CITIES UNDER SMOKE

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 76, 16 October 1941, Page 3

CITIES UNDER SMOKE

AIR RAID PRECAUTIONS NEW BRITISH SYSTEM London, Oct. 12. , Britain’s defence against air raids i tas attained a pitch of efficiency near- . r.g perfection. To radio location, , leadly anti-aircraft fire and the ardour •f the Royal Air Force, can now be \ idded smoke screens as a new defence j These smoke screens, it is revealed, re being used to protect Britain's nost vital industrial centres. Already hey are estimated to have prevented ill ions in devastation. Smoke-proclucing units, part of the trmy, closely co-operate with the .’oval Air Force. They get ample i earning of an expected attack, whercipon they envelop the whole area in louds of black smoke. This blanket, impenetrable from the air. prevents , nemy pilots from picking out targets, nd they are forced to drop their , ornbs blindly. Glowing praise of Britain’s protec- I :vc system comes from the enemy. The aviation editor of the newspaper Stampa,” of Turin, one of the Italian owns heavily blasted by the Royal ur Force, says:— “The ardour of British pilots is ssuming gigantic proportions. British nti-aircraft defences and signalling ystem are almost perfect. Not a single i Jerman aeroplane can reach British Lies without being identified imTediately after take-off. “German bombers and fighters hvays fight over Britain in conditions i f inferiority, because the Luftwaffe is ! learly at a disadvantage compared j ,'ith the Royal Air Force."