FOUR BOMBS A MINUTE

Putaruru Press, Volume XXI, Issue 1238, 10 July 1947, Page 2

FOUR BOMBS A MINUTE

FLYING BOMB POTENTIAL- • If the German flying bomb sites in France had escaped the Allied air blitz they could have launched 6000 flying bombs against England every 24 hours—an average of four a minute. This is disclosed by the first full' story of the mighty British and American air operation which made possible the successful invasion of Normandy. The 45,000-word report was written by the man who directed these operations—the late Air Chief Marshal Sir Trafford Ijeigh-Mallory, chief of the 9000-plane Allied Expeditionary Air Force. This report was the last achievement of a top-ranking air commander, for after its completion the chief marshal died with h : s wife in an air crash in November, 1044, while on his way to South-east Asia to become Air C.-in-C. The Air Chief Marshal criticised the saturation bombing of Le Havre and other French ports to help the Army capture them. “This bombing was undertaken at* the express wish of the Army com-* manders,” Sir Trafford wrote, undoubtedly succeeded in paving the way for and in saving the lives of thousands of our soldiers.”

It must he -recorded, however, that casualties to French civilians shut up with the German garrisons in these ports (Boulogne and Calais being the others referred to) ware inevitably high at Le Havre. “I feel that in the broad view this bombing effort would have been more profitably directed against targets inside Germany.”