R.A.F.’S HEAVY OFFENSIVE

Press, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23364, 25 June 1941, Page 7

R.A.F.’S HEAVY OFFENSIVE

Daylight Sweeps Over Channel NAZIS LOSE 20 MACHINES (Received June 24, 11 p.m.) (U.P.A.) LONDON, June 24.

After successful daylight sweeps yesterday over the Channel and occupied France, when 20 enemy machines were destroyed, the Royal Air Force last night continued its offensive against Germany for the thirteenth successive night. Cologne, Dusseldorf and the naval base at Kiel were the main targets. Early this morning, heavy explosions were heard from across the Channel, when the Royal Air Force bombed invasion ports. The attack lasted several hours, Boulogne apparently being the chief target. Enemy activity over Britain last night was again on a small scale. Bombs were dropped in East Anglia and in the south of England. There was only a small number of casualties and no serious damage was reported. One enemy machine was destroyed. Yesterday’s daylight offensive over the Channel and the coast of France between Dunkirk and Brest was the seventh in succession, and it cost the Germans a further 20 machines. Pilots regarded the “bag” as disappointing, but the Germans, evidently more cautious, sent up fewer fighters. Seven enemy machines were shot down in a sweep in the afternoon, and the rest were brought down in the early evening. British losses totalled four. During the seven days, the Royal Air Force has shot down 114 enemy machines for a loss of 31. During the afternoon, relays of Blenheims, escorted by fighters, swept across the Channel, and, as one pilot said, only one squadron had the luck to be in a real scrap. This squadron shot down four Messerschmitt 109’s, and brought the station’s bag up to 710 for the war.

The squadron leader got two, making five to him in four days. The bombers carried on and bombed an industrial plant near Bethune. During the successful sweeps in the evening, the Polish squadron celebrated its second offensive of the day by shooting down seven enemy aeroplanes. Two Messerschmitts were destroyed by a wing commander who had shot down two the day before. He brought back a piece of one enemy aircraft with him. A Messerschmitt blew up in mid-air, and the wing commander’s aeroplane, flying through some of the debris, picked up a piece of the German aircraft which struck the Royal Air Force machine on the wing. His other victim also blew up in midair. This wing commander has several decorations for his part in the Battle of Britain.

One British fighter came down in the sea during this sweep, but the pilot is safe. This tremendous daylight offensive was far beyond the proportions of the usual sweeps. The Royal Air Force penetrated 50 miles inland. The -aeronautical correspondent of the “Daily Mail” says ’the extent of the operations indicates that the stage has been reached when attacks by the Royal Air Force for the first time place the Luftwaffe in danger of being more heavily attacked than it can attack.

For many weeks, says the aeronautical writer of “The Times,” the Royal Air Force’s promised full-scale day and night offensive against occupied France and Germany has been growing. The first daylight operations were a tentative testing of the opposition by a quick swoop over the coast, and the scale has been gradually built up. Every day now strong bomber formations, escorted by hundreds of fighters, penetrate farther and farther inland. No enemy aerodrome or military target can now feel safe from daylight attack. Heavier Night Attacks Coincident with the quickening of the day offensive, the night battering of the enemy’s industrial centres is incessant, and becoming heavier, while the Luftwaffe’s attacks against Britain have dwindled. Russian bombers will now be able to hit the Reich’s eastern industrial centres. It is the daylight offensives which will win the war, and the extension of the Royal Air Force’s daylight operations is the most encouraging sign that the Royal Air Force is on the road to final mastery of the Luftwaffe. , , The “Daily Telegraph” says Squadron Leader R. R. Tuck is now recognised as Britain’s ace pilot, having brought down 32 German aeroplanes. Mr Churchill’s warning that Germany would be bombed by day and by night was demonstrated on Sunday night, when, for the twelfth night running, the Germans had a taste of the “misery the Germans have inflicted on mankind.” During the night raid, the north German coast was raided and an attack wss made on Dusseldorf. The targets included Emden, Bremerhaven, Bremen, and Wilhelmshaven. . The night’s operations cost the Royal Air Force four machines. An official communique states that no hostile activity over Britain was reported yesterday. Few enemy aeroplanes were over Britain on Sunday night. Some bombs were dropped in south-east England, but little damage was done. An unidentified aeroplane flew inland over Eire on Sunday, and was fired on by anti-aircraft guns m the Dublin area.

FOOD SUPPLIES LOW PLIGHT OF FRENCH SOMALILAND CAIRO, June 23. It is reported that the people of French Somaliland have barely a month’s supply of food, now that the main sources from the sea and across Abyssinia are cut off by the blockade. The French are subsisting op nsn, brown beans, and dates. Meat is practically unobtainable. Cooked grasses have appeared in the cafes. Coffee, milk, and sugar cannot be obtained at cafes.