WAR REVIEW

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23595, 2 March 1940, Page 12

WAR REVIEW

FIRST HALF-YEAR ALLIES' STRENGTH ADVANTAGE HELD LAND, SEA AND AIB By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright British Wireless LONDON, Feb. 'JO Britain will have been at war with Germany for six months on Sunday. The first few days saw dramatic events on the sea and in the air, and it is in those two elements that, in the intervening months, the struggle has been mainly pursued. Mi*. Winston Churchill's speech on the Navy Estimates on Tuesday showed how successfully the Royal Navy has coped with the situation, the only surprises in which have been new illegalities practised by the enemy.

The activities of the German and British air forces have followed different lines. Increasingly, the German air effort is directed against British and reutral shipping, with results which drew from the Prime Minister, Mr. Chamberlain, the remark that such practices vere "not war but murder." Great Ai? Strength of the Empire The Royal Air Force, on the other hand, has established and maintained patrol work in the North Sen and reconnaissance activities directed against enemy naval and military objectives. The British long-distance reconnaissance flights into the German Kerch lately again included Austria and Bohemia.

As with the magnetic mine—now known to have been in secret preparation for years to attack Britain's lifeline—Germany's air attacks on shipping aro apparently part of a long-term plan. The essence of it seems to be to strike at Britain in a way in which Germany cannot well be struck back, and to refrain from measures which would invite immediate and overwhelming counter-attacks. It is considered in London that the recent assertion of Lord Chatfield, Minister for the Co-ordination of Defence, that Britain's air strength would be brought into play at the right instant may well'have dispelled any German hope of success in such a plan. The Allies' growing air ascendancy, backed by the great Empire air training scheme, is bringing nearer the time when that declaration may be put to the proof.'

German Raiders' Casualties Well-infprmed commentators note that, after a short period of comparative immunity from loss, there has been recently a rise in the casualties inflicted on raiding German aircraft. As new defensive measures become effective the losses suffered by Germany may be expected to increase more in time to come. An analysis of the German aircraft shot down' in raids on "Britain shows that by far the largest proportion fell to the guns of the Royal Air Force fighters. The majority came down in the sea off British coasts—only four on British soil.

Several are now definitely known to have fallen in neutral countries after engagements with British air defences. Experts in London emphasise that the air war is being fought on drawing boards and in design shops, no less than in the sky'. Britain's Superiority in Design In this respect the Allies have greater facilities for the manufacture and purchase of advanced types. Also, since Britain and France started serious air rearmament long after Germany's bombing fleets were already built, what they lacked in numbers at the outbreak of the war, they gained in modernity of design." But design marches on. Already crack fighters and bombers in service on both Eidesi are rendered obsolescent by newer types. Details of new British types may not be disclosed, but it is no secret that the demand for still higher speeds, greater firing power and increased range has been most successfully met /in both defence and counter offensive aircraft.

Answer to New German Types It is true that Germany, faced with the growing obsolescence of thousands of aircraft which so far have been •used only as threats, is making strenuous efforts to keep abreast of design. New Heinkels, said to be fitted with a new type of Daimler-Benz motor of a total output of 4500 horse-power, giving a of 350 miles an hour, are spoken of. But it is confidently stated by British experts that just as Vickers Spitfires and Hawker Hurricanes have mastered -existing -Heinkels and Dorniers, British designers will have an answer to any of, the new German types. Thus the second six months of the war are likely to prove even more favourable to the Allies in the air than the six months now ending.