Victory Through Air Power Page #5

millions of men and machines...

in a clash

of steeI against steeI.

Should we concentrate

enough force...

to attack at any one point...

Hitler can

quickly shift his power...

and reinforce

the threatened sector.

No matter where we strike...

Hitler can

strike back swiftly...

with the right force

at the right place.

Should we strike from all sides

with superior force...

Hitler will contract his wheeI.

The spokes become shorter,

the rim thicker...

the whole structure stronger

and more nearly impregnable.

To successfully attack,

we must use a superior force...

and attempt to knock out

Hitler's equipment...

faster than he can replace it.

Tanks destroy tanks...

and our supporting

short-range aviation...

plays an important part...

by destroying

more of Hitler's equipment.

But with his factories

unmolested...

he can quickly fill the gaps...

by moving his supplies

short distances over dry land.

By contrast, our replacements

must be carried in transports

over those thousands

of perilous floating miles...

constantly under attack

from the enemy.

As long as we fight

on the surface of the earth...

Hitler has all the advantage.

But with the strategy

of air power...

the advantage is ours.

Air power ignores

the battlefronts of the rim.

By direct

and independent action...

it strikes at the hub.

With this all-important source

of enemy power knocked out...

the whole structure

will collapse...

and our surface forces...

will move in

and clinch the victory...

with a tremendous saving

in human lives.

This is the real teamwork.

This is the true role

of air power.

The present air offensive

against Germany...

is the beginning

of such strategy.

Already more than

50 industrial targets...

have felt

the sting of bombardment.

The Royal Air Force

has blazed a trail.

They are giving the Nazis

a thorough lesson...

in the proper use of air power.

Now, this is no accident.

Back in 1918...

in the very midst

of the last war...

the British people

had the wisdom and courage...

to take a bold step.

They divorced their Air Force

from their Army and Navy...

and set it up as a separate

and independent branch.

The entire air potential

of the country was unified.

As a result,

the Royal Air Force...

has been able to go ahead

and develop its strength...

free and unhampered.

American airmen have not

had the same opportunity.

They're still part and parcel

of our Army and Navy.

But recently,

under the pressure of events...

we have combined

our air strength...

with that of the British.

And now

some of our own airmen...

together with

the Royal Air Force...

are planning and carrying out

real air strategy.

As the United Nations

surround Nazi Europe...

with a ring of air bases,

the present-day bomber...

such as the British

Sterlings and Lancasters...

and our own Flying Fortresses

and Liberators...

with their striking radius

of 1,000 miles...

will be able to reach

every spot of the Axis anatomy.

Air power at last

will be in a position...

to score a major decision-

to bomb the enemy

into submission...

to knock

Germany out of the war.

But whether

this happens or not...

depends not on air power...

but again on

those same lines of supply.

Air power planted

on these distant bases...

far away from

its main source of supply...

is only as good as the supply

lines by which it is fed.

If these lines...

can supply the needs

of this ring...

present-day bombers

with their striking radius...

of 1,000 miles

will be able to do the job.

But in the Pacific,

they haven't got a chance.

Let's take our ring

and move it over Japan.

If our bases were this close,

it would be a simple matter.

But Japan's

sphere of domination...

is three times that of Germany.

Japan is far beyond our reach.

All military men agree

that Japan cannot be defeated...

until the source

of its power is destroyed.

They all agree that Japan

itself is the target.

But they all disagree

on how to get at it.

Some pin their hopes

on Siberia...

others on direct assault

from the sea...

with aircraft carriers.

Some still cling to

the island-by-island approach.

Some say China.

But they could not

strike on a big enough scale...

to knock Japan out.

China is isolated,

cut off from outside help...

on one side

by impassable mountains...

on the other three,

by the enemy.

The kind of air offensive

that could smash Japan...

would require millions

of tons of materiaI-

bombs, gasoline, oiI,

replacements.

All these vitaI supplies must

be brought in from the outside,

and with the only means

of delivery by air...

the task becomes impossible.

To reopen

surface supply lines...

we must drive the enemy

out of Burma...

Thailand, and Indochina.

This means another major war-

2,000 miles

through steaming jungles...

hacking our way inch by inch...

struggling over

formidable mountain barriers...

crawling through

fever-ridden swamps...

years of exhaustive fighting.

And even then, our bases

would still be dependent...

on the longest, most vulnerable

lines of supply...

on the face of the globe.

The Japanese are just as aware

of this as we are.

The instant

any attempt is made...

to use these air fields

for bombing raids...

against the Japanese homeland,

the jaws will close...

launching off another surface

struggle for air bases...

with the odds

all in favor of the Japs...

whose supply lines

are much shorter than ours.

Any such attempt will only

prove the superiority...

of land-based aviation

over carrier-based aviation.

The land-based plane

has the advantage of size...

range, and bomb load,

because it can take off...

from a runway

two or three miles long.

By contrast,

the carrier's runway...

is only

a fraction of this size.

Therefore, the plane itself

has to be much smaller...

which in turn reduces

the range and bomb load.

To destroy Japan with

these small doses of TNT...

would require not a hundred

but thousands of carriers.

Long before our floating

airfields could bring...

their short-range aviation

within striking distance...

Japan's powerfuI

land-based planes...

would reach far out

into the Pacific...

and our carriers would be under

constant merciless attack...

not only from above,

but from the surface...

and from below.

Aircraft brought on

these floating bases...

must share the same fate

as the fleet itself.

"Land-sea-air team

to clear path to Tokyo.

"Island to island amphibious

drive to whip Japan. "

Japan has already

fortified its new empire...

with a chain

of island strongholds...

converting every one of them...

into a powerfuI,

unsinkable air base.

Experience has proved

that to invade...

and reconquer

any of these islands...

is far too costly

in life, substance, and time...

for while we exhaust ourselves

attacking the outer fringe...

the enemy feverishly rakes in

the loot of his stolen empire-

oiI, copper, iron,

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