AIR OFFENSIVES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24416, 30 September 1940, Page 4

AIR OFFENSIVES

THE GERMAN TACTICS NO MILITARY GAINS BALANCE WITH BRITAIN (British Official Wireless) (United Press Association) (By Electric Telegraph—Copyright) RUGBY, Sept. 28. (Received Sept. 29, at 7.30 p.m.) Recalling that London has now been subjected nightly to enemy raids for three weeks. The Times strikes " a balance sheet," and states: " With every night that passes it becomes more difficult to find any plan at all in his operations. Broadly speaking, the bombins has been more indiscriminate, wanton and unarmed. There has been considerable material damage, with civilian casualties, although these have been fewer than expected from an air offensive of this kind. The homes of numbers of people, from the King to the humblest commoner, have been damaged or destroyed, while shops, both large and small, have been wrecked, but the enemv has not yet succeeded in stooping a single one of the services and activities necessary to the life of a great city. Everything from the delivery of milk to—may we say?—the production of a great newspaper goes on. Nor have these attacks broken the spirit of any Londoner. The enemy cannot therefore claim one military gain, direct or indirect, from the tactics he has employed." Nazis' False Hopes Stating that the Nazis seem to imagine that the air offensive will sooner or later produce the same kind of collapse as in the Low Countries and France, The Times proceeds to point out the essential distinctions between the circumstances and conditions of those countries and Britain, and continues: " Though there is so little for the enemy on the credit side, much must go down on the debit side. In the first place, his devotion to night raids is an admission of failure of day attacks and the success of night attacks by the R.A.F. The R.A.F. has a technical reason for these attacks — namely, the distance of objectives in Germany from our bases prevents our bombers from being escorted by fighters. The Germans have not this reason. In the second place, even night raiders do not e_scape scot free, and the price they have to pay will become increasingly heavy. Thirdly, the indignation and determination he has engendered among British people and their friends in other lands should be included in the accounts as the very reverse of the terrorisation Hitler hoped to effect. " While we are awaiting a fuller answer to the German night bomber we can add one final item. As Mr Churchill said, 'he badly needs an early decision,' and the progress of the British Commonwealth air training plan in Canada shows that Germany's only hope is swift victory in the air."