Tremendous Destruction In German Cities

Manawatu Times, Volume 68, Issue 61, 13 March 1943, Page 5

Tremendous Destruction In German Cities

AIR MINISTER’S IMPRESSTVE SURVEY RUGBY, Mar. 11. After detailing the scope of the widespread R.A.F. operations in the past year from North Russia to . the east coast of the United States, and from the Soutnwest Pacific to Iraq as well as the main theatres of war, the Secretary of State for Air, Sir Archibald Sinclair, when presenting the Air Estimates to the House of Commons went on to speak of German air dispositions and strategy in Europe. This could be measured by the size of the raids attempted on Britain. Throughout the past year, there had been a formidable German bomber force in Western Europe, but the soundness of Britain’s air defence had been a deterrent. In the last three months, of the 392 aircraft which had crossed our coast by day, 46 had been destroyed. In addition, a large number were probably destroyed and damaged, while in the same period, of 240 enemy aircraft crossing the coast by night, 26 had been destroyed in addition to probables and damaged. The recent increase in German promiscuous daytime tip-and-run raids had been designed to stir up agitation in Britain and compel the Government to divert forces from its offensive action, but they had under-estimated civilian fortitude, Sir Archibald said. The smallness of the so-called reprisal raids against London was largely due to German preoccupation in the Russian and the African campaigns, but it was also duo to the pulverising offensive of Bomber Command, which was compelling the Germans to switch a proportion of their capacity from the production of bombers to defensive fighters. Sir Archibald said that in the past two years, the R.A.F. in all theatres of war had sunk or seriously damaged over lj-million tons of shipping. There was no doubt also that the new mines, of which nine times as many were being laid in 1942 as in 1941, were doing a great deal more damage than wo knew.

The main objective of the offensive air operations from Britain in the past year, said Sir Archibald, had been to take the weight off the Russians. Fighter sweeps and daylight raids had been an important part of this policy. Britain lost 500 fighters, but iu the same period the enemy lost 655. Of 2500 escorted bombers, fewer than 50 were lost. These attacks had compelled the enemy to keep his finest fighters and pilots in Western Europe although the German Army was clamouring for fighter support. Sir Archibald told of the great advance in R.A.F. bombing methods and of the improvement of the bombs. With the delivery of 10,000 tons of bombs in February, including three 1000-ton raids, Bomber Command had dropped over half as much again as any previous month. In the first 10 days of this month, over 4000 tons had been dropped. One hundred and sixty acres had been destroyed iu Essen and it had been estimated that there was a total of 450 acres where at least 75 per cent, of the buildings had been demolished. At Wilhelmshaven, 118 acres had been devastated, including the utter destruction of the arsenal. At Rostock, 130 acres had been destroyed, at Mainz, 35 acres, at Ljibeck, 200 acres, at Karlsruhe, 260 acres, at DusseTdorf, 380 acres, and at Cologne, 600 acres ha been destroyed. Sir Archibald added that he was not yet able to assess the results of the great raid on Berlin, but he reported that the Air Ministry had been hit. In all, it was estimated that Bomber Command had destroyed or seriously damaged about 2000 factories and industrial works and that more than 1,000,000 people had lost their homes, not counting the large numbers of people evacuated. Direct damage to the steel works in the' Ruhr and the Saar had caused the loss or 1,250,000 tons of steel. The output of coal had fallen 20 per cent. “Let no one under-estimate the strength of the enemy,” Sir Archibalo concluded, “or the power or variety of his resources. This is no time for relaxing in any direction tho concentration of our effort for victory. The fighting strength and exertions" of the R.A.F. have increased and in the coming year they will mount.”