bombing OFFENSIVE

Evening Star, Issue 25113, 1 March 1944, Page 5

bombing OFFENSIVE

THE GREAT ASSAULT ON GERMANY CENTRES OF ENEMY INDUSTRY OBLITERATED MAY BE ONE OF DECISIVE STAGES OF WAR (Rec. noon.) RUGBY, Feb. 29. " The battle which Bomlber Command and the United States Army Air Forces are fighting over Germany is on so different a scale that it is impossible to compare it with the German b'.ita on Britain," Sir Archibald Sinclair told the House of Commons to-day. " The huge centres of war industry in the Ruhr, Hamiburg, Berlin, and many other German cities have been obliterated, and in the year under review the United States Air Force entered the battle at full strength. Recent weather also enabled the British and American Bomber Commands to combine day with night operations, and operations from Italy with those from Britain. " It might well be that historians of the future would look back upon this period between the February and March moons as one of the ' decisive stages of the whole war. " Our offensive was producing results which were visible and measurable, and photographs of. the results were always taken as soon as possible after the attacks." Sir Archibald Sinclair proceeded to give instances of the results of recent | bomibing on German war industries. It was in photographs of the bomib damage that we could read some at least of the reasons why Germany had no longer an aibundance of man power and materials to throw into an offensive. " Far better than capturing or destroying hundreds of enemy tanks in the field after perhaps they have killed many of our men is to destroy them half completed in the shops, and af. the same time the tools with which- the enemy could in a month produce 200 more," he said. Speaking of the battle of Berlin, the Air Secretary said that in January of this year the German capital had received as great a weight of bombs as had fallen on London from the beginning of the war until now. The German defences, he added, were much greater than those -with which we had fought the. Battle of Britain. Last year our bomber losses had been over 2.400 planes and nearly 18,000 airmen killed or missing. The losses, however, were progressively less compared with the effects being achieved. The raids on London, lie said, were difficult to counter beoause the raiders flew high and fast, scattered their bombs over a wide area, and then dived steeply at maximum speed until they crossed the coast. In the last two months British night fighters and anti-aircraft and searchlight crews had inflicted a higher rate of casualties on the enemy than had been suffered by our much bigger bomlber forces, which had to penetrate far more deeply into enemy territory. AFTER THE WAR. In the debate on the air estimates in the House of Commons, Mr Woodburn (Lab.) urged that whatever strength of our air force was dissipated after the war, we should maintain our great research organisation until such time as peace could be guaranteed. It was clear that this country Avould, have to maintain an air force capable of safeguarding our interests.

Squadron-leader Robinson, serving Unionist member for Blackpool, referred to recent criticism of our bombing policy, and said we should make it abundantly clear that Allied bombing had nothing at all to do with revenge. It was entirely governed by strategic military necessity, and no crews had ever 'been briefed to destroy a German target which had no .industrial or military significance. Any suggestion to the contrary was most unfair criticism of. a body of men who were prepared to sacrifice their lives to destroy the German war machine in order to preserve the freedom of our country and effect the liberation of the peoples of Europe. German industry must be bombed until its productive capacity fell far behind the needs of the German forces.