| Show the beginning 1 nd the end NE of the witnesses lit nesses in the mitchall trial put on by the war de 0 apartment part ment to moke light of tho the part airplanes will play in the next war said sai id that of course the war would begin in tho the air but would end in the mud perhaps that was wai only saying that the combatant inferior in airplane strength would be named mud in the end it is stra strange tige alint an obsession the old line militarists have in the matter of air air craft being merely auxiliary to ground operation operations instead of an of fensiN 05 and defensive e force of their own bt arting from the statement that war will begin in the air what is to take it out of the airl tho the mobility of airplanes their ability to go where thoy will and select what points of attack they choose avo ding fixed defense defens ew macej other aircraft in superior force the only reliable defense against them when that ie is lacking the war fitas stabs in the air and holds the inferior enemy bel helpless pless on the other hand wh ahn a the defenders by superior equipment drive off oft or de btroy the invading invade ing air fleet no other form of invasion could succeed against them all this means that with a dominating air force no nation needs a huge army tho the situation will bo be much as it was in in 1898 in manila commodore dewey had the city at his mercy with his fleet but he lie did not take it till ho he had enough soldiers sent over to serve as an army of occupation and police the conquered that will be tho the real army job in the next great war the first struggle will be for command of the air when that shall have been dominantly settled ground forces will bo be auxiliary to the dominating air force in stead of reverse as i is s now sought to be established in the coart martial of mitchell it is impossible to look into the future with recollection of the past without seeing this clearly |
