1940-10-29 — Page 25

THE CHINA MAIL, OCTOBER 29, 1940.

GERMAN NEED FOR A QUICK RESULT

combat. It would need constant streams of munitionment ́ ́ ́ and these on a very large scale, Of this for all his habit of revelation THE ONE PRIME adiantage which the enemy cause he has not really solved the he, tells us nothing. Probably be- holds is that of numbers. It is a point we have in-problem to his own satisfaction. sisted upon over and over again, and there is the habit of self-revelation it is cur- more necessity for such insistence from the fact that,ious to note a certain superstition partly from lack of proportion, partly from the effect of propaganda, the full meaning of these numbers is not clearly presented to the public.

In connection with the enemy's

on the part of the enemy's Gen- eral Staff. They seem to attach importance to particular days. It was remarkable that they opened the invasion of Poland (and the

of this, which · they'

The main fact underlying all says nothing, and that is the launching the rest is the fact that the enemy, maintenance of his communica-hoped to make their victorious fin quite apart from his Mediterran- tions with the Continent, Unless al war) upon the anniversary of ean alliance, was originally much he can be assured of keeping such Sedan. It is also to be remem- more than equal numerically to communications the French and English combin-unimpaired, invasion, so far from they seem

permanent and bered that in the last Great War ed

to have crossed the profiting him, would lose him his frontier on the same day and at Since the French forces were invading force. For such a force the same hour as in 1870. There eliminated, the enemy's recruit must be kept in being, not only is nearly always an element of ing field that is the ultimate by obtaining the necessities manpower on which he can drawi

of superstition in such affairs, is much more than double our

own.

The Mass Attack

But having said so much, and fully considering that handicap against us (a handicap which has adversely affected neutral opinion of our chances), we may justly turn to the other side of the ques- tion. It is evident that the enemy is accelerating his pace. He is pushing his preparatory attack hard. It is much more than the "testing" which he has claimed it to be. It is rapidly becoming something, like a mass attack, so' far as the preliminary airwork is concerned, and is an acceleration in quality as well as in quantity, for the enemy envisages a steadily increasing attack upon our vital civilian centres, our urban popu- lation as well as our air bases, ports, and munition factories.

Why this accentuation of pace? First, there is the continual in- crease of our Air Force in ma- chines and trained pilots. Every day we approach more nearly to parity, and that with the added advantage of, on the whole, bet- ter machines and certainly better trained pilots. We are still a long way off equality in numbers, but the approach to it is, ceaseless. Unless the enemy has won his campaign before numerical su- 'periority in this vital arm passes to our side, he has lost the war. Need For Speed

That is one reason for the re- cent accentuation of his pace in air work. Another is-the-un-- certain margin of good weather remaining to him. When the storms come air work will be very different and the difference will not be in his favour.

Now, not only must the enemy act quickly in the time at his disposal but he must obtain a complete decision within that time. This is a consideration that *must have haunted the enemy General Staff ever since the at- tack on Poland was launched close on a year ago. Increasing success, increasing occupation of territory, even the vastly increas- ed numerical advantage obtained by the collapse of French resis- tance, are still conditioned, and more and more conditioned, by the necessity for a rapid victor- ious conclusion.

Enemy's Advantages

his!

the

the the

To obtain such a decision old original advantages are still with him: the remarkable excel- lence of his staff work, the unity of his internal government, perfection of his intelligence de- partment. This last advantage we should do well to bear in mind continually. When enemy was tracking, down- King of Norway last year. they were informed of his every move, and he narrowly escaped with his life. They have been informed of most of our moves, far more than we have been informed of theirs, and, most remarkable of all, noth- ing of great moment in their plans has ever leaked out.

The new tanks which were the main element of victory last May came as a surprise. So, much earlier, did the deal with Moscow come as a surprise. So does the enemy's deceptive candour” re- peatedly come as a surprise." Only the other day he was announcing the new intensity of his air attack and telling us openly how he in- tended to follow it up by what he called "the difficult job of landing troops." "Difficult" is the operative word!

An Unsolved Problem

But there is something much more difficult of which the enemy

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