The Evening Star MONDAY, APRIL 19, 1943. TARGETS IN EUROPE.

Evening Star, Issue 24483, 19 April 1943, Page 2

The Evening Star MONDAY, APRIL 19, 1943. TARGETS IN EUROPE.

Thk now crescendo in aif bombing reached by the Allies in.the course of their remorseless offensive against important military targets in Axis Europe is an effective fulfilment of the forecast made b.v Air Chief Marshal Harris of. devastating things to eoine. Although it #has apparently not been thought necessary to continue the 1,000-bomber raids, which looked like becoming the fashion at the time Britain's air lender spoke, it will be generally agreed that satisfactory results have been achieved by the number of machines it has been the custom to send across to Germany and Italy during the past few months.giant British .bombers carry correspondingly giant missiles, and, with the aid of flares and incendiaries, a pattern of attack is laid down which gives a reasonable guarantee that the maximum amount* of damage is done to the factories and plants responsible for maintaining Axis aggression on tho field and at sea. Coming fairly soon after the heavy " airblitz " on Essen, which must haye eliminated for all time any faintest remaining suspicion among a section ot the public that capitalism kept these huge works under its protection, the raid on the Skoda factories at Pilsen, Czechoslovakia, completes a cycle of bombing which cannot fail-to slow down German war production to a very.-marked degree. Manv of the other night raids bv the Roval "Air Force were mainly blows Struck for Britain and the United States. All possible U-boat construction plants have had to he given their share of drastic attention. The attack on the Skoda works was an important blow for Russia. At a time when the Germans are trying to gather new strength for their .summer campaign on the. eastern front ; tbe inevitable , interruption caused to.one of their main productive streams should noticeably impair the Wehrmacht's striking power. .Britain would not have risked sending such a big force of heavy aircraft so far into welldefended Europe if she were not sure that the results would he worth while. The losses in planes were severe, but. apart from a possible " follow-up flight or reconnaissance, it may not be necessary to visit the Skoda plant again for some time, if at all. . The raid bv United States Flying Fortresses on'the Foelce-Wuli aircraft factorv at Bremen was a daring development of the Americans' policy of using these formidable bombing and fighting machines for attaining a greater measure of accuraev over the selected targets. Their abilitv to repel fighters, as was'proved 'bv the tally of German victims claimed in this assault, gives the Fortresses something of a monopoly over the art of daylight bombing at ranges beyond R.A.F. Spitfire coverage. The"fact that the Russian air force has taken m the air offensive from the east means that the German industrial cities are now between two fires. Hie Nazi leaders will find it hard to explain to the harassed people of the, Reich bow this discouraging state of affairs has come to pi"'s.