The land ironclads
The news of the successful deployment of the Iron Dome anti-missile system, that knocked out 8 Grad rockets being targeted at Israel's southern cities last weekend, was another first for our small but brilliant State of Israel. Unfortunately, we are forced to develop such weapons in order to defend ourselves from our despicable neighbors, who are terrorists and killers. They must be thinking "those damn Jews, they've done it again, now we'll have to develop another fiendish weapon to kill them."
It reminded me of a story that the British author HG Wells wrote in 1903, long prior to WWI. As many of you will know Wells was a scientist and wrote some of the first science fiction, most famous is "The War of the Worlds." This particular story is entitled "The Land Ironclads" and was prescient in that he describes fairly accurately the use to tanks in warfare, the so-called "Ironclads." In this story a young war correspondent is witnessing a battle between "the people of the city" and the "people of the country." The former are reluctant to go to war, and at first are taken by surprise by the attack of the latter. The people of the country are enthusiastic to go to war, they are aggressive, used to fighting, more numerous and confident of victory. But, the people of the city, although taken by surprise and on the defensive, put some of their best minds to work on determining how they can defend themselves. In doing so they come up with the idea of a moving iron-clad vehicle that will protect the occupants from bullets and yet allow them to fire out of small slits in the iron covering at their attackers. The journalist witnesses for the first time the use of such vehicles in warfare, and not only is he amazed, but sees clearly how the inventiveness and forward-looking people of the city will always defeat the over-confidence of the brutish and violent people of the country. Of course, in foreseeing the use of tanks in warfare, Wells was predicting their use in WWI and in general showing how the more scientifically-based of two combatants will always win. Thus, the US and its allies defeated the Germans, even though they also adapted technology for its use in warfare and no doubt other factors played a role, but they lacked radar and computers.
In the situation of the war between the Jews and the Arabs (before there was even a group known as "Palestinians") the Jews always displayed better tactics and use of technology. For example, I once met an Israeli of British-German origin, Shalhevet Frier, who had been an officer in the British Army in Palestine. He was in charge of communications and helped the Hagana establish a secret underground telephone exchange in Jerusalem that mimicked exactly that of the British Army themselves. So when calls were exchanged between the British and the Arabs, the Jews knew about it as soon as they did.
I had imagined that during their training Israeli officers were given tasks, such as how would they have attempted to prevent the Holocaust. People have said that this would have been impossible, but maybe not. If there were two groups of 100 Jewish men, each responsible for an area of Poland thru which trains were sent to the concentration camps. If they broke up into small groups and chopped down trees to stop trains, or loosened the rails to cause them to crash, this would have disrupted the flow of victims. After all there were only so many rail lines that could be used going to the East. They could also have ambushed the trains or attacked them, stolen some weapons and then the process would have escalated. One hundred determined men can do a lot, but a defeated non-belligerent people is doomed before they start. Now that we have our own State and Armed forces, nothing is impossible, not even thwarting the murderous aims of our enemies, even though we are greatly outnumbered. The success of the Israelis in numerous wars is a testament to the fact that quality plus technology will defeat quantity every time.
As our PM stated, the Iron Dome system is not perfect, it cannot guarantee protection, but it can save lives and it can deter our enemies from thinking that we have no defense to their current rocket strategy.
It reminded me of a story that the British author HG Wells wrote in 1903, long prior to WWI. As many of you will know Wells was a scientist and wrote some of the first science fiction, most famous is "The War of the Worlds." This particular story is entitled "The Land Ironclads" and was prescient in that he describes fairly accurately the use to tanks in warfare, the so-called "Ironclads." In this story a young war correspondent is witnessing a battle between "the people of the city" and the "people of the country." The former are reluctant to go to war, and at first are taken by surprise by the attack of the latter. The people of the country are enthusiastic to go to war, they are aggressive, used to fighting, more numerous and confident of victory. But, the people of the city, although taken by surprise and on the defensive, put some of their best minds to work on determining how they can defend themselves. In doing so they come up with the idea of a moving iron-clad vehicle that will protect the occupants from bullets and yet allow them to fire out of small slits in the iron covering at their attackers. The journalist witnesses for the first time the use of such vehicles in warfare, and not only is he amazed, but sees clearly how the inventiveness and forward-looking people of the city will always defeat the over-confidence of the brutish and violent people of the country. Of course, in foreseeing the use of tanks in warfare, Wells was predicting their use in WWI and in general showing how the more scientifically-based of two combatants will always win. Thus, the US and its allies defeated the Germans, even though they also adapted technology for its use in warfare and no doubt other factors played a role, but they lacked radar and computers.
In the situation of the war between the Jews and the Arabs (before there was even a group known as "Palestinians") the Jews always displayed better tactics and use of technology. For example, I once met an Israeli of British-German origin, Shalhevet Frier, who had been an officer in the British Army in Palestine. He was in charge of communications and helped the Hagana establish a secret underground telephone exchange in Jerusalem that mimicked exactly that of the British Army themselves. So when calls were exchanged between the British and the Arabs, the Jews knew about it as soon as they did.
I had imagined that during their training Israeli officers were given tasks, such as how would they have attempted to prevent the Holocaust. People have said that this would have been impossible, but maybe not. If there were two groups of 100 Jewish men, each responsible for an area of Poland thru which trains were sent to the concentration camps. If they broke up into small groups and chopped down trees to stop trains, or loosened the rails to cause them to crash, this would have disrupted the flow of victims. After all there were only so many rail lines that could be used going to the East. They could also have ambushed the trains or attacked them, stolen some weapons and then the process would have escalated. One hundred determined men can do a lot, but a defeated non-belligerent people is doomed before they start. Now that we have our own State and Armed forces, nothing is impossible, not even thwarting the murderous aims of our enemies, even though we are greatly outnumbered. The success of the Israelis in numerous wars is a testament to the fact that quality plus technology will defeat quantity every time.
As our PM stated, the Iron Dome system is not perfect, it cannot guarantee protection, but it can save lives and it can deter our enemies from thinking that we have no defense to their current rocket strategy.
posted by Jack Cohen at 9:20 AM
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