THE CHINA MAIL, NOVEMBER 28, 1940.
CHINA MAIL The Battle Of Africa
WINDSOR HOUSELS
ARMY AIR ARM
We must take a big view of west. If these were successful,' then be surrounded on three sides Under the energetic leadership; this war. As Mr. Churchill told the Italians would then threaten by chemy territory. Tanganyika, of General Smuts we can rely the House of Commons, no one Egypt from the south down the to the south of Kenya, is a form-upon it that the Union Govern- can predict how far it will spread, valley, of, the. Nile;.
er German territory whose Ger- ment would not only resist these or how long it will last
This estimate of probable enemy man settlers would be expected to treacherous overtures but would. One certainty, however, is that plans for an invasion of Africa cooperate by organising a rebel-provide Great Britain with a base this now aims at the conquest portions of the expected battle in advance down to the Equator. the desperate ambition of our en-already much exceeds the pro-llon which might bring the enemy from which our forces could bar
not of countries but of a contin cnt. We should do well to con- sider in its widest aspect the tre-. mendous importance of the Bat- tle of Africa which is about to
-By
G. Ward Price
His Final Act These are the German dreams, and, however fantastic they may be, it is well to take serious ac- count of them, for many of Hit ler's earlier visions have been converted into realities by reason of the fact that no one took them seriously in time. ·
any further enemy advance, So long as the British Navy controls the seas, the advantage in South African warfare would be over- whelmingly on our side.
..
This advantage might, indeed, be challenged by enemy naval ac- tivitics based on West
Africa, where the British; West Coast Co-- lonies are entirely surrounded by French territory......?
Announcement of the formation of the Army Cooperation Command of the R.A.F. will gratify all who have given serious study to the new ways of war. This may be a long conflict. It
begin. will quite
Hitherto the picture. in our surely be an even harder mind has been limited to a Bri- one before we have done orce, composed of contin- the Western Desert upon which with Hitler.
gents from
of the our attention has so far been con- many parts every Empire, confronting, In the West-centrated.
The final stage of the Fuehrer's month passes military ern Desert, a strong and power- Let us, for a moment, look still invasion of the African Contin- leaders must strive to fully equipped Italian army new farther afield and hazard a guess ent would doubtless be accom reach the proportions which Hit-
engaged in establishing an ad- as to what may be the ultimate panied by flattering offers
andler and Mussolini, contemplate, place themselves in the vanced base of operations a few aims of those two megalomaniacs. promises to the Union of South, Germany and Italy may be ex- vanguard of their art. score miles Inside the Egyptian Having on a map at least — Africa. Hitler would hope to de-pected to seize the whole of the
subdued Egypt and the Sudan, tach. that Dominion from the Em- vast territories of France on that" Away with the old. Search!
One flank of this British force they may further visualise the in-pire by false pledges to respect its continent, and they would use the out the new.
rests on the sea, where it has the vasion of Kenya, which would independence. effective support
•
As
frontier.
of the
Royal
Navy; its other wing consists of a chain of outposts beyond which lies the barren emptiness of the great African Desert.
ter.
All this, however, is no more
It is clear that the attack upon
Egypt will not be delivered by General Graziani's army advan-
cing from Libya alone.
The German trouncing of Poland and France was partly the result of the sure cooperation which they established between than the mid-point of the scene the air force and the able operations against us may be upen which far-flung and formid-
army.
Soldiers and air-expected during the coming win- men were part of one force. The 'planes were fleeter cavalry and flying artil- lery too. Together the two arms achieved much more than German troops were thrust. than they could have done through Hungary into Rumania, in loose collaboration. and we heard of plans for mili- Have we yet learnt this the shore of the Black Sea, where tary roads across that country to lesson and improved upon a German naval base is to be con- it for our own designs? There can be no mistaking the The answer is "Not yet," significance of these initial mea-
sures. but the beginnings have
They are the beginnings of a great Gempan movement upon now been made.
Egypt from the north. This is intended to confront the forces
Hardly had Hitler returned from the meeting on the Bronner
structed.
in
which we have accumulated the Near East for the defence of Egypt and Palestine with one of those pincerlike offensives that are the favourite strategy of the German General Staff but on a
scale without precedent in this or
any other war.
Training Camp Breaks Up
manoeuvres
The training camps of Singapore on their stomachs seeking cover volunteers and: Depot recruits during field
with (men called up under the Com-just as much keenness as brokers pulsory Service Ordinance) broke and importers.
second
Should the battle of · Africa, ·
pois upon their sea-board to ob- struct our seaward comminica- tions with the Cape of Good Hope.
The dangers described above are fortunately at present no more than speculative and imaginary. Solid grounds exist, however, for the belief that Africa is the next territory in which the Nazi Fuchrer hopes to win drama- tic victories for the pur- pose of encouraging his own people and discouraging ours.
Material Gain
Nor is prestige the only prize, offered by that continent. After America, Africa is the most pro- ductive area on the surface of the globe:
•
Egypt, the first country in which the Germans aim at setting foot, produces 380,000 tons a year of the best cotton in the world, be- sides other valuable agricultural crops.
The farther south the enemy: could push his conquests, the: greater would be his gains in those tropical products which are. of such vital importance to Ger- naval many, and of, which our blockade largely deprives her.
Could he succeed in penetratingį. to the south of the continent, vast resources of copper and other minerals, together with one-third of the world's output of gold, would be the booty at which his yet other reasons: greedy hand might grasp.
There are why a great campaign in Africai may appeal to Hitler, as it does to his ally Mussolini. The Fuehrer has failed in his direct attack, oni
The delay has been strange for as in so many cases the use of such co- operation has long been appreciated in Britain. We have only failed to exploit it to the full. Some years
Waiting Game ago, after much argu- ment, a Fleet Air Arm The Italian army based on was formed. It has done Libya is evidently, but one ele- up on Saturday, 2nd November, Although the whole found some ment of the right wing of the com- and more than 200 men stauone difficulty at the beginning in great work in this waring attack on Africa. If its com in various parts of the Islend More largely developed it mander, Graziani, has seemed in- packed their kitbags and returned bowing to that great feature of could do much more.
active since he crossed the Egypt- home after one month's intensive, the British Army, discipline, their aspect of their response to this ian frontier over a month ago training.
training demonstrated their quick A convoy needs protec- it is doubtless because he is wait- It would be true to say, with appreciation of its value.
ing for the development of the tion. The Admiralty offensive on the left wing, which!
this the conclusion of
The men themselves apart Britain. guards it from attack be- has been begun by the recent ad- training period prescribed under
The most favourable moments neath the seas. The Air yance of German troops across the Local Forces (Training) Or- from the regular instructors who dinance, that Singapore possesses took such a "sergeantly" interest the Balkans: towards the Black
deserve a for invasion has passed away a: Volunteer Force which knows in their welfare- Ministry guards it from Sea. attack from the skies. Is This German advance, which more to-day about the rudiments share in the credit for their me-His bombing raids on this coun
try have been hurled back, and, of warfare in Malaya than it has tamorphosis, be duplicated by there not some danger in Italian thrust
ever done.
They took an intelligent inter- their effect upon the warlike has across Greece to.
The emphasis during the train- 'est in learning their jobs, adapted spirit of the British nation
quickly to such divided responsibil-Salonica, can go no farther with-
their been to rouse it further. out coming up against the north- ing periods was laid on the .im themselves
While still keeping these islands ity? Is the 'plane, in fact, ern bulwark of the British post-portance of mechanised units in strange mode of life-for which not performing the same tion in the Near East-our sturdy modern warfare and all-round, they "cheerfully" accepted $7.42 under perpetual menace, he may
defence, and the lessons were at the weekly pay parade-and have determined to seek task as the destroyer? ally Turkey.
of the ex- displayed initiative, resourco and cheaper viotaries elsewhere. In defence of the integrity of illustrated with tales And does not the pilot who their own territory, we may be periences of famous regiments in: ingenuity in tactical
In conducting such an offensive against the "enemy."
on African soil, the geographical performs this service re-sure that the Turks would fight the recent Battle for France.
Illustrative of the ingenuity position of Germany and Italy quire training in seaman-obstacle in Hitler's path. 1 With the final salute they gave displayed was the effort of Private gives them a definite advantage. what ship as well as aeronau-
If Hitler should succeed, how- yesterday, volunteers and Depot 1.M. Nick, who was formerly in They would benefit by
strategists call "interior lines." For the Arst time the Axis Powers the would be at the centre
was to
an
well. They will be a formidable.
tics? An enlarged Fleet ever, whether by foree or by guile, recruits looked back half grimly the Russian Army.
in sidetracking Turkish oppost- and half humorously to the pro-
of Syria
fled weapon training.
schcmes
of
for
his other flank
In charge of a reconnaissance of cess which made them fit fighting Air Army, with bases on tion to the eastward march
them a sound patrol, he discarded his uniform German and Italian forces he men, which gave
a Chinese war. of shore as well as at sea, would find in the former French elementary and
practical know- for the clothes would greatly reduce the mandated territory
While maintaining air attacks ledge of battle manoeuvres, which squatter. Wearing a large straw introduced them to backbreaking hat and carrying a bundle of fire- chance of recrimination base for operations against Egypt pick and shovel work on trench wood, he penetrated the forward and the constant threat of inva- which is already being prepared lines emplacements, and lines of the enemy (represented sion against: this country on one between departments, and by the presence of an Italian mult lines and gun through intensi- by another platoon) and saunter- flank of his position, Hitler can
through their operate upon ed nonchalantly would place responsibility itary commission there.
area unrecognised by anybody, against. Africa.
about their numbers, In doing so he would still
close to his base, while our lines Thus the rough edges were of communication in opposing him pared from these civilian soldiers. would stretch round the Cape of Humorous incidents relieved, the Good Hope..... strenuousness of the exercises....
One infantryman still laughing-
At the same time, Spain, may
for all operations at sea be called on to give free passage 1 It was a toughening up. pro- to return with fairly: complete In- Squarely where it belongs to German troops to attack G cessas tough as it sounds which formation
on the Admiralty;
braltar in the hope of cutting off forged the men into a t-fighting positions, and activities. : British naval support through the force. The same argument ap- Mediterranean. plies with equal force to
:
be
One small contingent demon- The converging attack. ́against Egypt from the north and west strated in tactical exercises which
That, on the broadest scale, is the Army. A modern army would synchronise, with Italian were carried out in the last week without an air force is not attacks upon the Sudan from of camp, that: the raw material
Abyssinia, and across the south of four months ago can now take ly relates an experience on night,the background of the plans an army at all. The Watern desert of Libya from the on. cfficient place in the line with manoeuvres when he found him which: Hitler and Mussolini may: the British. regular troops in self entangled in barbed wire un- well have formed for the coming Office; of course; has al-
able to advance or withdraw, and winter, which is the most favour Singapore.
resigned himself to a long wait able season for a North African
offensive: ways received assistance
Four or five months ago a large before the exercise ended and ho from the Air Ministry, but which the commander on proportion of the mon had never could, without giving away anv They would. have many disad that is a far different land can understand. He handled a service rifb or under thing to the enemy, yell for help vantages of climate: and commi
Fortunately he did not have to nications to overcome, but in. es- thing from having an air requires something more gone any training in the rudi
ments of soldtering. Since then wait long; for a patrol came by timating the maximum effort of been ac and heard his plaintive "Will which one's adversários are cap- force under its own direct than skill in piloting an a transformation has
someone unlooser me, please?" uble it is wise to concede them.. orders. The man who flies aeroplane, He needs to complished: an aeroplane to aid land know what the soldier. There was a motley crowd in Oddly enough, the breaking of conditions more favourable than training. Managing Directora mar camp found many regrotting hav- they are likely to meet in prac-
tice, forces must be half a scout would look for And ched: shoulder to shoulder with ing to go back to the "old office
think all over soldier. He must know that calls for Army as clerks, Malayan Civil Service and learning to
Offcers from practically every again-hut perhaps this was only what to look for in terms well as Air Force training, Government depuumont crawda pretence.
Within the next few weeks, the great Battle of Africa may begin,