FIFTH RAID IN FORTNIGHT

Press, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23111, 29 August 1940, Page 7

FIFTH RAID IN FORTNIGHT

INDUSTRIAL WORKS IN ITALY ( LONG FLIGHT BY R.A.F. BOMBERS {BRITISH OFFICIAL WIEELF.SS.) (Received August 28, 11.10 a.m.) RUGBY, August 27. Industrial targets in Northern Italy wore again successfully attacked last night, when, for the fifth time in a fortnight, Royal Air Force bombers made the double journey over France and the Alps. The objectives were the Societa Aeronautica dTtalia, the Fiat works at Turin, and the Magneto-Marelli factory, which makes ignition generators, and the Sesto San Giovanni, near Milan. The raiders arrived over these factories just before 12.30 a.m., and in the next 40 minutes they dropped some six tons of bombs. The attack on the Magneto-Marelli works was made with fair visibility and no cloud, and one aircraft’s first stick of bombs started four fires and two large explosions. A second stick caused bright blue and white explosions, and a third stick caused 14 fires. The Fiat works at Turin were also set on fire early, and the blaze guided later arrivals promptly to the scene. One pilot who made a 10-minutes’ attack observed explosions for some Vimc MWv he hud left. Bombs from another aircraft were dropped across the south-east end of the target. While the attacks were being made, two Italian fighters appeared, but they did not interfere with the proceed--1,1 Chie of the pilots engaged in bombing the Marclli factory arrived over the target after an adventurous crossing of the Alps. His oxygen partially failed at a height of three miles. He flew into a great cloud of smoke 6UIW feet over the factory, but he attacked the west side of the works, causing one of the Fiat factory buildings at Turin was hit during Royal Air Force raids. It states: “A bomb fell on the St Louis sanatorium at Turin. Antiaircraft defences brought down a British aeroplane at Milan. The crew of five were killed. - A communique issued by the bwisHigh Command stales: Swiss air space was again violated last.nigh . Our anti-aircraft defences Mere in action several times.” , , The Swiss Government has handed the British Minister a Note London “immediately and Bc i up ~i' lously” to enforce orders on the Royal Air Force to cease violations of Swiss territory. STRATEGY USED BY R.A.F. INCESSANT RAIDS ON MILITARY TARGETS ' (BRITISH OFFICIAL WIRELESS.) RUGBY, August 27. The “Daily Telegraph” states that, not unnaturally, the German bombing of non-military objectives has raised a demand for reprisals in kind, but it would be contrary to sound strategy to adopt such a course at the expense of the main objective of weakening the enemy’s power of mischief by attacking his bases and factories. "In fulfilment of that aim we have inflicted far more damage on the enemy than he has been able to inflict on us,” states the “Daily Telegraph.” “Sunday’s attack on Berlin was a blow at important producing plants. If and when it becomes expedient, our airmen can always get to Berlin again, but it will be at our own chosen time, and not as an immediate counter to provocation received.” “The Times” states, “The change in tactics of the German air attack is sufficient admission of failure to encourage the defenders, though it certainly promises them no early relaxation in strain. Having been taught discretion by the severity of the losses sustained in its attacks, the Luftwaffe lias fallen back upon night bombing as. its main offensive recourse. It is a method giving a better chance of avoiding casualties and. in fact, the destruction dealt out by our fighters, though they still maintain a remarkable superiority to their opponents, is not on the same scale that .they have achieved, and still achieve by daylight. But this relative immunity of bombers is preserved, only at a cost of much greator uncertainty of navigation and aim. And, in proportion, as civilians and their property suffer, military targets go unscathed. . "Meanwhile, an equally determined and much better offensive is directed without intermission upon the military vitals of Germany herself. It has been going on since last September, and the experience which the pilots have gained in the leaflet raids is now being turned to brilliant account. While the Germans are wasting a large proportion of their ammunition in destruction that can have no effect on the issue of the fight, their own aerodromes, factories, oil depots, and communications are every night going up in flames behind them.” The “Manchester Guardian states: “It is not a wholly popular myth that German airmen are not good at night flying' What is important is whether, with practice, they might turn out to be as good as we are, and that is unlikely. Our pilots have studied Germany by night for manv months, but the Germans have only just begun to find their wav about Britain. If the German pilots’ training is less rigorous than ours, he can never hope to be as good. While it is always possible to damage a town severely at night, it is the kind of damage done that matters. AZORES AND CANARY ISLANDS REPORTED BRITISH PLAN FOR SEIZURE (BRITISH OFFICIAL WIRELESS.) RUGBY, August 27. A reobrt by the Stefan! Agency that the British propose to occupy the Azores and Canary Islands, although ludicrous, is not thought here to be surprising, as Italian circles recentlymade similar assertions regarding what they described as a contemplated occupation by Britain of Corfu and Crete.