Greymouth Evening Star. AND BRUNNERTON ADVOCATE. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 1939. GERMAN RAIDS.

Greymouth Evening Star, 18 October 1939, Page 6

Greymouth Evening Star. AND BRUNNERTON ADVOCATE. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 1939. GERMAN RAIDS.

last, the Nazi Press and wireless are able to revel in the fact that the German Air Force has registered a bull’s-eye against the British Navy.—an Admiral’s barge has been sunk! This may be some consolation for the disappointments in connection with the battle-cruiser Repulse and the aircraft-carrier Ark Royal. which, in spite of .Nazi reports io the contrary, still sail the seas. Apart from the sinking of the barge, which did not involve the Admiral himself, the German air-raids, directed against warships lying in the Firth of Forth, were not signally successful. One of the bombs caused slight damage to the ■■ cruiser Southampton, but no ship was seriously affected, while, in view of the fact that a dozen or more bombers made repeated raids, the British casualties were surprisingly few. On the contrary, four of the bombers were brought down, with the loss of most of their crews, an experience which is likely to breed a feeling of healthy respect among the enemy, for the quality of the Royal Air Force and the anti-aircraft defences. It is easy to bomb and machine-gun defenceless civilians, as was done in Poland, but. a different 'thing altogether to attack objectives which are able and willing to defend themselves. While it was practically barren of material results, the German attack on the Edinburgh district also failed to achieve any valuable psychological efl eel, the population retaining their calmness throughout what must have been a trying two hours.

Apparently directed solely against units of the British Fleet, the German raids were quite legitimate. there heiny, for a change, no infringement of the rules of war. Members of the, Royal Air

Force would probably be the first to admit that no little merit attached to the efforts of their opposite numbers in the enemy force, and that there is no disgrace in their failure to achieve the desired results. The raids upon the Firth of Forth involved a similar degree of skill and courage as were demanded from the British units which attacked German warships at Kiel, earlier in the war. Many stories have been told of the mutual respect exhibited for each other by opposing airmen, during the Great War, and there is no reason to doubt that a similar spirit of sportsmanship will be in evidence during the present conflict. As a matter of fact, comment has already been fiiade, regarding the lack of bitterness between the fighting men since the war broke out. On the part of the Allies, that is reserved for the members of the Nazi Government, as distinct from the German people as a whole. The members of the German forces are being called upon to endure the privations and dangers of a war which, according to many reports, was not desired by them, and into which they were plunged, under false pretences, by Herr Hitler and his colleagues in aggression. Their disillusionment is likely ere long to recoil disastrously upon the Fuehrer.

While, little success has so far been achieved by the enemy in the air, their undersea activities have been productive of better results. The aircraft-carrier Courageous and the battleship Royal Oak have been lost to the British Navy, through submarine action, with the regrettable loss of hundreds of lives. These losses, however, do not seriously affect the balance of naval power, and the Allies are more than a match for Germany in that direction. So far. as the loss of man-power is concerned, it is one of the tragic and inevitable consequences of war, but the nation fully realises that great sacrifices must be made/ and is prepared to make them in order that victory may be secured. In connection vuth the submarine campaign against merchant shipping', the comparatively few sinkings, considering the great number of Allied ships at sea, gives cause for keen satisfaction, and points conclusively to the success of the antisubmarine measures generally and the convoy system in particular. There have been losses, and there will be more, it being too much Io expect that the U-boats will not secure an occasional victim, but even the Nazis cannot honestly claim that the campaign has met with outstanding success. If the whole story were made known, tlie casualties among the submarines themselves would probably prove distinctly surprising. The Nazis have no more hope of winning the war by submarines than they have of bombing the British Naw off the seas.