitting for Stalin when he goes on vacation.
Appointed Vice-Premier of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in August, 1938, Kaganovich retained his post as Commissar for Railways, a job he has held since 1935, with a brief interruption in 1937. Kaganovich then was relieved of his duties as Commissar for Railways in order to head the Commissariat for Heavy Industry. But his successor soon made such a mess of Russia’s transport that Kaganovich had to be recalled to undo the damage. In the spring of 1938, he again was charged with the task of insuring timely delivery of raw materials to industrial plants and distribution of finished products to Russia’s innumerable cities and villages. As Commissar for Railways, Kaganovich also has been in charge of transporting troops, ammunition, and provisions to the new, extended frontiers of the Soviet Union.
A special task with which Kaganovich is entrusted is delivery to Germany of supplies of raw materials under the terms of the Soviet-German trade agreement. That this is no mean task can be gauged from the fact that the terms are generally believed to have called upon the Russians to provide the Third Reich during the first year of the agreement’s operation with 1,000,000 tons of oil, an equal amount of barley, 100,000 tons of raw cotton, probably as much grain, some 50,000 tons of manganese, and smaller quantities of iron ore phosphate, and other raw materials. Most of these supplies have to be transported by rail over the ten railway lines linking Russia and Germany in what formerly was Polish territory.
Unofficial reports have it that Moscow has not fulfilled some of its obligations under the agreement. The explanations given, however, do not attribute this failure to Kaganovich’s inability to transport the goods, but rather to other reasons of a political nature.
Kaganovich’s rise to power as an outstanding industrial executive in 1935 ended all talk of his being slated to succeed eventually to Stalin’s place as the Communist party chief, putting him rather in the ranks of strictly administrative leaders like Premier Vyacheslaff Molotoff. Kaganovich launched his career, however, as a Communist party functionary. At various times between 1920 and 1935, he headed party organization in Central Asia, the Ukraine and Moscow province. Kaganovich directed the building of the first subway in Moscow, and he alone of all the Soviet leaders proved able to cope with the problem of railways—for centuries the weakest link in Russian economy. He was born November 22, 1893, son of a poor Jewish leather worker in the Ukraine. At the age of fourteen, Lazar began work as a shoemaker, and later became a saddler.
Kaganovich joined the Bolsheviks as a youth of 18. He was arrested and exiled in 1915, but escaped and continued underground work in various Ukranian cities.
A follower of Lenin, Kaganovich was arrested by the Kerensky government after the Menshevik revolution in February, 1917. He escaped to White Russia, where he was active in the Bolshevik revolution in October of the same year. He became a figure of national importance after receiving the job of secretary-general of the Communist party of the Ukraine in 1925. He held this post for three crucial years in the history of Soviet Russia, as this was the period of the sharpest, decisive clashes between Leon Trotsky and Stalin. After Trotsky’s banishment, Kaganovich became the most important Jew in his country. He was appointed third secretary-general of the Communist party, a key post which he has held ever since. Two years later, he was transferred to Moscow, as head of the capital’s party organization.
Tall and handsome, Kaganovich is one of the most attractive among Soviet Russia’s leading personalities. Even among the hard-working Soviet leaders he is considered a “human dynamo,” capable of showing not a trace of fatigue after 15 or 16 hours of incessant work.
Various Notes
Construction of the Volga-Baltic Sea canal will soon begin. It will really be a reconstruction of the Maria canal system of 1852 which extended from Leningrad to Rybinsk on the upper Volga, a distance of 716 miles. It is expected that the project will be completed in 1943. —Tidskrift i Sjöväsendet, October.
OTHER COUNTRIES
Australia
Australia will spend £25,000,000 on the construction and maintenance of aircraft in the next 2| years. By Christmas two airplane factories will have each produced its two hundredth plane. Commonwealth Aircraft Corp. at Melbourne is building Wirraways—general-purpose training monoplanes; DeHavilland Aircraft Limited, at Sydney, is building Tiger Moths—primary training biplanes. The Commonwealth Government has ordered 811 Wirraways, costing £8,000,000, which pilots believe capable of repelling any aircraft likely to attack Australia from aircraft carriers. The output of Tiger Moths, of which 650 have been ordered, has now reached 10 weekly, and Gipsy engines for these machines are being produced in quantity by General Motors-Holdens Ltd., Melbourne. A long-range program for production of other types, including more advanced combat planes, is being planned. The Commonwealth Aircraft Corp. is already producing a monoplane trainer designed to bridge the training gap between Tiger Moths and the Wirraways.
The prototype of a fast, heavily armed, medium bomber is also being built. This machine, designed by the CAC, will be powered with Australian- made Twin-Wasp engines. The same engines, of 1,200 hp., will power Bristol Beaufort medium bombers which the Commonwealth Government will begin to build next year, with the aim of producing one daily. The production of a wide range of aircraft components is also proceeding, including Vickers guns, tires, tubes, parachutes, safety harness, and radio and photographic equipment. Australia also will soon manufacture all its requirements of duraluminum, including sheets, strips, extrusions and heavy forgings.
A Melbourne company was lately formed to manufacture airplane spark plugs under license from an American company. If shortage of metal alloys for airplane construction should make building wooden planes necessary, Australia has a number of timbers able to withstand the special stresses of plane framework. As a result of these achievements it is claimed that Australian industry has made a quarter-century’s normal progress in two years.
The United Kingdom Government has resumed large-scale shipments of Avro Ansons and Fairey Battle bombers for advanced twin-engined and single-engined training. The original order for 330 Battles and 590 Ansons has been increased greatly, further enhancing the potential striking power of the R.A.F.—Baltimore Sun, December 8.
Belgium
Leon Degrelle, the Rex Party leader, is now co-operating openly with the Germans. According to the German wireless from Brussels, he said at a private meeting held in Charleroi recently: “If the Rexists had been listened to when they were calling for a policy of real neutrality in Belgium instead of a neutrality that was a mere farce, we could have prevented the hangers-on of French Freemasonry and English plutocracy from leading us into our present position.” Up to now the Germans have not given any public posts to members of the Rex Party. That Fascist movement was quite popular in the country some years ago, but it lost most of its adherents just before the invasion of Belgium, when its pro-German tendencies were revealed too clearly. Degrelle was arrested by the Belgian Government when the invasion began, and was released later by the French authorities. His supporters spread a rumor that he had been shot in France, but he soon reappeared in Belgium. Knowing that he was unpopular he refrained from working too openly with the Germans, and it is significant that the meeting at which he made the speech referred to was not a public gathering. —The London Times, December 4.
Germany
A new Messerschmitt aircraft factory has been set up on the Hungarian frontier. The reason for putting the works in this district was that the Germans believed that it would be outside the range of the bombers of the R.A.F.—which it is not. Nevertheless the works are heavily protected by anti-aircraft artillery and by machine guns. An Italian report states that a new Messerschmitt military airplane (probably the “Jaguar”) of which details are being kept secret is being built there. The plant was opened in July, 1939. Large-scale production of the “secret” type v/as started in November, 1939. The labor force of this new Messerschmitt plant was then about 5,000 people of whom 1,750 (35 per cent) were women. The manufacture of all the parts is concentrated in a single building. Only the assembly of wings, the production of airscrews and armament take place at a subsidiary plant about one kilometer from the main factory. Production is organized on a new principle. The Messerschmitt engineers have abandoned the normal German method of large-scale production by adopting a system whereby the same group of workmen does all operations up to the final assembly. Although this system results in a much slower training of labor, the Messerschmitt people consider the method superior because every workman learns the particular construction of every machine he is working on. —The Aeroplane, November 29.
German radio said today that a “very large” picture of a new 35,000-ton German battleship appears in Sunday’s Völkischer Beobachter, Adolf Hitler’s newspaper, on the front page.
“The picture shows details of the gigantic turrets and other superstructure,” said the broadcast.
Two battleships of this size, the Tirpitz and Bismarck, were launched early in 1939, but whether they have been in actual service is a mystery. The 1939 Jane’s Fighting Ships, the authoritative British naval work, lists two others, H and I as building. Each is listed as getting eight 15-in. guns, twelve 5.9-in. guns, and 4 aircraft, with a designed speed of probably 30 knots. Jane’s also notes that E and I have been reported without confirmation, as possible 40,000-ton ships. —The Baltimore Sun, December 8.
India
Despite a superficial appearance of calm, India —largest reservoir of fighting men in the British Empire—is shaken by political disputes which whittle her potentially vast war effort in the hour of Britain’s need. The main conflict between the British Government in India and the natives of all creeds and classes—with the exception of princes—concerns the future status of India, but there are three other current disputes, all bound up with the larger issue. This revolves presently around an offer made by the British Viceroy, Lord Linlithgow, on behalf of his Government, that India attain “free and equal partnership” in the British Commonwealth at the conclusion of the war and that formation of the Indian state “would be the responsibility of the Indians themselves.”
A war advisory council, with representatives of the various races and creeds, was envisaged. But the offer contains a point which has split India and which apparently has made its acceptance impossible to Indians. It is this: “His Majesty’s Government could not contemplate the transfer of their present responsibilities for the peace and welfare of India to any system of government whose authority was directly denied by large and powerful elements in India’s national life.”
The All-India Congress, Nationalist party of Mohandas K. Gandhi, called this clause an open appeal to the Moslems to continue to stand against the Hindus and accused Britain of fostering the policy of “divide and rule.” The clause, the Congress said, would give the Moslems, heavily outnumbered by the Hindus, the power of veto over proposals for independent government.
The Congress reiterated its statement that India cannot function “within the orbit of an imperial power” and must attain the status of a free and independent nation. The Congress admitted that such status would not prevent close association with other nations. This was taken as an indication that a free India willingly would join the Commonwealth. The conclusion reached by the Congress party was that British policy in India was opposed to the principle of democracy and ran counter to the best interests of India. A Sikh member of the Congress declared that if Britain would offer India independence, a “million Sikhs” would form an army to fight for her.
The powerful Moslem League, chief minority faction, concluded that the offer had, on the whole, met the league’s demands for clear assurance that no constitution would be adopted without its consent and approval. But the league also indicated it was not ready to drop its proposals for establishing separate Moslem and Hindu states. These reactions indicated there would be no immediate acceptance of the offer, although behind the political demands of the Congress party runs the obvious unwillingness to embarrass Britain in the midst of a desperate war.
Discussion of the British offer leads directly to the three smaller but no less important struggles in Indian politics. They are:
(1) Between Gandhi and his closest followers and the British Government over Gandhi’s right to preach pacificism in India.
(2) Between the Moslem League and the Congress over independence. The league demands a separate Moslem state—an Indian “Ulster.” The Congress wants an independent, united India without a Moslem veto.
(3) Between Gandhi and a section of the Congress party which calls the Mahatma’s policy weak, and declares independence, not freedom to preach anti-war views, is the real issue.
The Mahatma’s argument to Lord Linlithgow was that if the British Government was fighting for freedom and democracy, it could not logically or morally prevent its subjects under the British crown from saying what they wished.
Thus India’s major forces, in the second winter of war, are still divided. Yet the agency for union may be at hand in a growing body of liberal Indian opinion which subscribes to neither Congress nor the Moslem league. Headed by men like Sir Tej Bahadar Spru, Hirdayanath Kunzru, and Sir Chimanlal Setalvad, three prominent members of the Indian National Liberal Federation, this body argues that the most important thing is to win the war. It is trying to bridge the gulf between Congress and the Moslem League, if only temporarily, in order to secure India’s fuller cooperation with the war effort. It points out that if Britain is defeated, India’s dream of independence is shattered. This group trusts India’s own strength, industrial and political, together with favorable world opinion, especially American, to obtain what India demands when the war is over. —The Baltimore Sun, December 20.
Uruguay
(By John W. White. Copyright by New York Times.)—Uruguayan plans for the establishment of naval and air bases were not affected in any way by last week’s conversations between Foreign Minister of Uruguay Alberto Guani and Argentine Foreign Minister, Julio A. Roca, at Colonia, in the opinion of informed sources here, after a careful study of the ambiguous memorandum that was given out at the termination of the conversations.
Authoritative Uruguayan circles do not agree with Argentine opinion that the conversations had resulted in an agreement which would hold up the existing understanding between the United States and Uruguay, or that a new regional group had been set up, designed to exclude the United States from any future consultations regarding defense plans for the River Plata zone. Montevideo newspapers close to the government, in apparently officially inspired editorials, agree with other sources in expressing the opinion that while Uruguay would welcome any co-operation on the part of Argentina or Brazil which would strengthen joint action in the defense of the continent, it intends to go ahead with its own plans. These editorials reflecting the official point of view say that Uruguay would be delighted if its defense plans could be dove tailed into whatever plans Argentina and Brazil may have, but that Uruguay cannot delay its own plans pending the action of its neighbors at some time in the future. Uruguay does not agree with the Argentine contention, that the present war does not constitute a threat to democracy on the American continent. Uruguay’s experience with the pocket battleship, Admiral Graf Spee, has convinced government officials that the present threat is real. When the Admiral Graf Spee was refused an extension of time to repair damage sustained in an all-day running battle with the British light cruisers Exeter, Ajax, and the Achilles, the German commander, Langsdorf, declared that he had “technical means” at his command to force the Uruguayan government to accede to his request. This threat occasioned the hurried meeting of the Pan American section of the Diplomatic Corps, at the conclusion of which the American diplomats informed Senor Guani that their governments had authorized them to assure the Uruguayan government of whatever assistance it might need in forcing the Admiral Graf Spee to put to sea. — Washington Post, December 18.
AVIATION
Air Transport for Invasion
The Aeroplane, November 15. —Like many another unorthodox idea, the transport of troops by air was pioneered by the British and subsequently neglected, to be developed, both in conception and technique, by other less gentlemanly peoples. Whether the transport by air of troops and their equipment is necessary or even desirable must remain a purely military question and therefore outside the scope of these notes. The methods so far employed by the Germans, in Norway and elsewhere, do not appear to have been very impressive for the purpose of invading a country in which the powers of resistance are properly organized, but, as it is clear that both the French and ourselves have so consistently under-rated the efficiency of German military operations, it would be unwise to assume that operations carried out in one manner against weak countries must necessarily be carried out in the same manner against this country. The main technical obstacle to the success of an invasion by air is the difficulty of landing large numbers of troops and their supplies quickly in a limited area. The employment of parachute troops offers one solution and the extensive use made of them in the Low Countries provided one of the main incentives for the formation of the Home Guard. Parachute troops do not appear to be very effective and, in any attempt at the invasion of this country, the Germans would probably use troop-carrying gliders. In considering the possible military development of the glider for troop-carrying and other allied purposes, we must remember that the problem of air invasion is not one which concerns the Germans alone. German attempts to invade this country will be defeated and, in due course, we too will be faced with the necessity for transferring our armed might across the Channel and the North Sea in the teeth of determined enemy resistance. At present our land forces must bear the brunt of any German successes in this field, but the growing strength of the Royal Air Force will soon deny the enemy the local air superiority without which invasion is impossible. We have yet time in which to apply the genius of our engineers to the provision of means by which, if necessary, whole armies and their supplies and equipment of all kinds can be transferred by air from this country to enemy territory where their strength can once more effectively be applied.
In operation, troop-carrying gliders and their towing airplanes form a simplified version of the glider train. Little is known of the form which recent developments have taken, but at least five years ago Mr. J. S. Paget, who was at that time associated with the writer and others in the formation of the Cambridge University Gliding Club, brought back from Russia a description of methods which the Russians were then successfully demonstrating and which made it possible for an airplane in flight to pick up off the ground a passenger-carrying glider. This remarkable feat is accomplished by a simple extension of the methods of picking up messages which have been for many years employed by our own Army Co-operation machines in the Royal Air Force. The number of gliders towed will vary with the type of towing airplane used and with any additional load which the airplane may be required to carry. The speed of glider trains will be low and their rate of climb poor. Lack of speed means a long exposure to attack but this is characteristic of any transport fleet, however arranged, and merely emphasizes the need for local air superiority. Lack of climbing ability is also of small importance, as it is unlikely, in any attempt at invasion on a large scale, that transports will be required to fly at great heights. Escorting fighters cannot entirely prevent attacks on transport aircraft, but a fleet composed of airplanes and towed gliders is probably not much more vulnerable than a fleet composed of a correspondingly larger number of airplanes only. Gliders contain no inflammable fuel and little vital mechanism and their construction is such that it would not be easy to cause a structural failure by machine-gun fire. Glider pilots are neither more easily killed nor more difficult to replace in the air than other pilots, and, if forced to descend into the sea, the occupants of a glider would stand a better chance of survival than the occupants of most airplanes.
In a glider train, the lighter the load carried by the towing airplane the larger becomes the total capacity of the combination. To achieve the best operating conditions, the wing-loading of the towing airplane should be only slightly greater than that of the gliders it is towing. This condition would be met by almost any high- powered modern airplane when carrying no more than its own fuel, and it is clearly unnecessary to use for this purpose machines like the Ju.52 or our own Bristol Bombay, in the design of which performance has been sacrificed to provide accommodation for troops. It may be fortunate that, unlike the Germans, we have very few such airplanes and are in a position to consider the merits of other types, for, in conjunction with gliders, almost all our medium and heavy bombers are ideally suited to the transport of troops and their supplies and equipment. It should be possible to increase the complement of troop-carrying gliders to ten troops and their equipment without seriously affecting either their landing characteristics or the ease with which they can be built, but since a bomber is capable of towing several such gliders it will be of interest to examine the conditions under which such a combination takes off from the ground. In order to ensure adequate control for the airplane and for each glider, it is necessary for the gliders to be separated from the towing airplane and from each other by long towing cables. These cables may be 100 yd. or more in length, and if, say, 10 gliders and their towing airplane were to occupy on the ground the relative positions which they occupy in flight, the whole chain would stretch from one end of a large aerodrome to the other, leaving no room for a take-off run. What means have been adopted elsewhere to surmount this difficulty is not known, but an examination of the brake and drum device mentioned in connection with the Russian experiments suggests an obvious remedy. If this simple device were fitted in the nose of each glider, the airplane and the gliders to be towed could all be placed nose to tail, each directly behind the other, the towing cable attached to the tail of one machine being wound on to the drum in the nose of the following machine, and the whole assembly occupying only a small space at one end of the runway.
At the start of the take-off the airplane would accelerate down the runway, dragging behind it the cable attached to its tail, which unwinds from the freely revolving drum in the nose of the first glider. When the airplane had gone some distance the brake attached to this drum would be gently applied and the first glider would begin to accelerate down the runway and drag after it the cable attached to its tail and unwinding from the drum in the nose of the second glider. By the time the fifth glider started to move the airplane and the first three gliders would have left the ground and the chain might already be more than a third of a mile in length. This jack-in-the-box method of leaving the ground at first sight may appear fantastic, but it is mechanically simple and could be made automatic. In an emergency each unit of such a chain can become separate at a moment’s notice, and is then no worse off than if it had been launched in the normal manner. Emergency separation is accomplished by cutting the cable at the nose, and there is no difficulty in providing means to do this even when the cable is moving. Provision has also to be made for automatically releasing the tail cable if the nose cable should become slack, but this, too, is a simple matter.
In normal circumstances the whole chain of gliders would be uncoupled for landing by releasing the towing attachment in the tail of the airplane, which is then free to return to its base, while the releasing of the tail cables from each glider continues in a leisurely manner. Immediately after release the long cable, which then dangles from the nose of each glider, is wound up on to its drum and the glider is ready for landing. The action of air brakes fitted to a glider is precisely similar to the use of the throttle in an airplane, and with the aid of these brakes gliders can, if necessary, maintain close formation after their release from the towing airplane. There is, in any case, no difficulty in landing large numbers of gliders close together, and only a short time should be required to combine the small groups landed from each glider into one strong force. Each group is fully armed and, from the moment of landing, is of sufficient strength to beat off attack by the comparatively weak forces likely to be found in German-occupied territory. Whether defensive armament should be fitted to transport airplanes and gliders is a matter for conjecture. If our standard bombers were used as towing airplanes it would be convenient to retain the very- powerful armanent with which they are already fitted, and this would be advisable if for no other reason than to provide such machines with means of defense while returning to their base. When flying singly by day, slow transport airplanes or chains of transport gliders are very vulnerable to attack from the air, and in order to reduce the task of escorting fighters to reasonable proportions, it is necessary for such aircraft to fly in formation.
The type of formation adopted is largely a matter of convenience, but chains of transport gliders appear to be suited to a loose cylindrical pattern which, because of the continuous lines of gliders and their towing cables, could not be penetrated by fighters. The front of such a formation is defended by the armament of the towing airplanes, its flanks are at least partially defended by the guns carried in the gliders and only the rear is without defense. Such formations are the subject of unremitting prayer on the part of anti-aircraft gunners, and whether they or any formation of transport aircraft can be successful depends very largely on the effectiveness of dive bombing in preventing the use of antiaircraft guns. Military air operations must frequently take place in bad weather conditions, but the towing of gliders presents no difficulty in this respect. Chains of gliders can take off from the ground and fly in fog and darkness with no more difficulty than is experienced in the operation of normal aircraft and the same may be said of their ability to fly in other unfavorable conditions. To some extent their abilities will vary with the types of gliders used and with the characteristics of the towing airplane. In general, the heavier the loading of both airplane and gliders the easier it is for such chains to operate in rough weather, but the essential factor in such operations is the provision of means of communication between all the units in the chain and, using the towing cables as a basis, the installation of a suitable electrical system is a simple matter. A single formation might have a carrying capacity of 1,200 troops and involve the diversion of only 12 standard heavy bombers which are free, after releasing the gliders over enemy territory, to return to their normal duties. Even if, say, 6,000 troops were to be transported in 5 such formations, the brief diversion of the 60 bombers necessary would be of little importance to the Royal Air Force. The provision of escorting bombers and fighters can hardly be called a diversion and in this connection there emerges a peculiarity in the use of gliders. All the occupants of a transport glider must be combatant soldiers; the design of such gliders would be governed by Army requirements and, since the towing of gliders would have a negligible effect on Air Force training or equipment, it would appear that gliders and their occupants should be solely the business of the Army. To employ highly trained Air Force personnel as glider pilots would be wasteful. Glider pilots should be Army officers and N.C.O.s, and their training should consist of about 50 hours’ flying on machines such as the Tiger Moth, followed by a short conversion course on gliders at any of the big gliding clubs (which could be revived for the purpose) and a finishing course on large gliders in conjunction with the Bomber Command of the Royal Air Force. Passenger carrying is obviously not the only purpose for which gliders can be designed and the serious implications of other aspects of glider development must be examined. The function of troops landed from the air may be the disruption of communications and the capture of ports in preparation for an invasion from the sea, but the belief is widely held that such troops would be too few and too weak to perform either of these functions successfully. This belief is dangerous. The thorough disruption of communications requires forces strongly armed and capable of rapid movement while the capture of any useful part of our strongly fortified coastline is a major military operation. The Germans would probably not launch an attack which was obviously foredoomed to failure and in any attempt at the invasion of this country from the air the forces landed would have to be powerful enough both in numbers and equipment to have a reasonable chance of accomplishing the work to which they were assigned. One hopes that the same may be said of any attempt on our part to land forces in German-occupied territory.
The twin spearheads of a modern attacking force are the bomber and the tank. Behind these must come large concentrations of troops equipped to consolidate the occupation of territory through which a way has been smashed. In considering the use of gliders in connection with troop transport, I have endeavored to show that the landing of large concentrations of troops from the air presents no difficulty and, now that bombers based in France can operate against this country, the German attempt at the invasion of England by air will depend almost entirely on whether they have solved the problem of transporting tanks by air. Without tanks German troops could do little harm to this country before being wiped out by our Home Defence Forces and, since the Germans have not so far shown themselves to be fools, any German troops transported to this country by air will presumably be accompanied by a large force of tanks also transported by air. Airplanes can be built to carry tanks. Experiments along these lines were carried out some years ago by the United States Army Air Corps and tank-carrying airplanes are supposed to be in operation with the Russian Air Force. Both the German Junkers G.38 and our own Cunliffe-Owen “Flying Wing” are capable of carrying “baby” tanks of about eight tons weight, but neither of these airplanes exists in sufficient numbers to be used effectively for this purpose in an attempt at invasion on a large scale, nor, to judge from recent events, would “baby” tanks appear to be sufficiently formidable. There is no known method of transporting by air the monster tanks, weighing 80 or 90 tons, which made their appearance during the Battle of France, but monster tanks are only required when it is necessary to smash a way through strong anti-tank defenses, and the necessity for doing this does not arise if invading tanks can be flown over defensive positions and landed in the interior of enemy territory. Nevertheless, for the rapid subjugation of even weakly defended areas it would appear that the smallest effective tank would be of 14 to 16 tons empty weight. The “baby” tanks which have so far been transported by air have a further disadvantage in that they are specially designed and produced for this purpose whereas, since the success or otherwise of a tank depends upon its effectiveness on the ground, it would seem more efficient to build the means of transport to suit the tank rather than the tank to suit the means of transport.
If an invasion by air is to be successful the transport of tanks by air must satisfy certain conditions. (1) The difficulty of providing means for the transport of tanks must not be greater than the difficulty of providing means for the transport of the corresponding number of troops. (2) The landing of concentrations of tanks must be possible wherever concentrations of troops can be landed. (3) It must be possible to transport tanks of not less than 14 tons empty weight. (4) Tanks must be flown with crew, ammunition, and fuel on board ready for immediate action.
No tank-carrying airplane yet built fully satisfies any of these conditions and no tank-carrying airplane is as yet conceivable which would fully satisfy all of them. If large-scale invasion by air is to be attempted in the near future, either by the Germans or by ourselves, some other and more practical solution must be found to this problem. If, to any weight of whatever size or shape, sufficient supporting and controlling surfaces are added, the resulting structure is a glider. The total weight of the structure determines the area of supporting surface required for a given landing speed. The size and shape determine the gliding angle of the structure in flight and also, to some extent, the size and position of the necessary controlling surfaces. In the design of a glider which is intended to carry a tank no orthodox fuselage is necessary and both supporting and controlling surfaces would be attached and braced direct to the tank, the structure of which is amply strong for the purpose; nor is it necessary for the glider to be provided with any undercarriage apart from the normal treads of the tank. Finally, to reduce the power required for the support of the structure in the air, light fairings, attached by simple clips, should be added to improve the shape of the tank. Wing and tail- surfaces should be attached in such a manner that they can be jettisoned immediately on landing by the operation of catches inside the tank and the light fairings must be so arranged that they would not hinder the tank if torn off in action. From a design point of view only the installation of flight controls would appear to present any difficulty.
Although the climbing ability of a combination of airplane and gliding tank is likely to be very poor, neither take-off nor landing should present any difficulty. The initial acceleration of the tank during takeoff would be provided largely by its own engines, and as with other towed gliders, the tank should be air-borne before the airplane has left the ground. Similarly, to avoid inertia loads due to a violent acceleration of the tank treads during landing, the tank engines should be started before releasing the towing airplane and the treads should be running at or near the normal landing speed when the tank touches the ground. Under these conditions the treads should perform for the gliding tank the same functions as are performed by the skids of other types of gliders, and should permit the same type of landing. Unlike most airplanes, gliders are not in a stalling condition when they make contact with the ground during a normal landing but are flown on to the ground at slightly above stalling speed and with only a small vertical velocity. For this reason the undercarriage of a standard tank should be able to cope with the relatively light loads imposed by a landing on any surface which is suitable for the landing of conventional gliders. Any modifications to the standard tank undercarriage which may be necessary for this purpose are likely to be concerned with the centrifugal forces generated by the high speed of the tracks rather than with loads imposed by contact with the ground. Association with both the gliding movement and the development of rotating-wing aircraft have given the writer ample experience of resistance to unorthodox ideas, which is characteristic of our people, and for this reason the main features in the development of the gliding tank have been stated as plainly as possible. The writer is not aware of any evidence which would suggest that such a development has been going on in Germany, but it must be emphasized that, in order to preserve complete secrecy, it would not be necessary for the Germans to conceal their activities. On the contrary, as with the Eschner parachute, which was developed for the landing of troops and which was demonstrated at a public display in this country before the outbreak of war, the more blatant such activities are the less likely are they to attract attention. Among both civil and military sections of our population there is a widespread belief in the impossibility of transporting supplies for an army by air alone. In fact, there is no difficulty in transporting by air the supplies required by an invading force. Such a force requires only fuel, ammunition and food. The advent of the bomber, and in particular the dive bomber, has made field artillery unnecessary for a modern invading force, and the heaviest ammunition to be transported is that required for medium tanks. The advent of wireless has made unnecessary the establishment of supply bases and lines of supply on enemy territory since supplies can be flown direct to the units requiring them. Food and ammunition can either be dropped by parachute or carried by gliders of the troop-carrying type or, in favorable circumstances, landed by transport airplanes. The belief which has been mentioned above is founded largely on a lack of imagination in regard to the transport of fuel. Fuel cannot be dropped by parachute because of the difficulty of building fuel tanks which are at once of reasonable capacity and strong enough to withstand the shock of landing. The transport of fuel by airplanes presents two distinct difficulties. First, it is rarely possible to land heavy airplanes in the places or under the conditions which meet the needs of an invading force. Secondly, the design and construction of tanker airplanes offer all the disadvantages which have been mentioned for troop-carrying and tank-carrying airplanes. The flexibility which is a feature of glider design provides an immediate and cheap solution to this problem.
From the design point of view the main feature is the provision of a central carrying girder of the type common to training gliders, which permits the tanks to be hung on the outside of the structure and obviates the need of a containing fuselage. The latter necessity is the chief source of difficulty in the design of tanker airplanes. With the tanks removed a glider of this type should be useful for other supplies.
It may be that we have been discussing Hitler’s secret weapon; or his doom. In any case, glider development merits more attention than it has so far received in Great Britain.
MISCELLANEOUS
Flame-Throwers and Their Uses
Infantry Journal, November-December. —A most startling weapon developed in the World War was the flame-thrower. This special tool of modem warfare was not looked upon then by all armies with equal favor. However, its reappearance on a considerable scale in the present war makes it again an object of much interest to all combat troops. The basis of the following discussion is an article which appeared in a recent number of the Swiss magazine, Allgemeine Schweizerische Militärzeitung:
The earliest studies dealing with the construction of flame-throwers date from early in the present century. The German Army made the first experiment with the flamethrower and by 1914 had actually constructed some of them. During the first month of the first World War, the flamethrowers were tried out to determine the best ways of using them. The first assault with these weapons was at Malancourt, on the Western Front, on February 25, 1915. The limited successes gained in these attacks were insufficient to impel the Allies to build similar weapons. All flamethrowers have the same basic principle. They consist of two containers, one holding the oil—a mixture of tar residues, hydrocarbons, creosote, and carbosulphide— and a second container, connected with the first by a valve, which holds compressed gas, preferably nitrogen. This gas, of course, is the propelling agent. When the valve is opened the gas forces the oil through a pipe, and as it comes out of the nozzle the oil is ignited by means of a fuse or pilot light. The range of a flame-thrower depends, upon two things: First, the amount of pressure exerted by the propelling gas. This must not exceed a certain limit, so that the oil stream will not scatter. Second, the thickness of the stream of flaming oil. This has to vary with the duration of the assault, since oil consumption naturally rises with the increase in diameter of the oil stream. Thus range and duration of fire depend also upon the weight of the equipment and oil that has to be carried along.
Two main types were used during the World War: fixed and portable.
Fixed types of flame-throwers are not in use today, but data on their construction can probably be applied to flame-throwers built in tanks. These modem types have a range of over 300 feet and can deliver from 50 to 100 bursts, with a total duration of fire of from one to three minutes. Italy has for a number of years armed her tanks with flame-throwers, and the German Army used them with great surprise effect in the Battle of Flanders.
No doubt, also, the construction of portable flame-throwers has been greatly improved, especially through using light materials. These now have ranges up to 115 feet, and a duration of fire between 30 and 40 seconds with as many bursts.
The stream of fire from a flame-thrower acts primarily through the flaming oil itself but the effective heat radiates out to approximately three times the diameter of the stream of oil. Flame-thrower personnel has to be protected by asbestos cloaks. The oil stream acts further through its poisonous combustion gases, especially when it is directed into closed spaces, like dugouts and pillboxes. As the stream strikes a surface the incomplete combustion creates carbon monoxide. At the point of impact, the effect of the oil stream is immediate and complete. But the moral effect is even greater than the material effect. This is definitely proved by the number of prisoners taken in flame-thrower operations. On June 1, 1916, the German 66th Infantry launched an attack in the woods of Caillette, near Verdun, preceded and strongly supported by a company which had 5 fixed and 12 portable flame-throwers. Besides gaining considerable ground, the regiment captured 1,900 prisoners, including 2 regimental commanders and 60 other officers. In fighting tanks, flame-thrower crews aim the stream of fire at slits and other apertures. The oil that gets inside the tank keeps on burning, of course, and may ignite anything that will burn. In any case, the inside temperature of the tank will usually rise at once when burning oil enters any aperture. And, when a tank is enveloped in flames, the air used by the motor is deprived of oxygen, which reduces the speed of the tank or stops it entirely.
During the first World War fixed flamethrowers were employed for offensive action in position warfare, where the opponents faced each other at close range. The fixed types served to put the enemy in the advanced trenches out of action and to deliver fire concentrations with surprise effect, thus preparing for a penetration of the hostile front lines. This type of equipment is of no avail in combat of the kinds so far engaged in in the present war. In fact, no mention has been made of the employment of fixed flame-throwers. Fixed flame-throwers might be used effectively in the defensive to cover small sectors, except that their effect is of such limited duration. In certain circumstances fixed equipment might play a role in short-range defense of fortifications.
Portable flame-throwers form part of the armament of assault units. Flame-thrower units, protected by the supporting fires of all weapons and taking full advantage of all cover, close in on hostile strong points and pillboxes. Resistance encountered in closing on these objectives is overcome with hand grenades and automatic rifles. If a flame-thrower operator finds he cannot approach within range of his target, he delivers a burst and then pushes on to effective range under cover of the smoke screen he thus creates. It may be best to blast the objective before committing the flamethrowers to action. Then again, the demolition may be carried out with flamethrowers in support. Their function then is to wipe out or neutralize close resistance, or with their smoke screen prevent the enemy from observing the advancing demolition party.
Flame-throwers are also useful in street fighting, where they are used to smoke out cellars and buildings at ranges too long for accurate aim with hand grenades at windows or doors. Flame-throwers will also cause local fires, thus spreading confusion among the enemy. In the offensive, the flame-thrower is not so much a weapon of favorable chance as one that should be given a definite job after careful reconnaissance. The flame-thrower as such cannot be used to insure continuity of an attack within a given zone, excepting when it is possible to accompany the assault troops with enough flame-throwers to take care of all the separate tasks. How many would be needed can only be determined when the hostile situation is clear. Besides supporting certain individual actions, the primary employment of flame-throwers seems to consist in lending the assault troops, at the moment the support of the rear echelons ceases, that moral superiority essential to penetrating a strong position and continuing the attack on through it. In the present war, flame-throwers play a vital role in assaults directed at pillboxes and are used against them jointly with other weapons of offensive fire power. In warding off a counterattack, flamethrowers are used in defensive action at close range. On the other hand, they are rarely committed to action at the outset of a defensive action.
No information has been published concerning the tactical employment of flame throwing tanks. They may be used against pillboxes where there is an accessible approach and also for antitank defense.
As for measures against foot troops, there is no individual protection against the stream of flaming oil. It should, however, be feasible to provide collective protection for pillboxes. Without discounting the actual effect, it must be brought home to the troops that the success of the flamethrower depends mainly upon its moral effect. Any man who does not lie within the radius of the oil stream must accordingly direct his fire immediately against the flame-thrower. That is the best method of defense. For the operator of the flamethrower makes a sizable target at close range, and the duration of effect of the flame-thrower is short. Once the moment of extreme moral strain is overcome, the success of the flame-thrower reduces itself to the actual material effect, and the attack of the hostile assault troops loses much of its momentum.