RAIDS ON RUHR

Press, Volume LXXIX, Issue 23971, 11 June 1943, Page 5

RAIDS ON RUHR

DAMAGE TO GERMAN WAR POTENTIAL “NO TARGET LIKE IT IN THE WORLD ” (8.0. W.) RUGBY. June 9. “There is no target like it in the world,” said Lord Selborne, Minister of Economic Warfare, explaining why the Ministry of Economic Warfare had advised the Royal Air Force to concentrate so much on bombing the Ruhr, of which the Germans themselves once said: “The destiny of the Ruhr is the destiny of Germany.” Lord Selborne gave “immense figures” showing the economic importance of the Ruhr area, which, of the total German production, supplied 67 per cent, of the coal, 80 per cent, of the coke, 60 per cent, of the pig-iron, 59 per cent, of the steel ingots and castings, and 60 per cent, of the special steels. Corresponding percentages of the production of the whole of Axiscontrolled Europe were 34, 50, 37, 34, and 27.

Lord Selborne said that the importance of the Ruhr could be appreciated better if one envisaged, as a parallel case, a general or an admiral in a position to destroy a third of the German Army or U-boat fleet. The Minister reviewed the huge damage caused in the Ruhr. Explaining that much of the results of the bombing of Germany were long-term rather than, immediate, he said: “If the facade of the German war machine is still strong, the rot behind the facade is being accelerated.” After referring to Germany’s shortage of oil and to the effect of bombing on submarine and tank production, the Minister said that attention was not being devoted to the Ruhr exclusively. At the moment, though, it would be a pity to use more petrol and carry less bombs to the Skoda works, for example, when there was still damage to be done in the Ruhr. Germany's war potential would all be visited at the right time and in the right manner. There was every sign that this programme would be fulfilled by the magnificent Royal Air Force and the United States Army Air Force. The fall in German industrial production in the last year was believed to be about 35 per cent, in the Ruhr and 10 per cent, in the rest of Germany.