The Dominion. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 1918. THE AIR OFFENSIVE

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 119, 6 February 1918, Page 4

The Dominion. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 1918. THE AIR OFFENSIVE

: The recent German air raids on London and Paris arc not likely to have the effect of securing a patient hearing in Britain or France_ fol- - peace talk. The British and French publics are demanding with increasing emphasis that the Allies hit back every time, and hit harder and still harder. General Smuts, referring to the six raids on London during the full moon period between September 2<l and October 1, 19lV, remarked that cowards become more cowardly under threat of danger, but bravo men and women become more determined. He added: "The peoplft of London after these raids are thinking less of peace than ever before." What they are thinking of is reprisals in the form of a great and systematic campaign which will .carry the air war 'right into Germany on a much larger ■scale than anything that hitherto been attempted. In answer to. the strong demand for retaliation, Me. Lr,ovi) George said: "We will give it all back to them, and wc will give it soon. We shall bomb Germany with compound interest." Hysterical clamour for revenge can do no good. Whatever is done should be done not in a spirit of panic fury, but quite deliberately, and with a clearlydefined purpose. The main consideration should be military value. If we would form a right judgment regarding this problem of reprisals we must keep a firm hold upon our emotions and think steadily ._ For some time past both Britain and France have been hitting back in retaliation for the slaughter of civilians by German aircraft. This policy has met with the wholehearted approval of the great majority of Britishers, whose only complaint is that the return blows have not been hard enough; but there are some people—though not many —who are still not fully convinced that reprisals of this kind are morally justifiable. This uncertainty is largely due to a misunderstanding of the position. The doubtful ones seem to be under tho impression that when our airmen drop bombs on German towns they are doing something that Britain has solemnly agreed not to' do, and they feel that we, as a nation, are guilty of a breach of covenant. This is, of course, quite a mistake. All international agreements are binding oil both parties, arid if one party ignores or violates a compact the other party is forthwith freed from its obligations. As all the world knows Germany has in the most deliberate manner broken the agreement as regards air attacks as well as other rules of warfare, and the Allies are, therefore, fully justified in adopting a_ strong policy of systematic retaliation.

The moral aspect of tho question is clearly explained in an article in the London Tablet, of November 17. The writer points out that "with the convention violated, the matter of reprisals resolves itself into a technical military question as to whether such reprisals arc of any military value or not." "Military value" is a very comprehensive term. It includes in its scope all operations which tend to defeat the enemy by destroying bis physical powers or breaking his will by weakening his moral. After referring to certain fundamental principles of modern war tho writer referred to proceeds as follows;—

We must carefully distinguish between ads in war forbidden by natural law and such nets as are forbidden i-olely by reason of mutual agreement, Germany t'.oubtlesii sinned gravely in violating these solemn undertakings. If she came to consider tlio circumstances underlying her contract to have so substantially altered that she could no longer regard her pledge as obligatory, she was bound in natural justice to give timely warning of her intention. Once Ciermany criminally repudiated the conventions without due warning, her opponent was free, though oven then gravely handicapped. Lord Kitchener was eminently justified in preparing poisoned gas immediately that Germany had adopted it, and I could never understand the hesitation that prevailed, except on the grounds that people had come to regard what was wrong by reason of convention as wrong somehow in itself. So also with air reprisals. If they have a military vnluo in the physical or moral order—and Germany's action in thinking such raids have, a military value against us goes to prove that thoy would yield a military advantago against lier—the fact that by convention such raids were unlawful no longer obtains. The convention is broken.

When the Germans make air raids on London and other British towns they invite retaliation in kind. They have in the past taken the fullest "advantage of djnr unwillingness to add to the horrors of war by direct attacks on civilians. _ They regard chivalry as sheer foolishness, and as long as we fetter ourselves by unreasonable scruples they are positively encouraged to wallow in "frightfiilness." They feel that they can do it with impunity. The people of Germany must be made to realise that Britain is able to bomb back, and to give blow for blow.

As a matter of fact the Allies ! for some time past have been giving the Germans a taste of their own medicine. British and Frcnch airmen have made some very effective raids over the German frontier, and General Smuts recently mentioned that the- British Government have still bigger operations in view, and that it is intended to carrv on ah air offensive on an unprecedented scale against German cities. He went on to say that ever s : nce the Battle of the Somme the Allies have had a clear military superiority in the air, and on a small scale they could have bombed German centres as the enemy had bombed London. But they felt that they should prepare for delivering a really great blow. It would be quite a mistake to imagine that, even, up to the present, the balance has been at all in favour of Germany. In September last, according to General Smuts, our naval and military airplanes dropped 207 tons of bombs behind the lines 1 of the enemy. In the same period the enemy dropped four and a half tons of bombs on London. In that month we bombed the enemy on nineteen nights, chiefly attacking his airdromes, and damaging his machines. We also bombed his billets, trains, transport, and railway stations. Early in October Franco began a series of raids on German cities in retaliation for raids on French towns. Bombs were dropped on Stuttgart. Frankfort-on-the-Main, Rastatt, Baden Baden, Dortmund, Turingen, ancl other cities. Later news shows that this form of reprisals is still being continued. It is generally understood that the Allies propose to develop air _ warfare on a stupendous scale during the present year. America's entry into the conflict should enable them to launch and sustain an air offensive immensely superior to that oE the enemy. The United States Government recently decided to set aside over £100,000,000 for the construction of aircraft; and up to last November contracts for more than 20,000 airplanes had _ been let. Many competent authorities arc of opinion that before tha war comes to an end there will bo battles between huge fleets of aircraft, and that an air campaign of gigantic proportions will bo _ necessary to ensure the decisive victory of the Allies. They' hold that the final and overwhelming blow cannot be struck until America is able to put her whole might into the struggle.