Page Two
CLOUDBUSTER
Friday, December 22, 1944
CLOUDBUSTER
Vol. 3—No, 15 Friday, December 22, 1944
Published weekly under the supervision of the Public
Relations Office at the U. S. Navy Pre-Flight School, Chapel
Hill, N. C., a unit of the Naval Air Primary Training
Command. Contributions are welcome from all hands.
The Cloudbuster receives Camp Newspaper Service ma
terial. Republication of credited matter prohibited without
permission of CNS, War Department, 205 E. 42nd St.,
N. Y. C.
Lieut. Comdr. James P. Raugh, USNR
Commanding Officer
Lieut. Comdr. Howard L. Hamilton, USNR
Executive Officer
Lieut. Leonard Eiserer, USNR
Public Relations Officer
Lieut, (jg) Francis Stann, USNR
Editor
Orville Campbell, Ylc
Associate Editor
R. D. Jackson, PhoMIc Harold Hanson, Sp(P)2c
Photographers
®ttio ^targ
High in the heavens, shining clear,
The Star of Bethlehem each year
At Christmastime sheds holy light
To guide us up the path
of right.
Back home another star,
of blue,
Hangs in the place that’s
Home, to you;
A symbol of your fam
ily’s pride
For you, who bravely
cast aside
All thought of self, that
principles of Christian
Peace,
Once more restored,
shall never cease.
Two stars, each with a
meaning clear,
Standing for all that we
hold dear;
Let them guide you in
the fight.
Let us pray to both this Christmas Night.
Jack T. Boyd, Ylc.
Reason’s! (^reetingg
jHemberg of tt)e Cloubbusstcr
extent! to all ^re=JfUgfjt ^c^ool personnel
sincere toisitjesi for an enjopatile Ctjrigtmasi
fiUeb initt) ftope for a bictoriou^ anb peace=
bdnsing i^eto l^ear.
Three solid reasons why the job of U. S.
naval aviation will become more difficult
as American forces approach closer to the
heart of the Japanese Empire were given in
a recent Navy Department release. In
capsule form, here they are:
1. We will meet Jap planes in larger
numbers than heretofore, particularly army
planes. The network of airfields construct
ed by the Japs in recent years will greatly
assist their flexibility of action and permit
large combat forces to be assembled quick
ly. This greatly complicates our problem,
means that a long bitter battle must ensue
before the effectiveness and striking power
of the Jap air force can be neutralized.
2. The Japs have been bending every ef
fort to increase aircraft production. Al
though very recently we have been destroy
ing their planes faster than they can build
them, this has not been true since the be
ginning of the war. Like ours, the Jap air
force is now larger than it ever was, and
their production is increasing.
3. Japanese airplanes are getting better.
Whereas a year ago we had a big technical
advantage, now it is very slender. The Japs
now have vastly improved types, particu
larly in their army air force, as compared
with the planes encountered in the ap
proaches to the Empire. Very few of these
new ones have been met in combat, and
there is good reason to believe that they are
holding a large stock of them in reserve on
the Jap mainland.
The Navy Department release points out
that the nearer we get to the Jap home
land the' more the enemy can constrict his
air defense, as well as his ground and sea
defenses. American choices of strategy will
be reduced, and the enemy will not have to
guess so much as what we will do next. As
Knute Rockne once said: “It is harder to
score a touchdown from the five-yard line
than from the 40-yard line, because the
defense is packed more tightly.”
The Lighter Side . . .
Sign on a Red Cross Blood Bank: “Please
keep your appointments. Let’s not get
caught with our pints down.”
* ^ *
Two men got off the bus. One had come
to town for good. The other was a sailor
on leave.
* * s.:
It’s very simple to explain why a woman
has never been President of the United
States, the sailor said in answer to a ques
tion. The President has to be over 35.
« * *
A married couple was peacefully sleep
ing iri the upstairs bedroom. Suddenly his
wife shouted in her sleep: “Good Lord!
Here comes my husband.” The husband
woke up, and jumped out of the upstairs
window!
Rastus Abraham Lincoln Brown, having
been duly registered, was asked by the
head of the draft board if he had any ques
tions.
“Yassah,” said Rastus, “Which side is ah
on?”
Danger In The West
By Lt. (j.g.) W. A. Shanahan
Academic Department
There could be no better means of prov
ing that the German army has great re
sources than Field Marshal von Rundstedt’s
counterattack on the western front. If this
attack is being made on a 70-mile front as
our reports indicate, not less than 15 di
visions are involved. To attack troops as
battle-hardened as those in General Hodges'
First Army the German High Command
has been obliged to assemble real attacK
divisions, not the mixed units of old men
and foreigners of Volkstrum (People’s
Army) that have been used liberally in de
laying actions.
The use of counterattacks is an eccepted
German defensive method. Unlike the
French the Germans have placed little re
liance on elaborate underground fortifica
tions such as those constructed in the
Maginot Line. '
A German defensive zone consists of pre
pared artillery, mortar, and machine gun
positions, with interconnecting communica-,
tion trenches and anti-tank ditches. These
preparations are intended to ensnare ad
vancing forces and hold them while the
Germans prepare a counter blow. This is
delivered by divisions normally held out oi
the front lines and dispersed in rear areas
with pull protection from air strafing and
bombing. When the counterattack comes it
is therefore a swift and powerful assault byj
fresh troops. }
Only Immediate Gains Possible 1
This use of the counterattack is more oi^
a tactical than a strategic device. Germanj
reserves are not extensive enough to per-j
mit an offensive of such scope that thej
course of the war can be reversed. Oniyj
immediate gains, such as the winning ofj
time for reorganization, production of morej
V weapons, or the release of pressure onj
vital communications, are possible for the
German command. And since the Germans
are staking their hopes on a negotiated
peace, they may feel that any show of
strength will discourage the Allies.
It is hard to imagine that our will to
victory will be diminished by the latest
German effort. German psychological war
fare has shown amazing insights, but the
Germans never have been able to under
stand or gauge the determination of the
English speaking people to win an absolute
victory over their enemies.
Mail Crew Gets It Coming And Going
“We were dreaming of a ‘Light Christ- most two parcels for every one sent. “Thej
w number of pieces of mail handled duringJ
Mlcate*' XTadfete Sefpacklg^sla! P^^ably will
lore, but according to Frank Pendergraft, highest in the history of the station,’ ‘
MaMlc, who is in charge, they received al- Pendergraft predicted.