TOPICS OF THE DAY

Waikato Times, Volume 125, Issue 20986, 13 December 1939, Page 8

TOPICS OF THE DAY

Hooliganism in the Air “One can scarcely believe that a gambler of such undoubted ability as Hitler would not realise that the dice were heavily loaded against him. He must know that hooliganism in the air can be applied with certainty only when the opponent is weak in defence and powerless to retaliate. Similar tactics applied against the Allies would bring about a defensive action easily capable of destroying the major part of the striking force and a riposte sufficiently strong and deliberately directed to crush what was left of a crippled air force. It has been argued that losses in the air can be quickly made up and that machines could be produced to take the places of those brought down in the first raids. But the problem of manning the machines could not be so readily solved. A time would come, and come very quickly, if such drastic methods were adopted, when manpower would fail and the machine would become inoperative. Perhaps that explains Germany’s reluctance to launch her lightning war. One if left to theorise on how long she may care to believe the proverb that ‘One sword keeps another in its scabbard’.”—Glasgow Herald.