Show economic national and problems inseparable from froin local welfare one odthe aft the breatt grea tand a ind as aa yet iiii unanswered questions of military nolence la Is tibia which is 6 the most v ual weapon alf air power orsea or sea power feu of af fifteen yea rugo 4 ago aji buu lau strategist developed the that thai uio the bombing airplane bad aae aade all other vre weapons apons ot of war al alost aka the nation with strength la in the ithe skies force any enemy to capita ate in iii a matter of weeks that abory which was more or less idely acce accepted pied by idie germand Ger maul ats aa proven wrong britain has beel iven incredible t by the aft naffe with no reak in the peoples morale and aith ita relatively little effect on industrial industrial production Amo Luer school which had bad man followers in england and this country held that the airplane highly develop edas 1 it t might be would be nothing more than an auxiliary aucilla ry weapon biati battle flleta I 1 ud and land armies would still be the determining a w J g 1 factors t 0 r A and u d hat theeo vc t that theory r y ah haa aa also lw proven 0 v e a a M mistaken la one germanys germanas Germ anys air power WAS her bar prime weapon in effecting successes in poland the low tlde 0 countries oui tries and elese where to 0 a cry great extent the heich land simply mopped up after the air ir division Uvis iona sd imal terrorized Ia tlorA cont confused contused used opposing armies I 1 and made effectual resistance ros latance impossible one thing the battle of cretai arett may do la Is to supply so of an answer to the long air power argument it is not ia a perfect test teat but it is the best test teat thab has yet occurred the british have overwhelming sell power andi and british squadrons did yeaman work in ia scattering ind and german seaborne sea borne trana ports the germans have overwhelming wh elming air power and their air transports transi porta have successfully landed thousands of crack nazi troops at vital points german casualties harve hare apparently been thigh how evex enough men have hare been safely with adequate equip equipments mento to io malce make the british position adir difficult one me according to late reports it R british loses crete it will be to bo some biome extent admission au ati that air power is superior to sea power further Burh her it would bean bo an extremely serious loss losa and would mean the end aud of british naval influence la in the I 1 Des destruction trudon of the battle cruiser hood ty by the new german battleship bismarck must be described as a a disaster the HOW hood despite her years was tile the fastest and most powerful ashla of the line in the world and was waa one of the very few ships which could meet bleet the now BOW german super gaper men of war on even een terms in both speed and firepower she was considered virtually unsinkable ly by some experts es perta and ad she bhe was depended upon as a dominant factor actor in keeping abrib alna wa sea lanes lanea open the one psychological effect ot of her loss laanen ini an engagement 7 ga in which the gernian german fleet was given little punishment will be very bad ills it Is a safe pre abat the british admiralty will move more heaven and earth to retaliate tal litte by destroying the bismarck however Hw wr even without the hood the british have 15 16 battleships to Hit hitters lers four our so eo there should be no danger of the germans seriously british sea supremacy unless hitters Hit lers captains can perform formulary for many more ma miracles comparable to the up of the hood best chance hitler has haa of materially alta hiskea his aea arm Is ac or of the frence Brenc tC fleet only tle the incurably optimistic now alow benere bel loeve that uie the pro aads vichy government would do much 10 to prevent this admiral darlan darian second lit in minand oco to the ancient lui clent and all I 1 ng marshal Feti ln Ls is violently auti there Is some crid criticism elsm in high quarters of rf our present army amy program sr r the critics argue that too many of our ranking officers are still in terms of the last laet avar war and have boom been incredibly blind to the lessons of war the annig program calls for few mechanized ib 0 vio loona backbone la is still the traditional infantry while there will bo bom more 06 specialization than istl in tho jagt the emphasis will remain on tremendous of men with only bold baale training the believe that what we need is a small mobile specialized per cent mechanized army they point out that the german divis divisions lons which defeated the french army of numbered only men and that german casualties were wen astonishingly light the german theory seems to be that one oae thoroughly trained soldier with modern modem weapons Is ia worth a dozen down ordinary soldiers armed only with a rifle and bayonet and so far that theory has haa worked dangerously well there Is likely to be talk lu in congress about this aoa there may bo be demands that the army change its ita program in the light of what has happened in europe those demands will be backed by many an expert it Is true that the army has haa often resisted radical change the case of t general billy mitchell la Is one in point lie he was demoted fol 01 criticizing the army command for or not doing more to develop all air power some say aay this athla extreme con sin is the result of the krin arin mys Ys elstean of promoting officers largely through the seniority system em instead of on the basis ot merit alone our generals average about 60 years inage in age hitters average 15 45 everyone knows what happened to france which pinned its faith on oil great masses of infantry lafa nit and old type artillery backed by such impregnable fixed positions eions as the Magi maginot flot line |