A BACKGROUND OF THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 34, Issue 191, 10 May 1941, Page 10

A BACKGROUND OF THE WAR

German Night Bombers

MOUNTING LOSSES

The May moon entered its first quarter on Monday —it will not be full till tomorrow night; yet in the first seven nights of this month 74 Nazi bombers have been destroyed for certain in raids over Great Britain. A record “bag” of 24 was made on Wednesday night. Since the beginning of the year the Germans have lost 241 night raiders over Britain. The toll taken has mounted rapidly from 15 in January and 15 in February to 47 in March, 90 in April and 74 in the first seven nights of May. On a basis of four men to each plane this represents a loss of personnel, killed and prisoners, of nearly 1000 Nazi airmen.

Doubtless the improvement in weather conditions with the advance of

spring has been a factor aiding the R.A.F. night fighters, whose tactics must be improving rapidly with experience. Britain’s summer nights are short, and as the hours of darkness decrease and before they start to lengthen again the R.A.F. will have made night bombing an extremely costly business for the Luftwaffe. Heartening Signs In the rapid development of methods of intercepting enemy bombers at night there are, indeed, many heartening signs for the steadfast people of Great Britain. Equally encouraging, too, is the increasing success of R.A.F. night bombers in shooting down or disabling Nazi night fighters over enemy territory and the North Sea. Again and again these fighters are seen when our bombers have no time to turn aside from the more important and urgent task of attacking their assigned targets in Germany. Sometimes, and specially on the way home, they have some minutes to spare for a quick encounter. When the enemy night fighter has disappeared in the darkness, clouds, or mist, it Is not often possible to say that it has been destroyed. Unless there is some obvious sign of quick disaster, tlv enemy is only claimed as a probable loss. There were many probables and not a few certainties to the credit of R.A.F. night bombers over Germany during March. Hitting The Nazis

An optimistic note regarding operations by R.A.F. fighters against Nazi night bombers over Britain was sounded by Sir Archibald Sinclair, Secretary of State for Air, in a speech in London a few weeks ago. “You who have borne so much and borne it so cheerfully,” he said, “are entitled to two assurances, which I now give you. The first Is that we in the Air Ministry and others in our sister departments, the Ministry of Aircraft Production, Air Staff, scientists, designers, commanders, pilots, air-crews and maintenance personnel are devoting our energies night and day to the development of methods of defeating the night bomber. “Such measure of success as we have achieved already has only sharpened the edge of our effort. We can promise no immunity from night bombing. On the contrary, as the weather improves we must expect the Germans to resume their attacks on a greater scale than ever. They will fail again as they have failed before, and we shall spare no effort, and our pilots will refuse no risk, to make these attacks progressively’more costly to the enemy. “And my second assurance is this,’ said the Minister, “that the people of this country will not suffer alone. Our blows will fall faster and harder on the enemy. Don’t imagine that they are soft now." The Royal Air Force had learned much from the last war, which gave it birth, and from which it emerged under the victorious leadership of that great commander Lord Trenchard. His slogan was: “Hit the Germans in Germany,” and that was their slogan still. R.A.F. Strength

In a recent broadcast, Lord Beaverbrook, as Minister of Aircraft Production, had a heartening story to tell. At the end of February Great Britain had more bomber and fighter planes than she had ever had before. “The tally showed that the aircraft all ready for action, for immediate operation, is a record, surpassing anything that has gone before, anything in the history of aviation. As for new production, we had a record month in February, both in fighters and bombers. Any way you like to make the calculation, the output is bigger than anything that has gone before." Lord Beaverbrook said that in the previous nine months more development work had been done than ever before. Six new types of aircraft had been brought into operation: Beaufighter, Fulmar, Whirlwind, Stirling, Halifax and Manchester, while the Hurricane and Spitfire had been “lifted up and up, till now these planes ride high, wide and handsome.” Two other new aircraft were also passing from the development stage to production: behind them several other new types were in the stage of development and would be in production soon. Five new engines in nine months bad been brought from experiment to manufacture. Responsible for this work of development were “the boys in the back rooms." who “do not. sit in the limelight but are the men- who do the work.” Gallant Lads

Lord Beaverbrook paid a glowing tribute to the lads who do the night fighting against the Nazi bombers. “Do not think we have no reward for our labours. We have the greatest reward of all —the honour of serving the Royal Air Force. What a glorious privilege that is! What a wonderful incentive to effort and ingenuity. When I feel discouraged, when I am unhappy down the corridor I go, and there I find some of the lads who fought in the skies last autumn, the boys who hold the front for Britain in the famous days of August and September. Wo have some of them in the .Ministry now. And from these young men I gather inspiration once more. “Just as they watched over us in the daytime when the Germans made their great attempt at invasion last September, now they watch oyer us all through the night, and while the results of their efforts have been limited so far, yet we can give them ou. gratitude for the rapid advance they have made. We can be sure that they face the dangers and discomforts of the night battles with the same lighthearted valour as they displayed in the fighting by day.” The work of the "boys in the ba<-k rooms” and of Ihc boys who ride the night air over Britain has achieved great thin?*. rijice Match- —ISJ?.®*)-