Evening Star Newspaper, May 12, 1940, Page 7

* By BEN H. PEARSE. ‘War’s newest technique, the drop- ping of fully equipped troops behind enemy lines by parachute, is strictly an American invention. If the present war in Europe is distinguished by military historians for the use of parachute troops, as the World War was for the first use of airplanes, gas and tanks, it will ™= because of the foresight of an Army master sergeant who more than 10 years ago demonstrated this “new” technique at Brooks Field, Tex. Press dispatches first from Fin- land, later from Norway, and now from Holland and, Belgium are filled with reports of troops, arms and ammunition dropped from the skies like men from Mars, “suicide squads” employed on a wide scale to prepare the advance for the main forces striking with lightning swiftness. All this was foreseen more than a decade ago by the late Master Sergt. Erwin H. Nichols, U. §. Army Air Corps, the Army’s first parachute instructor and inventor of an “ar- ticle carrier” adapted to hold “ma- chine guns and the like,” which it is desired “shall reach the earth ex- peditiously and with safety.” Their Function. Terrified Dutch burghers and sur- prised Dutch troops saw little bands of German soldiers drop out of the clouds just at dawn Friday in a sudden, carefully planned attack on widely separated points designed to seize and hold, if even only tem- porarily, strategic airfields, commu- ‘nications centers, truck and rail lines. Their purpose was not primarily to conquer enemy territory. That was for the main force, if and When it arrived. Their mission was to distract, confuse, disorganize the Dutch resistance, disperse the Dutch troops by setting up a score, a hundred isolated centers of resis- tance, each of which would have to be “mopped up” in turn. The sum ] total of these separate efforts would be a major operation, and going behind its lines would lend an air of uncertainty to the situation likely to react favorably to the Germans. It is part of the “war of nerves.” | Ralph Bottriell, who received a Last week's parachute invasion | Distinguished Flying Cross for his was the first use of the “new” | Work in parachute development, was technique on a large scale, hut it | One of the best known enlisted men had been used experimentally and | in the Air Corps. with considerable success, accord- | Patsated His Idea. ing to military advices here, in For many years he had seen the Norway and also during the Fin- possibilities in dropping troops be- nish campaign by Soviet troops. hind enemy lines, but there was Discount Parachute Losses. always the problem of providing Military observers who take | them with equipment and supplies, foreign army communiques with a |especially ammunition. A man grain of salt, no matter from which | needs both hands and feet for his gide they come, are inclined to|own protection in landing with a discount claims that parachute | parachute and could not carry a troops have been picked off “like | machine gun or enough supplies to clay pigeons” from the ground.|last any considerable length of time. ‘They have noted also an improve- | How to devise a means of getting ment in method designed to mini- | equipment to men on the ground mize likelihood of losses. without damage was tne problem to “Apparently the Russians, who|which he set his inventive genius, were the first to use paracnute|and which he finally solved. The troops in actual warfare, started |solution is contained in Patent No. out by releasing their men at too | 1,944,801, applied for November 7, high an altitude,” one officer | 1929, granted January 23, 1934, al- guessed. “The vertical rate of des- | most three years after his death. A cent of & man in an openea para- | copy may be obtained from the chute is about 18 feet per second, | United States Patent Office for 10 not too fast to make a good target. | cents, with a complete description “The Germans last week appar- |and illustrated with drawings show- ently had profited by the lessons |ing its entire construction down to learned in Finland and were drop- | the last stitch of reinforcement. ping their men from less than 500 “This invention relates,” says feet altitude, allowing just enough | Sergt. Nichols in the language of the time for the parachutes to open |traditional patent application, “to and break their fall Lefore they |improvements in parachute appa- landed.” ratus * * * for the dropping of ar- Army officers here were watching | ticles from aircraft which it is de- the development of the parachute |sired shall reach the earth expediti- attack with eager interest. The sub- | ously and with safety.” Ject has been widely discussed since | Its primary object, he explains, is Sergt. Nichols gave his first official | to provide an improved container of demonstration before a class of |a “practical, durable and quickly -students at the Primary Flying |opened type” to permit articles to be School at Brooks Field in October, | lowerea by parachute “with a maxi- 1929. At the Command and General | mum degree of safety to the articles Stafl School at Fort Leavenworth, | and with but little liability of dam- Kans., his method has been dubbed | age to either the articles or the the “vertical envelopement,” contalner when the latter engages Tested in Texas. Without making any impressive display, it has been tested out in various maneuvers and two years 2go was given an exhaustive test in the cavalw my vers in Texas, which are strikin.., pertinent in the light of the latest dispatches from Europe. For several days, an isolated cavalry detachment was supplied with food, ammunition and supplies entirely by air and fought off a much larger force of the enemy. Military observers fanfliar with the “proble.” recalled Narvik, where & German force is now repeating the exercise under actual war conditions, cut off from all contact with the main German forces except by air. ———— AMERICAN _INVENTION— Russian' soldiers are shown, above, demonstrating how parachute troops are used to land in enemy territory. 8Shown, in inset, is the late Master Sergt. Erwin H. Nich- ols, United States Army Air Corps, who invented the “ar- ticle carrier” by which ma- chine guns and other supplies could be dropped by para- chute without damage. Pic- tureq, lower, is Sergt. Nichols’ invention in use. a descent.” Container Padded. points out, to .provide apparatus which will enable personnel, machine guns, ammunition, supplics, and so — In the latest rep‘or‘t.s from abroad, id they were still holding out. n“u undi:sgng ;horO:zhnlimme Mother’s Ihy Spuhl tuation olland an lum 1 today, it will be helpful to go back FRESH STRAWBERRY more than 10 years, the morning of October 17, 1929, when Sergt. Nichols’ plan for dropping & machine gun squad behind enemy lines first came to ‘official notice. A native of Lorain, Ohio, he enlisted in the Army during the World War and continued in the service, specializing in parachutes. He was the Army's first parachute instructor and with Master Sergt. & Vanilla Ice Cream Cake el $1 50 in dry ice. WASHINGTON MAID ICE CREAM CO. ATLANTIC 6030 N the earth or ather obstruction after It has beew. thought advizable, he | THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, MAY 12, 1940 —PART ONE. Willkie Charges New Deal Theory and Equipment of Parachute Troops Are Inventions of American Army Sergeant forth, to be expeditiously placed at strategic points during warfare, be- yond the enemy’s lines, or at points which might otherwise be inaccess- ible in time of war. The vital factor is to provide an effective means of dropping any character of article with safety, dispatch and in a man- ner which will enable cirect access to the article within a very short period of time after landing. ‘The shape and formation of the container may vary considerably according to what it is to hold. It is made of flexible material, in- ternally padded to provide one or more compartments, the padding “preferably being of material hav- ing a specific gravity lower than water, since it is conceivable that by accident or premeditation, the carrier may be dropped upon a body of water.” More important still, the upper part is split longitudinally and held shut with a fastening device oper- ated by a rip cord. One jerk on the rip cord ring and the whole top flies open, exposing the machine gun, ammunition or whatever the contents may be more quickly than if it were operated with a zipper. Everything is designed for speed. Release of the Pack. The pack is suspended beneath the wing of the plane from a re- leasing device such as an ordinary bomb rack, operated by a lever in the cockpit or bomb bay in the nose of the ship. When it is re- leased, & wire securely fastened to the wing pulls out the rip cord of a parachute strapped to the side of the pack, the parachute opens and the pack floats to the ground. Six planes in two three-ship “V” formations flew over Brooks' Pield that day. Out of the rear cockpits of the second formation three men jumped simultaneously. A fraction of a second later three dark objects about the size of a man's body were released from beneath the lower wings of the other three planes and spectators saw six parachutes float down to earth in the center of the landing field. The men landed first, quickly unhooked their ‘chutes and were already -on the run when the three large containers dropped from | the other planes bounced to the | ground a few rods away. After they reached them, it took 30 seconds | for the three men to open the zon- | ) | tainers, set up a machine gun, pour | a gallon of water into the water Jjacket, insert a clip of cartridges and start firing. The demonstration was repeated often thereafter, sometimes at, the Air Corps Training Center gradua- tion exercises, sometimes for dis- tinguished guests, and the specta- tors always were impressed, by the efficiency of the men in assembling the gun if not the larger implica- tions of the maneuver. Could Do Lots of Damage. “You could never occupy a large country like France or Germany with the troops that could be landed by parachute,” he used to tell reporters, “but you could cer- tainly do a lot of damage. “Imagine landing not two or three squads, but 50 or 100, at strategic places behind the enemy lines at a decisive moment. Many ot them would be lost, yes, but think of what they could do before they were cap- tured and think of the trouble and effort the enemy would have to put forth before they were captured. “They could cut telephone and power lines, take over rail heads not heavily fortified in the rear areas, disrupt communications and generally disorganize things. A force behind the lines, no matter how small, is bound to demoralize the enemy. He has to stop what he is For the past 28 years the name “Shah” has been associated with the optical professi in Washington. This sig, that ous Yes, genuine Kryptok in, visible bifocal lenses. Ony pair to see far and near, Complete with high-gradey frame. Eyes examined by registered optometrist. .| in the United States were made. INVISIBERE R a e g:}'c',sé'};._G_lasscs P doing and concentrate on ' capturing the troops in 50 or 100 different possibilities, I tell 8hortly after the first official demonstration, the Irving Air Chute Co, Inc., of Buffalo, N. Y,, to ahom he had as- signed his patent, received its first large order. It was from the Amtorg Trading Corp. of New York OCity, the government agency of the U. 8. 8. R., through which all purchases The remainder of the story is fairly recent history. in Russia, parachute jumping reached the pro- portions of the recent jitterbug fad. From time to time, dispatches and pictures showed the empnasis the Russians seemed to be putting on air strength and the parachute in- vasion seemed to be strongly indi- cated. Army observers here are inclined to believe it has a definite tactical value in certain types of operations and that the Germans have em- ployed it in the phase of warfare most likely to bring the best re- sults, in a surprise operation at the outbreak of hostilities. “In the presence of well trained troops, adequately armed with weapons to repel attack by aircraft or men in parachutes,” one official explained, “casualties would prob- ably be too high to warrant the risk. ‘Well Used in Holland. “Landing parachute troops behind the Maginot Line to cut a rajlroad supply line, for example, Would mean nothing. There are enough supplies under the Maginot Line to last for a year or two, even if the enemy force could maintain itself for that long. “But in a situation such as ex- ists in Holland, where the opposing troops have not yet formed well defined lines of battle, where the military situation is changing every hour, or even every minute, such an attack can be and probably has been important far beyond the mere number of men involved. “At the moment when a German army was crossing the border with- out any warning, and needs to con- centrate all its effort in one di- rection, the Dutch high command is faced with a score or more, no one knows how many, separate iso- lated areas of resistance within its lines. If the Germans manage to delay a troop train only a short time at the moment of mobilization or cut telephone or telegraph com- munications, or hold out, as they are in Rotterdam, for only a mat- ter of hours, they can be a serious harassment. “Perhaps a large proportion of these parachute troops will be lost. But whether or not the venture was worth the risk only time can tell.” Darden to Be Speaker At Jamestown Rites Special Dispatch to The Star. RICHMOND, Va., May 11.—Rep- resentative Darden of Norfolk will deliver the principal address Monday at ceremonies on Jamestown Island marking the 333d anniversary of the arrival at Jamestown of the first permanent English settlement in the New. World. x 3 Miss EHen Bagby is chairmanof the Jamestown Committee of the Association for the Preservation of | Virginia Antiquities, sponsors of 4his annualevent. The exercises will begin at 2:30 pm. Gov. Price will make an address of welcome and the religious service, to be conducted in the old church, will be in charge of the Right Rev Willlam A. Brown, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Vir- ginia. He will be assisted by the |Rev. Prancis Craighill, rector of | Bruton Parish Church, Williams- burg. China paid $1,071,762 for American | aviation products last year. | Spinet Design —of just the right size for the small home or apartment. Knabe quality throughout and with the same sweet tone that has made this fine make famous now for over 100 years. Write or phone for booklet. Call National 4730 KITT'S 1330 G Street ¥ ST PAUL, Minn., May 11—The 1940 political campaign will deter- mine not merely what party gets into office, Wendell Willkie said to- night, but. “what system of govern- ment we shall have.” The public utility executive, men- tioned as a possible Republican can- didate for President, declared in an address prepared for delivery before & Republican meeting: “The Democratic administration now in power has abandéned ghe principle of free enterprise upon which this country’s greatness was achieved, * * *” Mr. Willkie, who conferred here earlier today with Gov. Harold E. Stassen, the Republican keynoter for 1940, remarked upon the con- tinued rise of the Federal debt: “In the words of the Franklin D. Roosevelt of 1930 (who is today really the forgotten man) we know that ‘any government, like any fam- ily, can for a year spend a little more than it earns. But you and I know that a continuation of that habit means the poorhouse.” “The poorhouse is a lot closer to us today than when those words were spoken, ¢ ¢ " He said the New Deal acted prop- erly in seeking to regulate bank- ing, the utilities, the security mar. kets and labor relations, “but it did it in such & way as to grant vast un- Jour Perils American System | cepececes semmions u.” . Whether G not repetors and | 371he Asmtnied Pres. Seaboard Zionist Session Opens Today in Norfolk By the Associated Press. NORFOLK, Va, May 11—A round table discussion on achieve- m.m i tonight ed movement serv as the chief preliminary to opening of the 18th annual Seaboard Zionist Regional Conference here. ¢The meeting has its official opening to- morrow morning, with 750 delegates expected. Rabbi Stephen 8. Wise, co-chair- man of the United Palestine Appeal, will address the banquet session climaxing the meeting tomorrow night. His subject will be “The Old Zion and the New Palestine.” Speakers on tonight's program were Theodore Nachison of Bal- timore, discussing agricultural achievements; Mrs. Philip Kroskin, discussing cultural achievements, and Louis E. Spiegler of Washing- ton, achievements in economics. Daniel Ellison of Baltimore, re- gional president, will preside over the business session opening at 10 am. tomorrow. Hadassah and Junior Hadassah regios conventions are being held simultaneously with the Zionist meeting. Mrs. Raphael Tourover of Washington heads the Hadassah group. Have You Taken Advantage of BEDROOM MONTH at ; with Savings up to H0¢ It is only once during the year when the other makers of the Fin- est Furniture in America combine with Sloane’s own Company of Mastercraftsmen, making it possible for us to.stage this interest- ing and important annual event—- The Biggest One of Them All and at Its Best Right Now eces with Twin Beds. 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