BOMBING GERMANY

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 281, 27 November 1941, Page 17

BOMBING GERMANY

"TARGET FOR TO-XIGHT" Nearest in Auckland to a seat in a Wellington bomber in a night raid over Gcrniciny is a seat In the Plaza Theatre when "Target for To-night" begins screening there to-morrow. Made with the cooperation of the Royal Air Force and with no other stars than the cast of service personnel, this gripping record of an actual raid on a German oil refinery has a realism never acnlcved before by an aviation film. It won unstinted praise from a preview audience last night, including officers of the Royal New Zealand Air Force. This is the real thing. The heroes are real heroes, not film actors. They are the crew of the bomber "F for Freddie" at Millerton aerodrome. With powerful simplicity and brilliant photography, the film unfolds the story of the raid from the time that an observation aircraft delivers photographs of the objective until the last plane returns safely from the target. Preparations for the venture by ground staff, including members of the W.A.A.F., operations inside the bomber, the calm jocosity with which the crew keep in touch with their skipper, the search for the guiding flames caused by the incendiaries which have been dropped by a plane ahead, and the burst of anti-aircraft fire round the machine as it dives low over the target are depicted in complete actuality, all the more forrlbly dramatic because of the striking absence of false heroics. Suspense grows in intensity when lumbering "F for Freddie" is damaged, the wireless operator injured and the wireless put out of action by hot German fire. All the other bombers return, but the little flag marking "F for Freddie" on the operational map at the aerodrome remains, alone, over the target. Those at the aerodrome wait with a disguised anxiety for the overdue plane, saving little, but hoping—and fearing. This sequence is handled with a depth of feeling that can only have resulted from actual experience of such long, nerveracking waits. The tension is not lessened by the descent of a thick fog on the station. Meanwhile "F for Freddie" is thundering homeward through the clouds, with the young pilot using all his skill to prevent the damaged machine from losing height. The bomber struggles home and lands safely despite the fog. The crew come briskly to the • intelligence officer for the regular interrogation, then jokingly go to a well-earned rest. The impact of this film Is tremendous. In it are action, humour and melodrama combined in splendid entertainment. But it is far more than an enjoyable picture. It is a clear, unadorned view of the lives of young members of Britain's Bomber Command, the force that takes war to the heart, of Germany. Hundreds of New Zealanders, including very many Aucklanders, are at this very time undergoing the very experience so Impressively set forth in this remarkable film.