GERMAN ADMISSION

Evening Post, Volume CXXXI, Issue 117, 20 May 1941, Page 7

GERMAN ADMISSION

Damage by the RAF.

LONDON, May 19. An admission of the damage done by British air raids to German armament factories was made tonight by General Milch, Chief of the German Air Staff. In an appeal to German A.R.F. workers, he said: "We cannot look on when great damage is done by fire to our factories which are important for the war effort. By this we would suffer losses which we should /be unable to replace." His appeal indicated that the Germans had been finding it hard to get volunteers for air-raid work. He proceeded: "I beg of you to continue to work for the A.R.P. as you did before—-to prevent the T damage, and, above all, to remain a selected band which is an example to others." group of German planes on May 16. However, with the threat of German reinforcements still impending, it cannot be said that the situation is yet entirely happy. One indication of Rashid Ali's failure to rally the whole body of his countrymen behind him is that the Arab tribes in the Euphrates Valley have so far shown no signs of joining the movement, though they have been among the fiercest participants in every previous anti-foreign trouble. In the meantime, attacks continue against enemy planes from Syrian aerodromes, and not only have German planes been destroyed but also runways have been smashed. Most of the British colony in Syria have now crossed the border into Palestine. SYRIAN SYMPATHIES. A Free French officer who was in Syria recently stated emphatically that nine-tenths of the military and civil populations desired an Allied victory, and the Germanophiles were limited to only one small clique of higher officers. "The French army in Syria numbers between 45,000 and 50,000 men, and is mostly composed of colonials. The equipment has deteriorated since the Armistice, through neglect, and much of it is now unserviceable. There are about 300 planes, of which only 30 per cent, are thought to be airworthy, while petrol supplies are short. Oil from Irak is flowing once more through the pipeline from Mosul to the Syrian port of Tripoli, but recently a mysterious explosion put out of action the refinery at Tripoli, which is the largest in Syria. Incidentally, the Irakis, while permitting the flow of oil to Tripoli, cut off the supplies by the pipeline to Haifa. While the British Fleet and Air Force operating from Alexandria, Crete, and Cyprus can prevent the Italians and Germans from landing large forces in Syria, the Germans are accumulating a respectable fleet of transports in ports on the Aegean Sea by bringing Axis, Bulgarian, and Rumanian ships through the Dardanelles from the Black Sea.—U.P.-A.