DEFENCE OF LONDON

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25660, 7 October 1944, Page 8

DEFENCE OF LONDON

FLYING BOMB ATTACKS HOW BATTLE WAS WON A simple and ingenious rangefinder, costing little- more than a shilling, was produced by Professor Sir Thomas Merton to combat the problem of spotting flying bombs. It proved (says a London writer) to be the complete ' answer, after experiments had been carried out with various elaborate radio equipments and scientists had spent long hours coping with the •problem. Prior -to this invention, pilots on patrol had had the gratest difficulty in. spotting this very small, fast-mov-ing object several thousand feet below. Over, land, help could be given to the pilots by means of a running commentary over the radio telephone telling them where the flying bomb was ' in relation to various landmarks. In the hours of darkness it was, of course, easy enough to spot the flaming ; tail of the flying bombs many miles away, but in order to bring down the bomb the pilot must fire his guns at a range of about 300 yards. If he fires when too far away he probably will not destroy the bomb. If he fires when he is too near the bomb may blow up and destroy him. . ’ ■ . Three Defence Belts Other defence measures were described by Mr Duncan Sandys, M.P., chairman of the Flying Bomb Countermeasures Committee, in his recent statement on London’s 80-day ordeal by robot bombs. When the intelligence services had pieced together sufficient information about Hitler’s secret Vl, detailed arrangements were made for the defence of London. The plan provided for three defence belts, a balloon barrage just outside London, a gun belt beyond that, and beyond that again a fighter , ' zone, and it had to be very flexible. Originally some 500 balloons were . deployed, but when it was seen that the bombs were consistently flying low the barrage was rapidly thickened up to nearly 2000. The balloons were, of course, the last line of defence. Being in the back row, they got only the birds which had been missed by the fighter and, gun belts in front. Nevertheless, they made a substantial contribution. Of the bombs which entered the bar- ■ rage area, nearly 15 per cent, were brought down. After the entire A.A. gun belt was moved down to the coast, in July, the guns-- never looked back. In the first week after the deployment .they shot down 17 per cent, of the bombs which entered the gun belt, and in the last weelj it was 74 per cent. The A.A. defences were in action day and night for two months and a-half. Debt to Anti-aircraft Command “ The people of London owe much ■:■■■ to the men and women of Anti-aircraft Command, and, in particular, to General Pile, to whose energy and personal H leadership these achievements are in large measure due," said Mr Sandys. ;; During the first few weeks of the flying bomb attacks the fighters shot : down over 1000 flying bombs. In this battle our fighters were faced with a ' number of difficulties. Only our fastest fighters possess the high speed needed to overtake the bomb,in level flight. The other types, in order to obtain an interception, had to dive on to the. bomb from several thousand feet above. It was necessary to maintain . constant standing patrols over land and sea: throughout the 24 hours. Appreciation of the help given by Americans was expressed by Mr Sandys. They had thrown themselves into the job of beating the flying bomb with as much enthusiasm and determination as if New York or Washington had been the victim of the attack, he said. American batteries provided about j; one eighth of the total number of heavy A.A. guns along the south coast. Some of their very latest equipment was used with British heavy guns. The biggest American contribution had, however, been in the field of offensive air operations.

Women's Valuable Help General Pile disclosed that just under one-half of his command fighting the flying bombs were women. Even- : tually there were 800 heavy and nearly 2000 light guns, and 20 American bat- . teries under his command. ~ It was pointed out that bombing could not be separated from intelligence. In the -battle against the flying bomb the Intelligence services, * British agents in enemy territories, the air reconnaissance squadrons, and . - the photographic interpretation units played a particularly responsible part. Large stocks of flying bombs were stored in . tunnels and caves not far from Paris. The existence of these storage depots was reported and bombers went out to destroy them. Agents reported that the enemy was moving his stocks to other depots. Many of these were, in their turn, discovered and destroyed. Then a train loaded with some 200 flying bombs was detected and information was passed back to England in time for our bombers to go out and blow \ up the train before it moved on. ® “But for our interference there can be little doubt that the bombardment would have started in the early months of this year,” said Mr Sandys. “We now know, for instance, that not only engineers, but actually flying bomb firing units were already on the French coast waiting to begin operations last January. Had the attack started then, the winter condi- .. tions would have seriously affected the efficiency of our defences. For days at a time fighters and balloons would have been grounded by bad weather.”