COMBATS IN AIR

New Zealand Herald, Volume 80, Issue 24690, 16 September 1943, Page 5

COMBATS IN AIR

ENEMY OPPOSITION FRUITS OF AXIS PLANNING PLANES SAVED FOR TASK (Reed. 5.35 p.m.) LONDON, Sept. 15 The Germans on the Salerno front are doing their utmost to give their troops air cover and combats are raging over the battle area almost continuously. The strength of the enemy air opposition in the Naples area is a result of long-range Axis planning, says the air correspondent of the Daily Express.

The Axis air chief in the Mediterranean, Kesselring, conserved his fighter and bomber strength after the fall of Tunisia last May for the Allied invasion of Italy, and is able to throw his full weight against the Allies. War of Attrition It has become a war of attrition in the air, but the Allied air commander in the Mediterranean, Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Tedder, can be in little doubt about the result. With his powerful British and United States squadrons, Sir Arthur Tedder has a strength far greater than that of Kesselring, who can call on 1000 aircraft at the most. Of these, 500 are bombers, mostly light and medium, which need strong lighter protection. Italy has 100 airfields in five belts. General Montgomery's forces have captured the southernmost belt, from which Allied planes are being used to blast the Germans from the other four. Possibilities Ahead

The first belt is concentrated chiefly in the Taranto-Brindisi area, from which our medium bombers will bo able to range over Greece. The second belt covers the Naples-Foggia area, from which our planes could cover operations in the Balkans and attack the Ploesti oilfields. The third belt stretches across Italy from Rome. The fourth belt, which bars entry into Northern Italy, is roughly bounded by Leghorn, Spezia, Ravenna and An cona. From here our bombers could attack the Balkan cities of Belgrade, Zagreb and Budapest.

• The fifth and northernmost belt is centred mainly on Milan and Turin. From here our bombers could smash German industries in Central Europe and lay Southern Germany and all Southern France open to the kind of attack that Sicily suffered.