THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES Thursday, February 6, 1941. ACCORDING TO PLAN

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24525, 6 February 1941, Page 6

THE OTAGO DAILY TIMES Thursday, February 6, 1941. ACCORDING TO PLAN

The cabled, comment of a high Air Force official in London on, the subject of recent R.A.F- raids over enemy territory, that these had conformed to the general plan, which; was to concentrate the greatest force on the weak spots in the German war economy, goes a fair way towards meeting the arguments of are persisent in their demands that the Wantonly destructive attacks of' the Luftwaffe ph British towns should‘ be answered in kind. The call for reprisals is ■ frequently less reasoned than semi-hysterical. What ought now to be realised, since it has often enough been emphasised in recent months,‘is that, whatever method of attack the Nazis may favour in their to. Shatttr v the morale of/ the “British people, British strategy is unalterably directed towards the crippling of the Axis war machine by the most effective means available. An article, supplied to us through the Government's official news agency and printed in our. coluoins yesterday, throws the clearest possible light oh the calculated offensive programme of the R.A.F. Bomber Command. This plan of aerial blockade, it is explained, has already proved itself one of the greatest weapons in our offensive armoury. It was adopted, according to an expert informant; long before a bomb was dropped, and its execution represents the collaborative, Work of strategists, industrial : authorities^' technologists and- scientists. The specialist staff of the, Ministry of Economic Warfare recommends objectives for attack, with particular emphasis on the enemy’s sources of fuel supply—oil being .described as the lifie-blood of modern military; powefe-ahd thesfe are systematically dealt ’with *by the bombers until such time as reliable information indicates that the destruction has been complete'or that the damage inflicted has been sufficient to bring production to a.standstill. If we take oil, we find that the most important targets for. the R.A.F. in Germany are the, oil refineries. Germany is credited with the production of one million tons of 1 Chide oil annuaffy, mpst r of; this being refined in the Rhinelhnd and m Hahover. Up till a few weqkgago 80 . per cent, of these refineries had persistently bothbCd by the R.A.F., -with resultant heavy damage. Similarly. German, production of synthetic oil amounts to some two and 'a'-half million tons ; a year, this quantity including thC bulk of the aviation, spirit Used by ;the Luftwaffe. Up -to 90. per cent; -of thCse vitally important oil ■ plaits ; have suffered at the harfds of British bombers, which: have also devoted unremitting attention to fiprts and rail and road transport systems, industrial plants as a whole and arina-* mepts, aircraft and air v engine, factbries; in particular.'. Ris mitted that >it‘ Ls difflciilt tq' dSsfess the exact effect of such boihbing, but the Air Ministry is probably exercising its caution When it says that severe damage has been inflicted on the Germans and that the.bombings have produced a considerable effect on the morale of the German people, who were promised immunity from the worst Consequences of aerial, attack. The cry for reprisals for indiscriminate enemy bombing over England. Were it to be satisfied, would necessarily 1 involve a diversion of British bombing strength from targets that are really vital to the maintenance of the German or Italian war effort. Even if there were no moral issue involved —and there is—it could be sufficiently argued against the advocates of an eye-for-an-eye policy, that we cannot afford at this critical stage of the war to dissipate our own strength in such side-excursions as purely retaliatory bombing would represent. Our aim must continue to be to hit the enemy as hard and as frequently as possible in those places where, in the military sense, he is most vulnerable. , Where Italy is concerned; for instance, there are those who would profess. to . find' merit in, or excuse for, the bombing of Rome, . the ’theory being -that Signor/ Mussolini should be given a taste of his own medicine. “Janus,” writing in the Spectator, has answered those who Submit that “ our business is to" get bombs into Italy wherever they hurt most "—argument which he himself dismisses as “ simply gusty rhetoric masquerading as masculinity.” Our business, “ Janus ” retorts, is to defeat Italy’s army and navy and air force, destroying all units of those forces that we can, and to cripple her war-potential by bombing her munitions factories relentlessly. “ But Rome,” he concludes —“Rome is not merely Italian; Rome is not Mussolini’s: Rome, its Forum, its statues, its monuments, its temples, are a possession of the world. To destroy that irreplaceable heritage would be a crime which posterity would and should never pardon:” That conclusion is one which should command a great measure of respect.