Might Barrage Sweet Music To Londoners

Northern Advocate, 26 December 1940, Page 2

Might Barrage Sweet Music To Londoners

The first check given the Nazis’ night raiders was supplied by a special barrage, the noise of which was sweet music to the Londoners. In this development of anti-aircraft defence, greatest reliance was put on the “predictor,” the sensitive instrument which digests data of the raider, as well as time factors and atmospheric influences, and then proceeds to “point the gun.”

Raiders find themselves boxed in squares of fire and explosion even above 20,000 feet, and they arc throttled up to the ceiling. Thousands of shells are thrown up by guns of different calibre, up to the 4.5-inch, the most deadly of all A.A. weapons. The heavy group takes''the top section, but if the enemy raider decides to come lower there is a stratum of violence laid by the lighter guns. In addition to the 4.5 guns, the heavy group includes the 3.7-inch, which is comparatively silent owing to the length of its barrel. This gun can reach many miles into the sky. No Searchlights In the light group is the Bofors quick-firer, with a peculiar cupshaped muzzle. The chief assets of this gun are its mobility, lightness and accuracy, apart from its high rate of fire. For the lower levels there are the Brens on anti-aircraft mountings, and the Lewis guns. The last named already have claimed more than 20 planes in the London area. Searchlights are not used with the barrage. The flashes of guns from below tell the Germans nothing of the direction of fire, and no tracer bullets are used which might help them to discover where the guns are situated. All the German raiders know as they aproached the metropolitan area is that a curtain of fire seems to hang in the sky, which is alive with exploding shells. They may weave their way in and out of clouds to find cover, but the guns find them just the same, for the ears of the defence are the most delicate in the world .A hit will mean that the machine will be blown into a hundred pieces, while an explosion may damage the ’plane beyond the safety limits.

Threatening Uncertainty

It is the uncertainty of the barrage which is so threatening for the bombers. They cannot be sure of the power of the shell and cannot judge when they might be too near an exploding chain of fire until it is too late. Many of the raiders, finding themselves caught in the heavier fire, have dived down, but they run into even more vital danger, for the rapidly firing guns of smaller calibre are even more threatening. The man who organised and perfected the plan is Lieutenant-General Sir Frederick Pile, who commands the anti-aircraft corps. Before the outbreak of war in }939, London had two divisions of territorials devoted to A.A. work. This force has been expanded tremendously. It demands an enormous artillery assembly, and one of the problems associated with the extension of it has been the supply of guns, ammunition, mechanical equipment, and, of course, the skilled personnel to operate the great machinery of the barrage. The blitzkrieg on London gave proof of the effectiveness of the night barrage, and its extension is checking the raiders at other points in Britain.