FLAK MAIN OBSTACLE

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIX, Issue 47, 24 February 1945, Page 8

FLAK MAIN OBSTACLE

RATE OF ALLIED LOSS

<By Telearaph—Press Association—Copyright.) Rec. 1 p.m. LONDON, February 23. The enemy's main defences against jthe mounting air- offensive is the density of bis anti-aircraft fire which, during the past year, has provided far ynor.e serious opposition than the Luftwaffe, says the correspondent of "The Times" at SHAEF.

More tlan 1,000,000 Germans, including 60,003 women, are now actively engaged on the flak defences, which, between July and January, caused 42 per'cdnt. of the; losses of the Ninth Air Force, compared with 14 per cent, inflicted by fighters. Tfie greatest proportion of losses, 44 per cent., was attributed to accidents, weather ahd unknown causes. . iyital targets are estimated to be defended by more than 60,000 heavy and light anti-aircraft guns, of which nearly 35,000 are concentrated in the RhineRuhr area. Many German women are serving ,the gun-sites, but they have jnostly taken over barrage balloons. More and more factory workers are being called up to man guns near their work. ', The enemy is using all sorts of "deterrent phenomena, including rockets, cable, flak, and rocket flares, which release great clouds of smoke and-fire that might be taken for a plane going down in flames. The ; losses of the Ninth Air Force have hot increased despite the enemy's efforts. They range from 3£ to 4£ per cent, a month for each 1000 sorties for bomhers and-from 4to 6 per cent, for fighters, which suggests that Allied counter-measures are well abreast of the! German flak developments.