DEFENCE OF FRANCE.

Taranaki Central Press, Volume IV, Issue 336, 18 January 1937, Page 3

DEFENCE OF FRANCE.

Air Attacks Would Hamper

Mobilisation.

General Debeney, former Chief of the French General Staff, writing in the “Revue des Deux Mondes,” predicts that if France was attacked the offensive would take the form of a surprise blow in which all the mechanical armaments available would be used simultaneously. There would, he believes, be an assault by a mass of tanks, supported by gas apd smoke Sombs. Meanwhile, the enemy air fleet would seek to penetrate into the heart of the country, attacking aerodromes, railway junctions, and important industrial centres, and raining explosive, incendiary, and asphyxiating bombs on the big cities, and, particularly, the capital. The aim would be to smash the transport organisation and other essential services, as well as shatter the nation's morale and create panic. On the frontier a series of intense offensives would be launched, in the hope of a quick victory. After stating that France has 20 mobilised divisions spread all over the country, General Debeney adds that air attacks would hamper general mobilisation and threaten the nation’s war supplies. “I believe,” he says, "that, no matter what is said to the contrary, anti-aircraft armament is by no means useless, and it appears to me to be possible to ward off the air danger from certain points and perhaps from certain zones. "On the other hand, the nation's war supplies and resources of all. kinds, spread all over the country, | are liable to suffer heavy damage.! For the moment only a powerful air I force can ward off the danger by the threat of reprisals.”