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Aviation History
1945
1945 - 0633.PDF
and AIRCRAFT ENGINEER FIRST AERONAUTICAL WEEKLY IN THE WORLD .• FOUNDED 1909 Editor C. M. POULSEN Managing Editor G. GEOFFREY SMITH, M.B.E. War Correspondent JOHN YOXALL Editorial, Advertising and Publishing Offices Telegrams : Truditur, Sedist, London. COVENTRY : BIRMINGHAM, 2 : B in rnRPORATinN ST GUILDHALL BUILDINGS, 8-10, CORPORATION ST. N A v I G A T I O N S T. Telegrams : Autocar, Coventry. Telegrams : Autopress, Birmingham. Te/epbone ; Coventry 5210. Te/ephone: Midland 297 1 (5 lines). DORSET HOUSE, STAMFORD STREET, LONDON, S.E.1 Telephone : Waterloo 3333 (35 lines). MANCHESTER, 3 : GLASGOW, C.2 : 260, DEANSGATE. 26B, RENFIELD ST.. Telegrams : Iliffe, Manchester. Telegrams : Iliffe, Glasgow. Telephone: Blackfriars 4412. Telephone : Central 4857. No. 1S93. Vol. XLVII. Registered ot the G.P.O. as a Newspaper. April 5th, 1945 cThe Outlook Thursdays. One Shilling. Over the Rhine OUR commanders, including, presumably, FieldMarshal Montgomery, are learning the art of usingairborne troops. A good General is a scholar in his own profession, and a scholar is never too old to learn. When dealing with new weapons and new sorts of troops, knowledge often has to be gained by the method of trial and error. It is a long time since British parachutists were first dropped, experimentally, in Cala- bria ; and if any survivors of that original body took part in the recent landing east of the Rhine, they must have rejoiced to see how the art of using airborne troops has lately progressed. ^ Naturally, the chief contrast has been drawn be- tween the landings at Arnhem and at Wesel. In the first case the chance of surprise was placed before everything else, and three areas were occu- pied by airborne troops before the ground troops moved at all. Then Montgomery'sent his armour racing up through a narrow corridor, which was fre- quently cut by the enemy. The armour was able to join up with the airborne men at Eindhoven and Nijmigen, but failed to reach Arnhem. In that area the airborne troops met with something like a disaster. Their hero- ism did not prevent heavy casualties, and secured no ground. Great risks had been taken with the narrow corridor; but finally that was made good. In last week's operation the ground troops moved first, and moved on a broad front. That is not to say that the airborne contingent waited to hear that the crossing had been accomplished before they started ; but it arrived very shortly after the ground troops were established on the east bank of the river. The two movements were almost simultaneous; but the airborne men were not left to their own resources for several days. They linked up almost immediately with the troops who had been ferried across the Rhine. The new tactics brought im- mediate success. Incidentally, surprise was this time out ot the ques- tion, for the Germans knew that when the 21st Army Group moved it would reach Germany at the point most favourable for invasion. But they could do nothing to stop it. The whole operation is one more example of the fer- tility and flexibility of Sir Bernard Montgomery's mili- tary mind. One remembers that previous to Alamein the Germans had thought that"they had established the prin- ciple, that armour should lead an attack. Montgomery sent his infantry and engineers on ahead, and did not commit his armour until the way was cleared. Now either he or some superior authority has seen the desir- ability of reversing the methods used at Arnhem, and the result has been a resounding success. Exports LTHOUGH springing trom different sources, and having no direct connection, two recent announce mems have points of contact in that both are designed to . focus attention on that vitally important subject, British export trade. One was the formation of the British Export Trade Research Organisation (BETRO for short), and the other a Memorandum issued by the Council of the Trade and Technical Press. The former is a plan for co-operative British market research overseas. The promoters are some 16 leading industrial companies and a number of advertising agencies. It is proposed that there should be two classes of membership: founder members and ordinary members. We might mention that the Iliffe Group of journals has applied for founder membership. It is A1
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