PROGRESS OF WAR

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 229, 26 August 1940, Page 7

PROGRESS OF WAR

SECOND PHASE BEGINS. POSSIBLE TREND SUGGESTED. (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, Aug. 23. The Times, discussing the enemy’s air tactics, suggests that the Battle of Britain has entered on a second phase. "The first,” it says, “has ended. It consisted of a very heavy air offensive, lasting about a week. Tlie result is not in doubt, but it is possible that we do not even now realise the extent of the victory. That victory was won by the Fighter Command, well supported by anti-aircraft batteries, searchlights, balloon barrages, and counter-action by bombers and air raids precautions services. “A not inconsiderable loss of life and destruction of property were suffered by the defence and some military damage also, though nothing serious. Eypn where most devastation has been wrought, it is the absence of it, rather than its extent, that is surprising. Even in the south-eastern ports and seaside towns, which the enemy bombers could roach within a few minutes of rising from their aerodromes, neutral observers, who have been allowed to go where they would and see what they would, have been astonished to discover, how small has been the damage. ENEMY LOSSES. “The losses of the attacks, on the other hand, exceeded all our hopes. Wave after wave of ■'.bombers, supported by fighters, came over to deal death and destruction, and went themselves to that fate. “In the first attack on Croydon, for example, not one German aircraft escaped, not one pilot returned to report what he had effected or what he had seen. It may well bs that this series of battles -will long bo remembered in the story of warfare as the first instance of an offensive on a great scale carried out entirely by an air arm in circumstances as favourable as it can usually hope to find, and routed with great loss.” The Times concludes: “The second phase, like the first, leaves us so far unshaken. We are well aware that far heavier trials of our defences and our spirit may be in store. We know; that instead of. or simultaneously_ with, a further offensive against this island, a strone campaign may be launched in the Mediterranean against our fleet in those w’aters.’our forces in the Middle East Command and the Suez Canal, IN MIDDLE EAST. “Whatever may come wdll be met in the same spirit. We know', too, for certain, though we hardly doubted it, that if the invasion of Egypt should be attempted—and Egypt includes the W’estern Desert up to the Libyan frontier —Egypt will fight, and her forces will serve beside our own. Apart from the material reinforcements, the spirit in which this declaration was made is welcome.

“A difficult, even critical period, may lie ushered in with the third phase, but there is reason to hope that when we have fought our way through that, our worst periods will be over. The fourth phase should be easier to iheet. The fifth—who knows—may mark the first counter-offensive.” Turning to the sporadic raids to which the German command appears to 'have reverted, the Times observes: “The amount of damage likely to be caused by such incursions is very slight, the amount of military damage practically nil. Yet there is a certain difficulty in bringing the raiders to account. Nevertheless, the proportion of aircraft shot down to those which come over probably has been nearly as great as in the mass raids On the whole it seems likely that this stage represents mcrelv an interlude between two offensives, though there can exist nr. certaintv that that winch follows will resemble that which preceded i .