The Evening Star THURSDAY, MARCH 5, 1942. TARGETS IN FRANCE.

Evening Star, Issue 24136, 5 March 1942, Page 6

The Evening Star THURSDAY, MARCH 5, 1942. TARGETS IN FRANCE.

According to a Press Association message from London, Sir Stafford Cripps hinted in the House of Commons last week that the British bombing policy was under review. This subject has just come into prominence again as a result of the heavy Royal Air Force attack on the Renault motor works at Billancourt, on tho Seine, south-west of Paris, described as an outstanding symbol of Vichy collaboration with Germany. In tho circumstances, nobody who wishes the war to bo brought to a quick conclusion by means of offensive action will regret that these works, from all accounts, are now a heap of debris, though naturally it is to be hoped that the Vichy News Agency’s estimate of tho casualties—probably released for propaganda purposes will be a long way over the actual figure. In tho past tho British Government has been well aware of the need to avoid alienating tho sympathy of the French people as a whole by indiscriminate bombings over occupied territory, and invariably the targets have been carefully selected and attacked with the utmost precision. In the case of this latest assault the crews of the British aircraft were ordered to bring hack their bombs if they were not quite sure of being able to drop them in the target area. No country fighting for its existence and fighting in alliance with another Power whose position on the Eastern Front is being made more difficult owing to the stream of war products finding its way into the enemy’s hands from the French factory could do more than that.

Provided the “ men of Vichy ” do not succeed with, the spate of false, remonstrative propaganda that seems possible, Frenchmen will not he influenced! to any disturbing degree against the Allied cause. Indeed, the bolder course may triumph where hesitancy, as some authorities aver, is merely prolonging the agony of all the countries under the Nazi yoke. In any case, the risk has to Ibe taken. The needs of the Russians must have priority over the feelings of the French, and everything possible must be done to make their task lighter. Sir Archibald Sinclair (Minister of Air) has again spoken on Britain’s air policy. His words recall a previous speech, in which he said:' “ We must take Germany by the throat and shake the strength out of her. We must start, not in 1944 or 1943, but in 1942. The United Nations have two instruments at their disposal for hammering Germany in 1942—the Red army and the Royal Air Force.” As Sir Stafford Cripps, who promises to infuse a new vitality into the whole of Britain’s war effort, is evidently of the same mind, we can look forward to a year in which the bullies of Europe will bo paid back in kind for the miseries they have heaped upon civilisation. French factories working for the enemy cannot expect to bo immune from the warwinning offensive which appears to bo just around the corner.