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© Paul Thompson 



FRENCH OBSERVATION BALLOON, OR ELEPHANT 



powerfully equipped bombarding planes 

 can reach and destroy? 



ATTACKING THE ENEMY'S MOST VULNER- 

 ABLE POSITION 



It is the problem of the employment of 

 bombarding or bomb-dropping planes, in 

 cooperation with the other branches of 

 the army, that we are about to consider. 



In general, it may be assumed that all 

 objectives on the battlefield which are 

 beyond the range of the guns may be 

 effectively bombarded by airplanes, pro- 

 vided these objectives are large enough 

 to be easily hit. It must be remembered 

 that bomb - dropping by airplanes, al- 

 though well conducted with the most ac- 

 curate devices for sighting and launching, 

 never attains the precision of artillery 

 fire. It would therefore be useless to at- 

 tempt the destruction of small objectives. 



Without undertaking the description of 

 the battlefield itself, with its first and sec- 

 ond line trenches continually exposed to 

 the fire of the enemy, I wish to mention 

 the principal organizations, which are lo- 

 cated immediately back of this fighting 

 zone of about eight miles. In this region 

 of comparative safety the troops are as- 

 sembled for an attack. 



There one finds the army supply sta- 



tions, artillery depots, ammunition de- 

 pots ; also the airplane landing fields, with 

 their hangars, their machines, their roll- 

 ing stock. Lastly, it is in this region that 

 the soldiers are located to rest after their 

 sojourn in the trenches, and where they 

 can profit by the relative quiet to obtain 

 the necessary relaxation for their nerves 

 after the rude shocks of battle. 



This zone is reached only by an occa- 

 sional very rare shot from special long- 

 range guns, which are not often used on 

 account of the great expense and the 

 great difficulty and long delays involved 

 in moving and mounting them on new 

 foundations. It follows, therefore, that 

 the rear of the battlefield is densely oc- 

 cupied, very vulnerable, and practically 

 unmolested. 



These are the three essential conditions 

 for the profitable employment of bomb- 

 droppmg airplanes, and these are the real 

 military reasons why our fighting squad- 

 rons have expended their energies in op- 

 erations over the rear lines of the enemy 

 rather than in distant raids of doubtful 

 military value. In regard to this question 

 of the choice of objectives, I think you 

 will agree with me that the excitement 

 caused by the long-distance raids hardly 

 compensates for the slight gain. 



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