WAR IN THE AIR

Evening Star, Issue 23665, 27 August 1940, Page 5

WAR IN THE AIR

NOW REACHING ITS CLIMAX NAZIS DEFINITELY WORSTED DECLINE IN MORALE INDICATED The progress of the war in the air was reviewed in highly interesting manner by an expert speaking from the Empire station at Daventry last evening. The conclusion which he reached ■was that, though the civilian population of Great Britain might have to face greater trials than it had yet endured, there were solid grounds for restrained optimism as to the ultimate outcome. The air war, the expert said, was now reaching its climax. The German attacks had passed through three welldefined phases. First, they had come as part of the programme offensive against Great Britain; secondly, there had been an enforced lull owing to the strength of the defences encountered; and, thirdly, there had been a recrudescence of the offensive in its present wild and indiscriminate phase, there •was only one interpretation of that progression. The Royal Air Force was winning the war in the air. That was good. But less good was the fact that the German air force must do more in the doming days—it mnst strive to achieve some practical return for, the .enormous in men and machines that had incurred. ANXIOUS DAYS AHEAD. In the immediate future, therefore, Britain must expect greater mass attacks pouring in on its relatively smaller air force. It was clear that in the past the enemy, machines_ had directed their assaults almost entirely against military objectives. But since last Saturday there had been an obvious deterioration in their methods, and they had tried to hit anything and everything they could get near. That was the first sound indication that a decline was beginning in the morale of the German air force—it pointed clearly to a deterioration. The , wild bombing and the attacks on villages and other nonmilitary objectives implied that some sort of a change had come over the German air force since its first heavy defeat early last week. And this meant that there were far greater ordeals Awaiting the civil population of Britain than any they had yet endured. The civilian population would _ iiavo even greater trials thrust upon it by indiscriminate bombing without the necessity for the German pilots, to identify any . ; particular target; but the people had •hown by their steadfastness that they ' would he able to stand up to these attacks. It was important to remember that, although the attacks on Britain would become worse in the civil areas and there would be more destruction of pro- , perty, the military damage would be correspondingly less. The wilder the attacks became, the more they would ■hurt civilians, but the less they would" damage those things on which the country’s -war effort depended. So that the ■ more the air war worked up and the wilder it became, the more quickly, it could be said, were the Germans losing their morale. HEAVIEST BOMBERS NOT USED. j.; And what of the future? It,.was known that the Germans had not yet •' used their heaviest type of bomber in •• the raids on England and that they iiad large numbers of these. But Britain also bad in reserve her latest heavy bombers, enormous machines with « great flying range and a huge carrying capacity, which represented an advance on anything in service in any air force in the ! world. Already the attacks made on the Caproni and Fiat works in northern Italy had made air history—they were something that had never been done before. But when the new bombers were put into commission military objectives in all parts of enemy territory would be under heavy and continuous bombardment. In the output of machines Germany had put her trust in a fairly high degree of standardisation, but if she tried to catch up on the British type of machine she would have to sacrifice output. “ In such a talk as this,” the air expert concluded, “I feel the responsibility of not being too optimistic. It is better to look rather at the dark -side than the bright. I repeat that we must i expect a further intensification of the air war. We are approaching the climax, and the forms of attack may be worse than anything we have yet experienced. But a rational examination of the position gives solid grounds ? for confidence. The R.A.F. has never been in better shape than it is to-day, and the way the pilots rush into their objectives is inspiring. That is the spirit which has caused a lull in the present German offensive. That is the spirit which will break up the coming offensive even more decisively.”