CHAPTER XIX.
UNSOLVED QUESTIONS OF NATIONAL DEFENCE. RADIUS OF ACTION AND POWER OF AGGRESSION. INTER-DEPENDENCE OF NAVAL AND AIR DEFENCE. AERONAUTICAL DEVELOPMENT A NATIONAL RESPONSIBILITY. IMMEDIATE MEASURES ADVOCATED.
§ 120. National Defence. Air Raids. In considering the more far-reaching effects of Aircraft in Warfare, it is more than ever necessary that we should substitute in our minds for what we may see to-day, a picture of what may reasonably be expected in the not very distant future. Thus from the military standpoint and even from the standpoint of the Nation, the effect of the raids by German aircraft has been a negligible quantity; it has moreover cost the enemy no small expenditure of energy (which he can ill afford to squander) to effect this relatively microscopic injury. Tersely put, air-raids on Great Britain by Zeppelin do not pay. We have no reason, however, to assume that this condition of affairs will last; on the contrary, we must make provision against future possibilities, when air-raids will be conducted in so effective a manner that, if not successfully opposed and beaten back, they will pay.
§ 121. The Defence of London. A broad question at once arises: will it be possible in the future to entirely and effectively defend from aerial attack a city of the size of London situated within so short a distance of the enemy's frontiers? For the purposes of the proposition we must assume the whole of the continental coastline as hostile territory; on this basis the distance is no more than one hour's flight.
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