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Show AIR CAMPAIGNS Sepend UPON GROUND BASES The invasion of Crete by German Ger-man parachutists, owed its success to the control of the air, acquired by the use of thousands of German Ger-man airplanes. The strategists are wondering if this island conquest may prove to be the testing ground of tactics that will, some time, pave the way for a successful invasion of Great Britain. There is no way to tell. Certainly, Certain-ly, if Germany ever manages to control the air over England the island will be in grave danger of invasion and conquest. Whether this will happen remains to be seen. Obviously, the British are better prepared to contest aerial mastery over England than they were in Crete. Equally apparent is the undoubted un-doubted fact that Germany has hundreds of air bases within striking strik-ing distance of England. It would be possible, we presume, for the Germans to launch a stupendous aerial attack upon the airfields of Great Britain with the idea of putting put-ting them out of commission, and the effort might succeed. This is the danger that the British Bri-tish face now. Outnumbered in the air in modern warfare is just like being outgunned in earlier wars, with the difference that aerial ar- tillery strikes at 300 miles an hour. The defense is yet to be found for night attacks and only offensive tactics, destroying enemy bases, can protect a nation from threatened threat-ened disaster. This conclusion explains the insistence in-sistence of President Roosevelt that the United States must prevent enemy nations from acquiring bases from which to launch aerial assaults upon us. If we stand by, while Germany advances her bases toward this continent, our position will be dangerous. |