NAZI AIR POWER.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 121, 20 April 1940, Page 7

NAZI AIR POWER.

VALUE DISCOUNTED. ATTACKS ON WARSHIPS. NAVY REMAINS SUPREME. (United Press Association—By Electric Telegraph—Copyright.) (British Official Wireless.) Received April 20, 11.45 a.m. RUGBY, April 19. Evidence concerning the controversial question of the efficiency of air attacks on warships has been forthcoming from recent activity. Erom April 8-16 one German cruiser, two German destroyers, one British battleship and one British cruiser were hit by bombs and two British cruisers were also very slightly damaged by flying bomb splinters, but they were not hit. Altogether air attack sank two and hit five vessels, while other forms of attack sank 14 and hit eleven.

The battelship Rodney suffered very slight damage from a very heavy bomb explosion which did not affect the vessel in any way except for injury to four officers and three men.

It is also interesting to note that in the air attack in which the British cruiser was damaged 115 bombs were dropped. Whereas the German aii arm sank only one British destroyei, British warships sank one German cruiser and eight German destroyers.

Naval circles in London say that these figures merit special attention in view of the heavy destruction wrought on the German fleet in the past ten days and the consequent increasing reliance by Germany on the air arm. The figures'provide an answer to Nazi attempts to suggest that the German air force holds mastery over the British Navy, whose losses the Nazis greatly exaggerate. They even falsified Admiral Stark’s report to the Naval Affairs Committee of the United States House of Representatives. He was alleged to have said: “The latest encounters between Allied warships and German bombers clearly show that the German bombers are more effective than warships.” The New York Times, however, reports the Admiral’s remarks thus: “Air power has not seriously affected British control of the sen lanes of the world. After seven months of war in which the immediate major objective has been the reduction of British sea strength, relatively small damage has been done by air attack from German advance bases located 480 to 560 miles from the British Fleet bases. It is the British preponderance in naval power that has gained control of seaborne trade and denied this to Germany.”