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Page 17.

importance of there functions as compared with the functions pertaining directly to the separate armies becomes greater than under offensive conditions. Another great modification has been made on Plate II, namely: That directly subordinate to the "Aero" Department ( Aero General Staff) has been shown a command line connecting with the squares indicating the independent air forces that should be provided for operations against the enemy's "homes" or "interior." These "independent" air forces are so called in order to indicate a distinction between them as fighting forces and the aeronautic fighting forces of the army and navy.

A rough indication has been made of some of the functions of these independent forces without attempting to more than indicate their purposes. For example, the word "destroyers" has been used to indicate all types of destruction of enemy personnel, and materiel by means of aircraft, without attempting to distinguish by the manner in which destruction is accomplished, whether by bombing, fighting, gas, the landing of raiding parties, cannonading from aircraft, etc. In the same way, the word "surveillance" has been used to indicate all types of observation work, including aerial blockades, enemy internal conditions, crop and industrial conditions, etc. These independent forces have not been shown upon Plate I, nor indicated in any manner. They, like the air