FURTHER SWEEPS

New Zealand Herald, Volume 79, Issue 24292, 5 June 1942, Page 3

FURTHER SWEEPS

NORTH FRANCE RAIDED SUCCESSFUL OPERATIONS (Heed. 5.35 p.m.) LONDON, June 4 More than 200 Spitfires, some escorting Hurricane bombers, swept over Northern France yesterday in the regions of Abbeville, Le Treport, a town near Dieppe, Le Touquet, Gris Nez, Le Havre and Cherbourg. All of the planes returned safely. Hurricanes bombed the railway at Le Treport from 50ft., while Spitfires attempted to engage enemy fighters near Abbeville and Gris Nez, but, although considerable enemy forces were put up, none could be brought near enough for battle. The previous fighter sweep also met no opposition. Czechs in Dog Fights In two sweeps late yesterday afternoon, Boston hombers were escorted by many squadrons of Spitfires to attack docks at Cherbourg and Le Havre. Bursting bom be were seen in the dock areas. All the Bostons returned safely, in spite of heavy anti-aircraft fire. Great clouds of smoke arose over the docks. There was no enemy fighter opposition during the bombing, but the escorting Czech Spitfire squadron had a series of dogfights on the way out, says the British official wireless. Two enemy fighters were destroyed in these attacks, making three for the day. Four Allied fighters are missing in the day's operations. Five more enemy aircraft were destroyed during the night, one over England and four near their bases in Northern France. Aerodromes Attacked Enemy aerodromes in France and the Low Countries were attacked by aircraft of the Bomber and Fighter Commands. From these operations ten bombers and two fighters are missing. The Air Ministry has revealed that during one month Royal Air Force planes made over 7700 flights in the course of daylight sweeps over occupied France. A daily average of 250 fighters was used. ! The R.A.F. sweeps mark the beginj ning ot a "second front" in the west. I The Fighter Command continues to j shoot down more enemy fighters than it loses. Replying to a suggestion that the aircraft engaged in the sweeps would be more usefully employed in distant theatres of war, the Air Ministry points out that, if the fighter sweeps were abandoned, it would not help to add a single squadron to the overseas fighter forces. The bottleneck to the reinforcement of fighter strength on distant fronts does not lie in a shortage of aircraft or pilots; it is entirely a matter of transport. There are no more fighters in Britain than are necessary for defence against air attack and the possibility of invasion. BOMBS ON BREMEN GERMANY RAIDED AGATN FOLLOWING UP SUCCESSES LONDON. June 4 Royal Air Force bombers last night were over Bremen. The weather was 1 favourable for the attack and the | targets, which were well illuminated by i flares, were heavily bombed. This naval i base and shipbuilding centre has ali ready been bombed many times by the ! Royal Air Force. This raid came swiftly after a second ' successive night attack on Essen and ; the Ruhr. Fourteen Allied bombers were lost. ; Estimates of the Cologne casualties j can only be guesswork, says the British i Broadcasting Corporation, and the i latest German figure of 200 is obvii ously as wild a statement as the 20.000 : suggested by one American newspaper, j The figures probably go to four figures, j but nowhere near five. Swedish correspondents in Berlin say I that fires are still burning in Cologne. Berlin admits that the Cologne A.R.P. ; succeeded only in limiting fires. Several | big works were razed. The Germans are making desperate 1 efforts to. bolster up morale by asserting they are returning blow for blow, i says the British official wireless. Thus the attack on Canterbury has been magnified into a mammoth raid and is described as a riposte for Cologne. The Luftwaffe rained tens of thousands of incendiaries in addition to high explosives. according to the German propagandists. That bomb damage and fires should be caused in an ancient and closely confined cathedral city is natural, but, in fact, only 25 to 30 planes took part and four were shot down. Converselv, German propaganda is clearly anxious to under-estimate the size of the R.A.F. attacking forces. On each of the past three nights they have claimed fewer aircraft destroyed than the R.A.F. admitted. According to the newspaper Volkischer Beobachter, German civilian casualties have been less than the R.A.F. losses in crews alone. These statistics will probably mystify the awestruck inhabitants of Cologne. MASSIVE RAIDS ADVANTAGE DISCUSSED LONDON, June 3 Well over 2000 planes of British make were engaged in operations oyer Europe and European waters during the 24 hours which included Monday night's great raid on the Ruhr, says the British official wireless. In addition to the 1000 bombers which took part, the Royal Air Force also operated over 1000 fighters in fighter sweeps, in the provision of fighter cover, attacks on shipping and defensive action. These figures were given during a discussion in informed air circles on the great raids which last Saturday revealed a fresh aspect of the strategical R.A.F. offensive. The new "monster" raids, it was pointed out, were quite different from the sustained scale of attack which the R.A.F. could carry out on the basis of the given first line strength. The figure of aircraft employed in raids has hitherto remained steady at between 200 and 300. Behind these forces there has been a large number being serviced or repaired, or held as a reserve for training aircraft or actually in reserve. The new greater raids —two in one week —of over 1000_ planes, therefore, contributed a special effort and, as the Prime Minister emphasised yesterday, should not yet be regarded as a continuous feature of operations. The tactical and operational problems connected with them, however, have been carefully studied, and there is every intention of repeating them — with even larger numbers. The placing of more than 1000 aircraft over one tarset (Cc.ogne') in one hour and a-half represents a fine organisational achievement, but there is no doubt that 2000 could be sent over in three hours, or that separate forces of 1000 could be sent over in one, two or hours without the organisation becoming difficult. providing the target areas did not clash. Massive raids have a substantial advantage. When only 40 or 50 planes come over in one hour, anti-aircraft gunners can concentrate, but\ when a vast number follow each other in a very short time, the defences are liable to be saturated. In addition, A.R.P. and fire services are overwhelmed, and more fires are started than can he coped with. Big-scale raids, in short, give better results for every ton of bombs dropped.