"The supply of Junkers 52's is almost unlimited so it is little use bombing them on the ground—the thing to do is to tackle them in the air so that their pilots are lost, but at present there seems little chance of our being able to do this effectively. Last week Captain Falls spoke of the air attack on Crete as being the dress rehearsal for an attempted invasion of Britain: I don't think the enemy have anything new to teach us—their same procedure is being tried in Crete—first, use parachute ists in thousands to seize our air bases, then use them themselves to land air-borne troops in greater numbers, together with supplies of all kinds, ignoring the heavy losses in the process.
"We have seen for a long time how ; reat are the difficulties in dealing h air-borne troops—recognition. and the difficulty of dislodging parachutists who land on high ground; at any rate the Greek and Imperial Forces in Crete are putting up a magnificent defence and the only pity they are deprived of full air support n an air invasion of Britain we may expect to maintain air superiority and so prevent the landing of supplies, but consideration must be given to the defence of our airfields against dive-bombers and numerous air-borne troops—our batteries of anti-aircraft guns must be very strong, and the defending troops must be specially trained to cope with parachutists. Aeroplanes are the best defence against aeroplanes. but it seems they cannot defend their own airfields which must have many antiaircraft guns, "In the immediate future there is bound to be intensive development of aircraft for carrying troops and supplies—the loads will be bigger, things will be carried long distances which were never dreamed of before, there will be trains of gliders, and all the time the ordinary jobs of reconnoitering, bombing. and fighting, will be carried on. We must admit that the Germans have seized on the possibilities with vigour. t I think that after Crete we can say we've been warned. Although so far the same formula has been applied we must be ready for it, and for anything new but if, as seems likely. they will try the same air-fleet procedure I am sure we will be able to deal with it successfully over Brit
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.