| Show amat mated ed after 6 months month S bense outshines Out shines offense by y H V kaltenborn RN noted radio commentator comment ato six and events 0 fight r neutral pow gun to fight for e small wonder that the late senator borah called this a phoney war only in finland is there a major military effort an and d mighty soviet russia does not even ad admit mit that she has gone to war against little finland when the war began no one expected soviet russia s ia to participate in military opera oper a eions and no one expected finland to be Liva fAva ded on the other hand everyone expected an Imie immediate diate air raid by hundreds of bombing planes on the capitals of europe and for weeks the headlines spoke of the coming big offensives on the th maginot and siegfried U lines neither 1 1 the raids nor the offensives dew developed during the first halt half year of fighting why defense Is major factor the primary reason is that in modern modem war defense is stronger than offense the war in spain showed the world that air attack on an large cities is tremendously destructive tive but it also showed that it is not likely to be decisive the expense in planes places fuel bombs and aviators who do not return is apt to offset the military advantages gained in any mass bombing flight and the effect on neutral opinion of 0 the killing ol of thousands of ft women and children together with the destruction st of historic monuments in e cities I 1 ties far away from any actual fighting zone might well be disastrous the fear of such wholesale air raids led prance france and britain to surrender at munich now after a year and a half of additional intensive preparation for air defense they no longer fear german attack they are prepared to meet it and could make it so costly that it would probably not be repeated the success successful cess defense of the mannerheimo Man line against the most highly concentrated soviet military effort showed the strength of defense fortifications in modern war why poland was weak the two great surprises of this war so far have been polands bolands Po lands weakness and Fin lands strength po lands weakness arose from a lack of national unity and domination of the illiterate masses by an aristocratic caste in the larger sense the government of poland was nel nei ther popular nor efficient the finnish people are literate sturdy and possess a strong sense ot of social and political independence just as the failure ot of polands bolands Po lands defense plan undermined morale the success of Fin lands well organized plan of defense has given tremendous encouragement to the army the people and the government but the success of the german blitzkrieg against poland and the failure of dussias Rus sias blitzkrieg against finland depended primarily on the difference between the attacking armies the german army was well organized well equipped well directed the russian army is borly organized poorly equipped and suffers bad generalship western we item lines invulnerable already Fin lands Manner belm helm line has withstood an overwhelming russian assault for more than three months it is apparent therefore that the much more completely organized and much deeper maginot and siegfried lines would be similarly invulnerable to attack and whereas russia has a superiority of something s om ething like 20 to I 1 against finland fins the forces lined up on both sides of the french frontier are practically equal infighting strength in considering the progress of this war we we are too much inclined to td dwell on military factors yet during this first halt balf year the military front has been less important than the diplomatic front and the economic front there kes has even been a i more continuous exchange of a ammunition m on the propaganda front than between the fighting armies themselves radio and loudspeaker systems have made it possible for belligerent totals to one another inces y A y 4 r V A V 7 wf BRITAIN GUARDS THE SEA somewhere in the north sea a multiple antiaircraft anti aircraft gun aboard a british mine sweeper watches for enemy raiders directly on the fighting lines or indirectly through the air waves nazi leaders are apprehensive about casualties in the propaganda battle they impose severe punishment on anyone who listens to a foreign broadcast the british and french on the other hand have enough confidence in their people to permit them to listen to whatever dr goebbels orders said more activity on spa sea at sea a war of movement has been possible this is why there has been much more activity at sea than on land britaina Brit ains control of the sea has again demonstrated its importance the german fleet is bottled up except for submarines the german navy and the german merchant marine have been swept from the seas the near E eastern astern franco british army of half a million men under the leadership of general is now waiting in syria ready tor for instant action against russia or germany in any part of the balkans this army may yet prove the decisive military factor in this war allied victories in palestine and turkey presaged the collapse of the central powers in 1918 germanys germanas Germ anys commerce raiders were swept from the seas much more quickly than during the world war the graf spee lies wrecked in montevideo harbor alter after being put out of action by the combined efforts of three small british cruisers the deutschland Deutsch land her sister pocket battleship thought it best to return to a safe german harbor nazis stress U boat warfare but raiding with surface ships is a minor factor in germanys germanas Germ anys sea warfare against britain and france the germans remembered how close they came to forcing a decision with their submarines during the world war they had bad from 60 to 75 submarines ready when the war began for the first few weeks of the war they used these to excellent advantage then the protective measures which britain developed during the world war and since became effective the larger ships were sent out in convoy airplane patrols were created minefields mine fields against submarines were established anti and all the resources of the british navy were mobilized against the U boats on the whole they have proved effective in six months the british have lost tons of merchant ships at the same time the french lost tons and the neutrals tons this makes a total of a little over tons losses not important but nothing in these losses produced by mines and submarines sub marinis even suggests the possibility of a decisive result the british merchant marine alone totals tons tons the british claim that deducting from their losses purchases and new construction their net loss in six months of warfare has been less than tons it t is also probable that the lo 10 losses will decrease rather thin than increase since at sea as well as on land defense is proving itself stronger than attack Al already readi submarine torpedoes ire are tat far less successful in destroying shipping than mines thin the new ew magnetic mine sown by the germans proved very destructive lor for the first few weeks in which it was used then more effective mine sweeping 9 methods and the establishment of narrow ship channels which were carefully patrolled reduced the ou successes C of germanys germanas Germ anys mine la laying airplanes british also unsuccessful on the other hand the british have been no more successful in their raids against the german navy both german and british submarines have destroyed on an occasional cas ional warship but these forays have been costly to the submarines attempting them the british and french claim to have sunk between 40 and 50 german submarines since the beginning of the war the germans admit the loss of less than halt half this number yet whenever a submarine Is lost the entire crew Is lost with it it and I 1 it t takes five years to train men to handle a submarine under war conditions talk about the germans building one submarine a day aday is nothing more than talk it is more likely that the germans are completing anywhere from six to ten U boats a month which is just about the rate at which they are being destroyed already planning for or peace there Is then nothing decisive in action at sea or in the air defense is stronger than attack but what about the economic front that Is probably the most important front of all and the one that will be dominant long after the war has ended already secretary ol of state hull Is negotiating with the neutral powers to work out a plan of economic reconstruction the plan must be ready for instant application on the day of the armistice if europe Is not to sink in to chaos when the fighting ends every country in europe neutral and belligerent alike has mortgaged its future only it 4 the new world remains out of the war and stands ready to lend its resources tor for european reconstruction is there any hope of true peace europe was ready tor for revolution before the war came and will be much more ready tor for it when the war is done what after collapse 7 france and britain count on economic pressure to bring about the collapse of germany but one wonders whether they have asked themselves what then will they march into germany at the head ot of a victorious army establish a new kaiser and a new junker government or will they stand aside while germa nys underground communist movement reasserts asserts re its itself e 1 1 and 8 nd ca calls ils a out ut for assistance to the red brethren in moscow there Is the third possibility of organizing gan izing those liberal forces that I 1 have either been driven out of germany or driven under cover within germany and helping them to reestablish constitutional government by granting them a generous peace that would be the hardest task romania under pressure meanwhile there is more pressure behind the economic than behind the military war members ot of the rumanian government are being bribed bulldozed flattered and ca jol edby both sides fides both are seeking to purchase Ru manias oil and Ru manias grain each wants it so that the other cannot have it it the french and british offer gold the G germans e arran a threaten war so tar far king carol has kept a precarious balance britain and france continue to guarantee his frontiers and king carol remembers the buiz blitzkrieg against poland poland had been given the same guarantees on the diplomatic front the AJ lied powers won their greatest victory to in winning turkey to their cause this gives them control of the dardanelles Darda nelles and the black sea in case of war with Rii russia isia it also assures france and britain complete dominance of the Medi terrane an thereby discouraging italy from siding with germany Me released leased by western newspaper union |
