OPENING PHASE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25238, 29 May 1943, Page 5

OPENING PHASE

EUROPEAN OFFENSIVE SMASHING ITALIAN BASES . \ RUGBY, May 27. Where or when the first BritishAmerican assault on the occupiers of the European Continent will begin, if is impossible to tell. It may be some time yet, or it may be to-morrow, and it may be in more, places than one. But the necessary preliminary is evidently in full swing. The battle for air supremacy now raging, over southern Italy is generally regarded as part of the opening phase of the mam offensive action. The battle is going very well. From May 13 to 16 the enemy in this area lost 149 aircraft in air fighting, while the Allies lost 45. Including estimates of aircraft destroyed on the ground, the total enemy losses amount to over 300. Airfields, ports, railways, and shipping are being smashed day and night, , , J. The African campaigns are regarded as having proved conclusively that ground assault, To be successful, must be preceded by air battle to secure superiority overhead, , . , , A decisive air duel of this kind between the Anglo-American air forces and the\ Luftwaffe thus appears u necessary prelude to successful invasion. ~ . The second part of, the opening phase of the offensive started long ago, but lately has been intensified. Air Marshal Lord Trenchard, one of the creators of the R.A.F., said: “An attack by armies on Germany can only be successful with appalling casualties, unless through previous bombing the whole organisation behind the armies has been demoralised or destroyed, as it is steadily becoming tin Germany. Nothing Germany has been able to do has kept our bombers from penetrating deep into enemy territory and destroying the centres of production.” Already the devastating results achieved'by massed bombing have exceeded the expectations even of the more ardent advocates of it. The Ruhr area is the main target, as it contains a concentration of industry without parallel on the Continent.