The tunnel thru the air

by William D. Gann

After this disaster to the hydroplanes which had been marching up the Mississippi, the enemy air fleet ceased its attacks for awhile, but about the end of June, an air fleet swarmed over Cairo, landed without much resistance, and officers were put in charge of the town. The United States had already asked France to come to their rescue and implored Canada to forbid England or any other foreign countries to cross their borders to attack the Northern and Eastern borders of the United States. France had quickly responded and informed the United States Government that they stood ready to order their air fleet to the United States or to attack England and Germany at home. This was another piece of good news which cheered the country and put courage into the hearts of the soldiers who had been fighting for more than a year against such great odds and had been meeting with such disastrous defeats. The newspapers were optimistic, but the Government officials knew that the odds were still greatly against us and that we were out-classed and outnumbered in the air, where the decisive battles would be fought.

CHAPTER XXVIII

On July 4th, 1931, the people all over the United States were celebrating the victory at Cairo where the English and German battleships and hydroplanes had been destroyed. Everything had been quiet and there had been no more air attacks on the cities. A large fleet of the enemies' planes were seen constantly scouting up and down the Mississippi. Colonel Gordon had sent out a scouting expedition with some of the planes equipped with powerful searchlights and they had discovered several mother supply ships, like the "Tokyo," anchored at great heights above Cairo. He knew that this meant that preparations were being made to attack St. Louis and continue the advance up the Mississippi, that the enemy was making for Chicago and the Great Lakes to form a line across the United States so that their airplanes could control this territory, shut off any attacks from the West while they advanced on the Eastern and Northern borders of the United States.

The Nation's birthday brought more good news. Canada informed the United States that she would join hands with her, order England's forces to leave Canadian territory and forbid them to cross Canada to attack the United States. This news was received in Washington just before the President delivered his annual Independence address. While his speech was short, he called attention to the fact that this was the 155th anniversary of the independence of the United States and that the liberty of this country was threatened greater than at any time since the days of the Declaration of Independence, but stated that cheering news had just come from Canada which would be a great help; that France, our old friend, who had stood by us before, had also come to our rescue and that there was room for hope. The recent victory of Cairo was of great importance. The new inventions which were rapidly being completed would surely save the United States in her hour of greatest need. He urged the people to be courageous, not leave their cities or desert their homes unless absolutely necessary. While no one could be sure of the end, he hoped that a decisive victory would be gained within a few months.

Colonel Gordon reported what the scouting planes had discovered and said that this could mean but one thing, that the enemy is concentrating at Cairo and that the next attacks would be on St. Louis, then probably Louisville, Cincinnati, and Chicago. At a conference of the War Council, he suggested that there was no use risking the lives of the women and children in these cities; that arrangements should be made to move them to places of safety at once, that camps should be established in the Catskills and Adirondack Mountains where they could remain until the danger had passed. The Council, after discussing the matter, decided that this would prove to be a bad move on the part of the Government because it would disclose their weakened condition to the enemy who might be scouting around St. Louis at high altitudes and would see the people being moved away and know that the country was frightened and make an attack immediately. The Council decided to prepare for an attack, believing that with the help of Canada and France, this country would emerge a victor.

In the early part of August, 1931, the attack upon St. Louis started. The United States had concentrated every available force there. Canada had sent her airplanes to patrol the Northern border, enabling the United States to withdraw more forces to protect the Central part of the country. The battle raged on and off, day and night. There were attacks and counterattacks. The United States factories were turning out airplanes now at the rate of more than 1000 per day. The Henry Motor Company of Detroit had made great improvements on bombing and scouting planes and were turning them out rapidly. A new long-range gun had been completed which would reach the enemy's planes at greater heights and this proved to be of great value in the battle of St. Louis. On the third day of the battle, General Pearson ordered Colonel Gordon and Colonel Kennelworth to lead their men against the Southern and Eastern wings of the enemy. They succeeded in bringing down over 500 of the enemy's planes, and the United States in the encounter only lost about 200 planes. This was very encouraging and General Pearson ordered more of the reserves thrown into the fight on the following day and this seemed just what the enemy was waiting for. One mistake after another was made by the subordinate officers of the United States in carrying out instructions for attacking. The bombing planes ran short of ammunition and were destroyed by the enemies in trying to return to their bases for supplies. The enemy had concentrated more than 30,000 planes for this giant attack on St. Louis. Buildings were being destroyed daily and the loss of life was great. Frightened women and children were rushing in every direction only to get into the path of the exploding bombs. The enemy's planes proved superior, larger and better-manned. Their large supply ships anchored at high altitudes enabled them to get in their effective work of destruction when the United States planes ran out of ammunition.

After the battle had waged for 14 days, with the United States losing thousands of planes, the cause seemed to be hopeless and St. Louis was surrendered. The situation was getting more desperate all the time and the people again were losing hope. The large loss of airships at the battle of St. Louis had weakened the U.S. Army regardless of the rapidity with which new planes were being turned out. The enemy took charge of St. Louis and moved part of their supply bases there. The food situation was acute thruout the country. Farmers had been afraid to go to the field to plant anything. Canada was not able to supply all of our needs and we were blockaded on the South, East and West. The Cabinet now awoke to the fact that many mistakes had been made and that the situation instead of improving was growing rapidly worse.

Before the fall of St. Louis or the news of it had had time to be fully understood by the people all over the United States, the English and the Germans attacked the Northern border, making for Chicago. The lines were tightly drawn, the enemy was still holding the Western Coast and it now meant only a matter of capturing Chicago, close up the lines between Chicago and St. Louis, and complete the enemy's lines across the Central part of the United States. Council after council was held while the fighting was going on around the Great Lakes. The Government rushed reinforcements and the new long-range gun on our large cruising airships was able to do effective work for a long time in protecting Chicago. England lost heavily in the battle around the Great Lakes because Canada was helping us there, but the blow was heavy to the United States. Our losses in men and planes were tremendous.

In the early part of September, 1931, it was plain from the skirmishes which had been taking place around the Great Lakes that the enemy was trying to attack Chicago and it was only a question of time when they would break thru and make the attack. The United States officers were well aware of the fact that if Chicago fell into the hands of the enemy, it would place the United States at a greater disadvantage than ever to defend the Eastern Coast. The United States War Council decided to urge France to attack England and Germany and make them withdraw forces from the United States to protect their home cities. France was well equipped with airplanes and could rapidly destroy the large cities in England and Germany and she was the only country on the other side that we could look to to help us. When America's appeal was received in France, the President of France sent the following message to our Government:

"France is mindful of the perilous position in which the Land of Liberty is now placed. She has not forgotten the days when she came to your rescue during the struggles of the young republic, and you proved that you did not forget when your loyal sons crossed the Atlantic to help save France when she was fighting with her back to the wall in 1917. We placed the Statue of Liberty in the harbor of New York as a signal light to the world to welcome the oppressed from every land to the Land of Liberty. It has ever stood as a beacon light of truth, liberty and justice to all. We now stand ready to defend that statue and its principles. We appreciate the generosity of the American people toward us in the past and now extend them every aid within our power. Our supplies and forces are at your disposal."