Great Battles for Air Mastery

Manawatu Times, Volume 68, Issue 161, 9 July 1943, Page 5

Great Battles for Air Mastery

(British Official Wireless) RUGBY, July 7. The Germans are using great strength in the air for mastery of the Russian front, for which the two forces are contending in what, according to one message, is becoming one of the world’s greatest air battles. The Russians are said to be more than holding their own.

“Although the Germans are clinging to their old tactics in tank warfare, they fire continually changing their methods in aerial fighting, and the two days’ battle has disclosed new variations,” states an agency correspondent. “Unlike most previous attacks, this onslaught has not been preceded by intensive bombing, over soveral days, of the Russian airfields and communications, with the usual climax of air bombardment of the troops themselves, “Perhaps,” continues the correspondent,” the Germans omitted such aerial preparations in the hope of achieving a surprise. If so, they failed—on the first day and again on the second day, when they changed direction of the blow. Not only was the Soviet artillery equal to the occasion, but the skill and daring of the Red sappers in setting up minefields spelled doom to many enemy tanks. “The strength of the Luftwaffe is being exerted chiefly in large groups in the hope that strong bomber formation, with an escort of Mcsserschmitts and the Focke Wulfs’ concentrated lire power, would be able to beat off the opposition. But Soviet fighters took the initiative from the Lufwaffe, broke the formations and forced the Germans to accept many dogfights.

“Simultaneously, another change in tactics is the abandonment by the Germans of an attempt to block Soviet aerodromes and chase Soviet fighters from the skies over the sectors of the most violent fighting. Most of the enemy fighters are protecting bombers attempting to drop their bomb loads from the lowest levels in order to blast Soviet infantry from the trenches. Rifle, machinegun and artillery fire from the ground directed against these bombers has proved of great help to tho Soviet fighters.”

The Moscow correspondent of the Briti li United Press says that the air battle parallels the laud battle in in tensity, ihe Germans have thrown in large numbers of new divebombers, but failed to achieve air superiority. Several German pilots shot down by the Russians revealed that they were from tho Luftwaffe divebomber squadron