N.
X
~78-
wt nak 7
possible docs not apply to the transport of troops and supplies,°-
For such
operations distance remains a formidable barrier,
The invasion and occupation of a great country solcly or cven chiefly by air
would be an incredibly difficult task even if one assumes a minimum of air oppo
sition, . The magnitude of the preparations necessary for such an operation micht
make very dubious the chance of achieving the required measure of surprise,
It
may well prove that the difficulty of consolidating by invasion the advantages
terrent to launching such an attack, especially since those same difficultics
make retaliation all the more probabic,
paration of the intended victim,
But all hinges on the quality of pre-
If it has not prepared itself for atomic bomb
worfars, tho initial devastating attack will undoubtedly paralyze it and make its
conquest casy even by a small invading foree.
And if it has not propared itsclf
for such warfare its helplessness will no doubt be sufficiently apparent before
the event as to invite areression.
-
It is oovious that the force sot apart
or counter-invasion
purposes will have to be rclatively small, completely professional, and traincda
to the uttermost.
But there must also be a vory large force ready te resist anc
defeat invasicn by the enemy,
Uere is the place for the citizen
army, though it;
}
t
too must be comprised of traincd men,
There will be no time for training once the
i
atomic bomb is used,
Perhaps the old ideal of the "minute-nan" with his musket
over his fireplace will be resurrected, in suitably nodernized form.
In any
case,
=“
imu decentralization of arms anc supply depots anc of tactical authority, and
for flexibility of operation,
ot
(
provision zmst be made for instant mobilization of trained rescrves, for a max-
The trend towards greater mobility in land forces
will have to be enormously accelerated, and strateric concentrations will have to
to be achieved in ways which avoid a high spatial density of military forces,
ol.
See above, pp. 26~30.
~~ ‘st
=
gained through atomic bomb attack may act as an added and perhaps decisive de-